Book Display Idea – Using a Book Buzz From a Conference

It is possible to get ideas from anywhere when it comes to figuring out which book displays you will set up for a given month. When you attend a conference or training session, keep the handouts and use them to create a book display. Recently, I attended ARRTCon 2024 in Naperville, IL. Sourcebooks attended and gave a great book buzz of their upcoming titles. They supplied printouts of their slides with all the upcoming book information.

Pay close attention to how the publisher’s staff talk about upcoming books. Look at how they describe them and what they compare them to. There could be something that catches your attention and leads you into your stacks to unshelve some books and create a display.

From the Sourcebooks presentation –

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead This was described as “a thriller that ties in true crime elements spectacularly” and “loosely inspired by the real Idaho murders, this is bound to resonate in a true crime obsessed world.” There are many crime novels now that are either based upon actual crimes or read like true crime books. Here are a few lists to get you started:

Books To Read if You Love True Crime – Penguin Random House
10 Unforgettable Novels Inspired by Real Crimes – Crime Reads
10 Novels that Read Like True Crime – Bucks County Free Library
Faux Forensics: 14 Novels Written Like True Crime – Book Riot

Think of books like Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.

A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling This “features compelling plotting, rich characterizations, and dry humor reminiscent of Fargo” and is crime fiction with a “dynamic queer main character written by a queer author”.

Books to Read for Fans of Fargo – New In Books
7 of the Funniest Crime Novels Ever Written – Electric Lit

Be Gay, Do Crime: 20 Must-Read LGBTQ+ Crime Novels – Book Riot
From Gritty Noir to Cozy Quozies: Queer Crime Fiction Summer Reads – Crime Reads

There were many more titles included but I hope that this has given you some inspiration. If you had either of these books on order, you could include signage that encouraged people to put the title on hold if they were interested. Remember, we can’t assume that everyone knows what services we supply!