The Importance of Author Visits

Getting a book signed by an author is cool, but why do I want to bring my young boys to meet authors they probably won't even remember meeting? These author visits helps make authors feel like the celebrities I believe they are. My hope is that if we go to meet an author, and the kids see all these people lining up to have their book signed, it will make them want to be like the author. They'll get excited about writing and reading. I want my boys to idolize authors like other children idolize football players and movie stars. I want them to find reading and writing exciting. P-man already thinks it is pretty darn cool that most authors sign the book with a special little message to him. The books that he has gotten autographed are on the regular bedtime rotation. P-man is seeing the author as a celebrity.

There are actual celebrity authors. Authors whose book sales have brought them in to the media spotlight. J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and Stephenie Meyer are examples of authors who have been in the media so much that you'd probably recognize them if you saw them on the street. Most other authors are lucky in the fact that they get the fame and (sometimes) fortune while keeping some privacy because people don't always know what they look like. Please do not confuse celebrity authors with celebrities who think they can be authors. My dad loathes the celebrity who tries to write a children's book. I will no doubt talk more about that particular subject in the future.

Then there is the third type, the author who becomes a celebrity because their book launches them in to other things. *Warning: this is where I get to brag a little.* One such autanhor celebrity is Anthony Bourdain. His road to celebrity started when he wrote the book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. This led to more books and then television shows. Recently I was able to go see Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern (a t.v. celebrity who writes books for children, but his are good) speak at the State Theater in Minneapolis. My wonderful husband had purchased the tickets for my birthday and splurged to allow us to meet the two after the show. It was so cool to have my books signed by two people who make me want to read, write, eat, and travel. Being around these authors made me want to write, thus the birth of this blog. I hope that someday an author can inspire P-man and Wes-Wes that same way.