When Getting Seen Reading Scores!

Earlier this week the Kobo street team and some folks from Harper Collins Canada joined Julie Wilson, author of the amazing Seen Reading to surprise Toronto commuters who were seen reading with Julie's awesome new book, Seen Reading (which was inspired by the thrill book nerds like myself get when they see someone reading in public)

The surprise was a free Kobo Touch eReader pre-loaded with Julie's book.

How cool is THAT?

I managed to snap a pic of some of the team assembling early in the morning before their fun outing.

Check out the cool video . . . Love Your Commute.

Seen With Seen Reading And Seen On Stage With Julie

I had dinner last night with Anita Windisman, a friend I met through the print on demand and social media worlds.  I wanted to learn more about the awesome work she is doing helping people properly leverage LinkedIn (she runs One of a Kind Marketing) as well as her book (and some forthcoming book projects).

I, of course, had to show her Julie Wilson's Seen Reading and snap a picture of her holding it.

We then remembered that Julie, Anita and I (along with Nina Lassam) had all participated in a panel together at Word on the Street back in 2010, talking about social media for writers.  (I blah blah'd about it a bit on my blog here and in a post entitled Top Social Media Tools for Authors)

Here's a picture of us that I tweeted prior to us going onstage . . .

And one taken from the crowd . . .

Anita is the author of Business Lessons I Learned from Barbie (Kobo eBook, Amazon Paperback).

Successful. Beautiful. Powerful. A role model for every successful modern woman, Barbie loves her work and dares to dream big. She can do anything, and shows that with passion and determination, you can do anything too. Since 1959, when she was introduced by Mattel, Barbie has been a market leader, innovative and in tune with the times. This book offers seven business lessons from Barbie.

Rocky Raccoon Checked In To His Room . . .

Rocky Raccoon checked in to his room only to find . . . Seen Reading!

Seen Reading making friends with Gideon's Bible at St. Albert Inn, Alberta

When I was in Edmonton a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist snapping this picture in my hotel room at the St. Albert Inn.  I tweeted it, but the photo came out with the wrong orientation. So I'm trying to fix that here, and then properly Pin it to my Seen Holding Seen Reading board on Pinterest.

While I'm at it, a few more cute shots to pin . . .

Lambchop seen reading. She looks happy, doesn't she?

Julie Wilson's editor's Mom #seenreading

The picture of Julie's editor's Mom reading Seen Reading is cute - but I much prefer the cool meta picture that Robyn posted on Twitter . . . Robyn Read's Mom reading the Toronto Star featuring Julie holding the book while watching someone on the subway reading.  How beautifully meta and layered.

Seen Again

I've quite enjoyed pinning pictures of people with Julie Wilson's new book Seen Reading, and thought I'd share a few more pictures I have gathered.

First, a few more peeps, then the book in some interesting locations . . .

Scott Marinaro, Senior Manager US Vendor Relations, Kobo, regularly comes to Toronto for a dose of buttertarts, Rush and Julie Wilson's Seen Reading.

Cameron Drew, Director of Vendor Relations at Kobo is serious about being seen holding this book

Pieter Swinkels, Director Publisher & Industry Relations EU Kobo travels far and wide, but is right at home with Julie's book.

Toronto poet Paul Vermeersch and author of The Reinvention of the Human Hand gives his own hand a special treat.

Samantha Haywood (Julie's awesome literary agent) seen enjoying Julie's book with her beautiful family

And then, of course, we have some fun novelty shots (taken at the Enjoy Centre in St. Albert, Alberta)

An amusing lawn ornament at the Enjoy Centre seen eating Seen Reading

Even mannequins like to be Seen Reading (Enjoy Centre display)

This is just one of several posts featuring Julie Wilson's great book, Seen Reading.  For the other ones, check out Seen Some More, Seen Holding Seen Reading and Seen Wanting.

The Pinterest board these pictures are all destined for is called Seen Holding Seen Reading.

