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Yesterday, for the third year in a row, I missed the National Book Festival. This year I had a nasty cold/flu that I picked up while gallivanting around New York City in September; last year my allergies were horrific; the year before that, we had houseguests with no particular interest in a book festival. And so it goes.
I was so happy earlier this year when it was announced that President and Mrs. Obama would be supporting the National Book Festival – not necessarily because I love them (although I do), but because the Festival had been founded by First Lady Laura Bush, and many of us feared that it would become a relic of that administration. To have a new administration of a different political party pick up the National Book Festival breathes new life into the Festival itself and into book life in general.
So I’m sad to have missed it, although since I live in the DC area, for me there’s always next year. Same goes for any book festival in one’s area, right? But what about people who are too far from any meaningful book fest?
A few years back, an online marketing company threw a virtual book fest/carnival. I’m not sure if it’s still going on, but I think it would be fantastic if those of us publishing types who are active in social media could think of a way to replicate a book festival online. There would be giveaways, Twitter chats, Facebook pages and links, Skype author talks, and much, much more.
It would be a Book Festivus for the rest of us (apologies to the immortal Frank Costanza of Seinfeld for borrowing his original holiday idea)! What would you include/do/participate in if you could be involved in a virtual book festival?
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I run Free-e-day, which is an online independent culture festival that crosses books, music, art, and film.
It's designed for both consumers and creators (hideous terms but as it's multi-disciplinary it beats listing readers/listeners blah blah all the time!). It's centred around giveaways like you suggest - everyone participating gives away SOMETHING as a free download, available on just that day (it wouldn't really be virtual if people gave away REAL stuff). Like Diane, broadcasts and webchats are important - and broadcasts followed by webchats with the artists. Workshops are important as well - if a festival is online, it works well to use online facilities, and a bulletin board will keep posts for posterity.
Debates are also a great way of having a bit of fun - "speakers" can post mini-papers online in advance, and then open debate at a set time.
Workshops - pool expertise from all over the world - because our festival is indie based we'll have sessions on creative commons, but also things of relevance to everyone like using software packages for design, and simple how-to guides on creating good audio books - not sexy, but essential for writers these days.
Finally, and the most important point of all - if you're online, you're global. Remember that when scheduling! Don't schedule all your one-hour slots to suit YOU. Having a global online festival actually means that a one day event lasts 48 hours. We have participants from Australia and Alaska and everywhere in between. Don't let ANYONE feel left out. And if you have one big name keynote webchat person, make sure you timetable them so no one misses out - and with this in mind, be sure to provide lots of virtual coffee.
Oh, and there's nothing wromg with haveing "real" events - just make sure you stream them online.
Dan
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Sounds like a great idea. I'll have to think a bit about how to make it work. But different blogs or facebook pages or websites could host different aspects. Might be loads of fun.
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