I'm mentioned in a Publisher's Weekly article by Karen Springen that came out today, and wanted to share the news here. The article is about "The Mightly Mom Bloggers" who blog about children's books, and the recognition that these bloggers are receiving from publishers. Here's a snippet:
"Meet the new word-of-mouth publishing powerhouses: mom bloggers who share their online personal journals about motherhood. They post their thoughts and help sell books. And publishers are enthusiastically reaching out to them."
My mention is about 2/3 of the way down (look for a link to "Growing Bookworms"), in the context of most mom bloggers having other day jobs, and also of reaching out to readers via Twitter, etc. Betsy Bird from A Fuse #8 Production is also quoted in the same section of the article, talking about people who consider themselves mom bloggers first vs. people who consider themselves book bloggers first. Since, like Betsy, I started blogging about books long before I became a mom, the latter is where I fall on that classification.
But anyway, the nice thing about the article is that Springen quotes people at various publishers, like Tracy van Straaten from Scholastic, talking about the increasing influence of moms (and dads and aunts and so on) who use blogs to spread the word about books. Here's Springen's conclusion (but do go and read the whole article):
"NPR and New York Times stories will never lose their luster—but they’re no longer the only show in town. For advice, moms turn to their peers. After all, mother knows best."
A nice way to start the week!