Seen Some More

Yesterday, at the end of another book-loving work day, I was able to snap some fresh pictures of bookish folks holding Julie Wilson's Seen Reading. 

All for the love of continuing to grow the Pinterest Seen Holding Seen Reading board.

So without further ado, here are a few of my Kobo pals checking out the awesome book.

No more "faking it" for Nathan - he's truly excited (halo effect & all) to be holding the real book.  That, or he was excited that I was moving to another spot and would no longer be sitting right beside him. The jury is still out on that one.

Stephen was annoyed to learn that I was moving beside him - but getting a chance to get his hands on a copy of the book seemed to lift his spirits.

Uma, who was a fan of the original blog the book is based on couldn't wait to not only get her hands on the book, but to start reading it. (I had to wrestle the book out of her hands to get her to give it back)

And while I was fighting with Uma for the book, Christina snuck up and grabbed the book, starting to read it. Here she is caught and Busted!

Seen Holding Seen Reading

This just in!

I now have an actual physical copy of Seen Reading by Julie Wilson.

Why am I so excited? Check out my blog post about this from last week called Seen Wanting.

I'm going to start digging into it this weekend.  Okay, I'll admit it, I started to take a few peeks. I couldn't help myself.

The book, by Freehand Books (an imprint of Broadview Press) is gorgeous, beautifully designed - from the texture of the cover itself right to the cover flaps, and right through the visual presentation of the printed text on paper. And it's not just the curious geo-tagged map cover that tempts you with spots to immediately jump to within the text, but the layout and presentation of the entries themselves.  There's an overall aura about the book now that I've held it in my hands which reinforces that it is a celebration of something I adore -- the voyeuristic thrill of seeing someone reading in public.

Along those lines, I must show a recent status update that my beautiful wife made the other day . . .

. . . she said "I saw someone reading . . . a BOOK at the bus stop! Not their stupid phone, but an actual book! So nice to see!"  She's a smart cookie, Francine, and often states things this wonderfully.  It falls right into line with this voyeuristic thrill us book lovers get when we spot someone reading in the wild.

And that's part of the meta magic of holding this book in your hands.


Simply, the book feels wonderful in your hands. It fits perfectly, like a glove. And it looks even better to be seen reading.

Speaking of which, I've got a photo of Clare Hitchins, publicist at Wilfred Laurier Press and a fellow book nerd. Seems she rec'd a review copy of the book yesterday as well.  So I'm presenting her picture holding the book . . .

. . . so that I can add her to the Pinterest board called Seen Holding Seen Reading.

Better be careful - I could add YOU to this growing board.

In fact, I WANT to add you to this board.  If you're a book lover and get your hands on the book, snap a pic and point me to it (or send it to me). If you're a bookseller, snap a picture of the book in your store (ideally, merchandised front and center for all your book-loving customers to marvel over)

Go ahead, get seen holding Seen Reading.

Seen Wanting

I was delighted to see a picture of my friend and fellow book lover Steph (of the awesome Bella's Bookshelves) holding an advance copy of Julie Wilson's forthcoming book Seen Reading, which is based on her wonderful website Seen Reading.

(Seen Reading was the result of Julie seeing a person reading in public, making a note of the book as well as what page of the book the person is on, then head to a local bookstore to jot down some of the text from that page report it all on her website. I blogged about my love for this project In Jan 2011)

So I created a Pinterest board for it called Seen Holding Seen Reading.

Wouldn't it be really cool and very meta to collect pictures of people excitedly holding Julie's awesome book? As the book prepares for launch, I'm making it a personal mission to find photos of people holding Julie's book - then, when it is released, I'll want to collect pictures of it on display in bookstores, being held by booksellers and customers from as many sources as possible.

I think it would just be good, clean fun.

I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book - so in the meantime, I snapped a picture of myself holding a print-out of the cover of the book.

I call it "Seen Wanting Seen Reading"

Can't wait to add a picture of me holding the REAL BOOK.

And can't wait to read the book too!