7 Things I Learned at This Year’s NOVL Breakfast

Every year, we kick off BookExpo and BookCon with an event where content creators, librarians, and media come to our New York office to hear about our upcoming titles, get a behind-the-scenes look, build their own NOVLboxes, and more.

This year, we had the honor of having Brandy Colbert, author of Little & Lion, Finding Yvonne, and the upcoming The Revolution of Birdie Randolph come as our guest author! We all sported denim jackets to match her new book jacket, which everyone has fallen in love with. As per tradition at every show and event, I’ve rounded up seven things I learned at the breakfast yesterday.

  1. You all shine so bright, even on a rainy Wednesday morning.

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We might have gotten to the office at 7:00AM to set-up, but some of y’all showed up on time even if they were still running on west coast time. Sure, the weather in New York may not be perfect right now, but you all shine so bright that we don’t need the sun to give us our daily dose of vitamin C. 😎

2. Everyone swoons over our editors and designers.

 
 

Ruqayyah, Hannah, Nikki, Marcie, Pam, and Karina don’t need to turn on their charm—they’re always that charming, which is why we needed you all to meet them at the NOVL Breakfast. We hope you enjoyed your peek into the book-making process, from acquisitions to the cover design.

3. Brandy’s covers are literal works of art I would like to have on my walls, all thanks to Marcie.

 
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Can you believe that Brandy and Marcie had never met in person until yesterday? Brandy’s books + Marcie’s vision for the covers are literally a match made in book heaven. Marcie gave a lovely presentation on why she chose to go in a new direction for the Little & Lion paperback, and Brandy showed off her nameplate necklace that she got after she saw the cover of Finding Yvonne!

4. You get the photo backdrop of your dreams when you combine the minds of two brilliant people.

 
 

Ok, seriously—can I have this at my NOVL-themed wedding? Savannah and Jess seriously took our vision to the next level and made the backdrop of our dreams. I guess this is what happens when you have an awesome team. We took another hour and a half to ourselves to take photos before we had the heart to take it down.

5. NOVLers have such a great sense of style.

 
 

Are you sure you guys are bookstagrammers/book bloggers? I swore I saw a bunch of fashion influencers in the office yesterday. I couldn’t get over everyone’s outfits. Can you guys be personal stylists, please? I will pay you in books.

6. I work with the best team in the history of the world.

 
 

There’s not one person on this team that doesn’t pour their heart and soul into what they do, and I am eternally grateful and proud to be able to work alongside them. Also, I think it’s time to get custom NOVL-embroidered denim jackets.

7. We would not be here without all your support.

 
 

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. NOVL would not be where we are without all your support. We hope you have a great BookExpo and/or BookCon! Please come stop by booth #1338, because I didn’t get enough of y’all yesterday—I never will.

Valerie WongComment