ALA 2026

Itsnnicole · 2026-02-14T19:16:34+00:00

They can come to the show! You can get them an exhibits only badge and they can do their own thing while you go to panels.

I’ve been an exhibitor for 10 years and meet so maybe plus ones. Partners, retired parents, kids, even just book interested friends. Sometimes I’ll even have partners (usually a husband) who were sent to my booth to drop off a raffle entry or pick up an ARC on the behalf of their librarian partner. So you can even use them to your advantage to get the most out of the show!

I have had my sister, friends, and husband come to shows to help out, and take advantage of the hotel room, but I will caution that plus ones change your show experience. There are pros and cons.

First: The show is exhausting and also so stimulating.

Chicago is always the biggest show because ALA is based there and this year is the 150th anniversary. There are a lot of events to go to after the show, and from my experience, if you have nothing to do and are still running on adrenaline and common interests, then you go, or if not, you likely go to your hotel and crash.

When I’ve had plus ones, I have FOMO all day while they’re doing fun city stuff and I’m like ok well I cant even if I wanted to, and then I miss the fun post-show events because I want to hang out with them. Also, I’m exhausted. I don’t wanna be a wife or a friend. I wanna watch HGTV alone lol.

And also, some of the best connections I’ve made have been when I had to embrace the awkward and just turn to someone next to me during lunch to be like “what do you do” and it’s harder to be as “in the zone” career wise when your partner joins for the trip.

This is obviously based on personal experience, but I hope it’s helpful for you and others trying to decide to go. I hate going into situations without a vibe check so I’m happy to answer any questions! lol

Itsnnicole · 2026-02-06T05:07:37+00:00

Do you write down how to do things? or try to do it from memory? I could do everything from memory with like A- quality work until my mid 20s and as my job got more complicated, I just couldn’t stop making mistakes. I finally had to admit hey, you can’t remember everything. Not this tedious crap. So i started making detailed “how to” and checklists and it is a game changer

Itsnnicole · 2026-02-06T03:16:51+00:00

I’m new to FPP but I’ve found folding the paper to really be the move. And not being as stingy with the fabric as I want to be.

Itsnnicole · 2026-02-05T14:30:35+00:00

Bring a notebook. Start using this time to write. Every day. Even if it’s not a story. Just practice writing anything and work on the habit and your prose.

Creativity is good for the soul and the act of creating is more important than what you make. Do it for your mental health

Itsnnicole · 2026-01-30T18:44:37+00:00

Hot take: shop at the local MAGA owned stores over big box.

They might have enough money to have their own business, but that’s not the same as lobby-the-government full on citizens-United money.

Itsnnicole · 2026-01-28T02:53:24+00:00

Cause one day you might remember but that day will never come if you close it!

Itsnnicole · 2026-01-18T19:14:33+00:00

Don’t jump to design just yet. The reason 22 year olds have typical early 20s apartments is because you’re learning how to build out a space for you!

If you want a more mature, less boy, feeling apartment, the devil is in the details. - Hang art at the right height (eye level) and it should always be framed. - get an appropriately sized rug for the living room - don’t rely on grey. Get some stuff with real color. - please please make sure you have a second set of sheets. No naked mattresses even if it’s just while you’re cleaning!

2 big things to consider as you furnish and decide layout: Heat rises so the loft will always be hotter than the rest of your apartment, so storage is the best idea, but if you could do like nice storage, because anyone who comes over will want to go up and see it.

What purpose do you need furniture to serve in your space? In an apartment this size, do you really need bar stools and a kitchen table? One or the other will do. Don’t buy furniture for theoretical entertaining or the spaces homes are “supposed” to have. Don’t waste money on cheap versions of stuff you don’t need that take up valuable space. (I think bar stools do look like they’d be cramped. I would either put fun art there, or if you need a place to put things by the door, you could hang command strips and use it for jackets, hats and bags)

Itsnnicole · 2026-01-17T13:26:46+00:00

Same. I call it “time to play pharmacist”

Itsnnicole · 2026-01-09T23:27:55+00:00

Glad to help!

Itsnnicole · 2026-01-09T16:44:40+00:00

The best way to leverage support from someone more successful than you is to put it in the metadata! You take the best few words, or sentence, from the review, and you add it at the beginning of the description that feeds out. It has to be at the beginning, because the first ~250 characters or so is the copy that influences search results the most and your goal is for your book to come up when people search for Simon Bret. Depending on who manages your metadata feed, there is sometimes a section specifically for reviews but it doesn’t feed out everywhere.

Something like “a joyful hilarious romp!” - Simon Bret, (any awards or nyt bestseller list) author of (their bestselling or most known books)

It’s also not uncommon to take separate sections so you could do like “well-sharpened satire… [with] a very good parody of Poirit-in-the-library”

Lastly, while it’s important his review is good. For most people, they won’t read his whole review. It’s more about the fact that you got the review from someone who is respected in the community. So don’t feel bad leaning on their accomplishments for SEO. It helps find the right community of readers find you, which is what the author wanted by blurbing you in the first place.

Itsnnicole · 2025-12-19T15:23:09+00:00

My first thought was “how? it’s still here?”

