VOYA & BWI

So this is interesting:

Kat Kan writes the "Graphically Speaking" column for VOYA: Voice of Youth Advocates, a magazine for librarians who serve young adults (i.e. teens, to regular folk). In each quarterly column she reviews several (typically four to eight) graphic novels that would be appropriate for a young adult library collection (e.g. in a pulbic library or a high school library). For example, in the December column she reviews Owly, Emily and the Intergalactic Lemonade Stand, Amelia Rules! What Makes You Happy, and The Land of Sokmunster; in the October column she reviewed several manga volumes, including Azumanga Daioh, Blue Inferior, Fruits Basket, and Sgt. Frog.

Okay, that's kind of interesting, but it's no great surprise that libraries are keen on the Graphic Novel these days, and it's only fit that the library review literature is featuring GNs.

The really interesting thing I recently learned is that BWI, one of the leading distributors of children's and young adult books to public libraries, now offers an option for libraries to set up a standing order for all the titles that Kat reviews in her VOYA column.

Standing Order = Guaranteed Sales

We librarians really like standing orders; it's one of those things that makes our work much more managable. I should imagine that soon just about every library that deals with BWI and has a GN collection will sign up for this service (as Kat is generally seen as a very knowledgeable reviewer).

Publishers interesting in submitting their GNs for review by Kat in VOYA should see the information here.