National Arts and Humanities Month, ‘n’ Stuff. GOOD Stuff.

If you’re involved with Americans for the Arts, you might be aware that October is National Arts and Humanities Month–participate in “Creative Conversations,” local film screenings, and other events in your area, or put together your own events. Check out the tool kit for ideas, including Ten Simple Ways Parents Can Get More Art in Their Kids’ Lives. Especially now, when times are difficult and many people are thinking of the arts as a luxury, let’s remind people that it’s a necessity.

Two awesome blog dudes, Gregory K and JOMB‘s Mark Blevis, have teamed up to produce four webcasts “designed to help publishers, editors, publicists, authors and illustrators better understand how to make the web work for them, and how to engage and collaborate with the Kidlit community.” How cool is that, especially if you’re a social media n00b or just intimidated by the array of options out there for promoting your work? The series, titled “How social media can help you sell books: Guidance for the book publishing industry and its stakeholders,” and covers topics like searches, alerts, Twitter, interacting via social media, and more. (Much as I find all that stuff overwhelming and I’ve got my hands more than full with what I’m already doing, I probably need to know this stuff…)

If you haven’t yet checked out Mother Reader’s latest contribution to ForeWord Magazine’s Shelf Space column, check it out–inspired by a listserv comment from author Laurel Snyder, Pam talks about buzz and hype for well-known books vs. lesser-known titles, and “the role of bloggers in highlighting the hidden-treasure books among the publicity-driven titles.” It’s a fascinating discussion, and if you ever wondered what a Whizzlefart is, you won’t want to miss it. (Ha! Made you click!)

I also heard via the Kidlitosphere listserv that another children’s literature listserv, CCBC-Net, is going to be discussing crossover titles during the second half of September, so if you’re a fan of Kelly H’s Crossover blog, you might want to sign up for the discussion. (I’m kind of at my listserv max at the moment, tempting as it sounds.)

A few things I ran across on Twitter and elsewhere: Colleen recently wrote a post for Crossed Genres magazine about the history of Guys Lit Wire. My friend who is also named Sarah is running a Catching Fire giveaway at her group blog, Alert Nerd, so if you want to win a copy of the book, a t-shirt, and a collectible pin, go enter sometime in the next few weeks. Via Jen Robinson, I found out that California’s Folsom-Cordova School District is closing all 28 of its K-12 libraries, which is truly tragic. And lastly, via Holly Cupala and also BoingBoing, comes a WSJ article about cheating on your literary books with YA fiction. I say we should all be loud and proud!

Last but not least, HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY to Sara Lewis Holmes‘ newest, Operation Yes!!