The Experiment
To be held next Thursday, November 10, from 7-9 p.m., at the Bar Pilar in Washington, D.C., Café Scientifique features four Joseph Henry Press authors who will sit separately and meet groups of interested readers in "round robin fashion" for 10 minutes at a time. Two are authors of frontlist titles; two have backlist titles. About 125 people are expected. The event is free, but there is a cash bar and dinner. Olsson's, the Washington area bookseller, will sell copies of the titles. Special cocktails are being created, one to go with each book.
The authors and titles are:
The Premise
Organizer Matt Litts, publicity director and assistant marketing manager at Joseph Henry Press, the trade imprint of the National Academies Press, happily called Café Scientifique "an atypical book event in an atypical book environment," a mixture of "the tradition of an 18th-century smoky tavern," where scientists and others would meet to carry on "scientific dialogue," and a "takeoff on speed dating." Marketing director Ann Merchant suggested "something along these lines," he said.
Litts said he hoped that participants will be comfortable enough to say, "I don't agree with that" or "I don't understand that." He would like, he continued, "some serious dialogue. It will be like a book club but the authors will sit there with them."
Reactive Agents
As of earlier this week, the press had about 75 positive RSVPs. It will be sending out more invitations and expects extra interest from an upcoming Washington Post article on the event. The press has sent e-mailings to its own lists, several science lists, an Olsson's event list and others.
Besides helping two independent businesses--Olsson's and the Bar Pilar--"we're supporting the community," Litts said. He also wants to create word of mouth, "the best form of marketing."
Findings and Outlook
The press hopes to do more such events. "We have the template now and should be able to do it with some regularity," he said, noting that already he has been contacted by "a half dozen authors in the area" asking to be included in the next Café Scientifique. The press would happily work with other publishers. "It would be really neat to have some big-time trade science authors doing this," Litts added.
To be held next Thursday, November 10, from 7-9 p.m., at the Bar Pilar in Washington, D.C., Café Scientifique features four Joseph Henry Press authors who will sit separately and meet groups of interested readers in "round robin fashion" for 10 minutes at a time. Two are authors of frontlist titles; two have backlist titles. About 125 people are expected. The event is free, but there is a cash bar and dinner. Olsson's, the Washington area bookseller, will sell copies of the titles. Special cocktails are being created, one to go with each book.
The authors and titles are:
- Robert Hazen whose Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origin is the inspiration for a drink that Bar Pilar's main bartender plans to create, "a primordial sludge kind of cocktail," as Litts put it.
- Julie Wakefield, author of Halley's Quest: A Selfless Genius and His Troubled 'Paramore.'
- Robert Zimmerman, author of Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel.
- David Lindley, author of Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy.
The Premise
Organizer Matt Litts, publicity director and assistant marketing manager at Joseph Henry Press, the trade imprint of the National Academies Press, happily called Café Scientifique "an atypical book event in an atypical book environment," a mixture of "the tradition of an 18th-century smoky tavern," where scientists and others would meet to carry on "scientific dialogue," and a "takeoff on speed dating." Marketing director Ann Merchant suggested "something along these lines," he said.
Litts said he hoped that participants will be comfortable enough to say, "I don't agree with that" or "I don't understand that." He would like, he continued, "some serious dialogue. It will be like a book club but the authors will sit there with them."
Reactive Agents
As of earlier this week, the press had about 75 positive RSVPs. It will be sending out more invitations and expects extra interest from an upcoming Washington Post article on the event. The press has sent e-mailings to its own lists, several science lists, an Olsson's event list and others.
Besides helping two independent businesses--Olsson's and the Bar Pilar--"we're supporting the community," Litts said. He also wants to create word of mouth, "the best form of marketing."
Findings and Outlook
The press hopes to do more such events. "We have the template now and should be able to do it with some regularity," he said, noting that already he has been contacted by "a half dozen authors in the area" asking to be included in the next Café Scientifique. The press would happily work with other publishers. "It would be really neat to have some big-time trade science authors doing this," Litts added.