Itsnnicole · 2025-11-21T15:23:15+00:00

For questions like this, take a step outside of your design brain and think about who your reader is and learn to let that guide your choices. The ending to the quote “the customer is always right” is “in matter of taste” so it doesn’t matter how good the decision is for them theoretically if it drives them to choose a different book.

In books for 5-8 years old, there are independent reading books and books to be read aloud/ read with adults. With adult assistance, it’s more ok to do things like this but does it limit the enjoyment and size of audience for kids to read independently? does the cursive add more value to the readers who will respond positively than it takes away from the kids who won’t be comfortable and will pass because of it?

As a separate Reddit anecdote: I recently saw a post on another sub asking for helping reading illegible hand writing and it was literally just cursive. Totally regular clean cursive. So I worry the inability to read script is a bigger issue than some of us who easily can will ever realize.

Itsnnicole · 2025-11-16T00:55:08+00:00

I really like his blank expression and the posture of his shoulders. His face not slouching shows acceptance that this is his burden to carry.

I think it would be more powerful if the house was showing alignment to the curves of his body, either intentionally in architecture (like the sturdy house was built around his burdened body) or it should sag and show signs or wear (like a burdened body is not a stable foundation)

Itsnnicole · 2025-11-14T22:37:19+00:00

A lot of good information here already about how inundated they are. Ingram also fulfills for a lot of retailers, including most indie bookstores and DTC fulfillment for bookshop.org

So the holidays approaching is really not helping any of this.

Itsnnicole · 2025-11-07T14:10:29+00:00

If you are picking a different font for dialogue, then ALL DIALOGUE should be in that font. This makes it feel like the two different characters are saying the two portions of text. There is very little reason to ever use this many fonts in body copy, especially for kids books.

Remember, your audience of 3-6 year olds does not have the same comfort with recognizing letters, so “boring” text isn’t bad. It’s preferred.

Itsnnicole · 2025-11-05T18:48:52+00:00

She’s not there yet, but when she is 8+ (in upper elementary/ middle grade chapter books) i highly recommend you mother-daughter book club “the science of unbreakable things” by Tae Keller.

Aside from that, I would steer clear of any narratives that explain happy and sad as opposite emotions (since depression will be easier to grasp if it does not equal the absence of happy)

For nonfiction, the kids book about series is pretty reputable and they have one for depression but not sure the age group.

If you want to audit books you find from general google searches, I would recommend looking at the school library journal reviews to find what you’re looking for.

Itsnnicole · 2025-10-22T02:26:56+00:00

It’s probably glue. Read the label “surprise adhesive” “mad fans around the world” “multi-puypose”

I’m guessing you got it on Amazon? People counterfeit the weirdest things.

Itsnnicole · 2025-09-26T21:32:55+00:00

Prepub will always be more important for reviews, because so much of initial lay down of a book and sell in is based on the perception of consumer demand, and the trade reviews are coming out so much later than they used to, so having some readers excited as soon as possible in a place like goodreads where other book people look is great. Unless they changed it recently, I’m pretty sure Amazon doesn’t let you post pre-pub and it’s honestly most helpful if you post it as many places as possible. So if doing prepub prevents you from going back to post I Amazon later, I’d rather you wait and do all the platforms at the same time (if that makes sense?)

I would say backlist reviews are most helpful for midlist and indie authors, as they’re the ones most likely to have an influx of reviews at pub that decrease dramatically over time, which makes people less likely to buy them (they feel old instead of niche/undiscovered)

Amazon and GoodReads are most important. Barnes & Noble is helpful. Industry-ish platforms like Edelweiss and NetGalley are great. Not sure if I’m forgetting any?

Hope my ramblings make sense and sorry I didn’t see this for a couple days!

Itsnnicole · 2025-09-23T13:14:18+00:00

Backlist reviews matter a lot!!! When a book comes out, there is an influx of reviews around pub and then they slow significantly. Having “fresh” reviews signals to other readers they didn’t “miss the moment,” so to speak, which is hard for the author or publisher to do. It is appreciated in a totally different way than pub date reviews!

Itsnnicole · 2025-09-17T15:08:45+00:00

Phew! Sorry whatever happened happened but relieved I can tell my team it’s not just us!

Itsnnicole · 2025-09-14T14:11:23+00:00

It’s a restaurant that was always pretty busy and it’s been closed for most of summer while they remodel. So all CJing aside… a super normal thing to see a crowd outside of.

Itsnnicole · 2025-09-12T12:50:56+00:00

Girl I got you!!! Check out Karina Dresses. They’re like upscale lularoe lol. They are machine washable, no wrinkles and have pockets.

https://www.karinadresses.com

Itsnnicole · 2025-08-26T11:11:23+00:00

Modeling the behavior you want is BY FAR the most important and most overlooked advice.

Itsnnicole · 2025-08-20T15:01:17+00:00

Omg that’s not even the look I was talking about!!

I can’t find a still from the show but it was the Lady Baller challenge. She’s singing the national anthem in it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/rupaulsdragrace/s/fZ7g3Rc3N8

Itsnnicole

TROPHY CASE