Shannon Hale, author of the “Princess Academy” series, told the audience at the Project Book Babe fundraiser she is most like her villains in her books.
But after the enormous success of the fundraiser, many will disagree with Hale’s quote about herself or, for that matter, any of the other authors who attended the event.
With the help of the authors rallying support from their fans, editors, publishers and other authors, the Project Book Babe Fundraiser raised more than $90,000 for Faith Hochhalter, affectionately known as the Book Babe.
“My goal with this event was to get all of us who Faith has helped to rally around her to raise enough money for her to get through two years with not having to worry about bills, and that way she could fight cancer and concentrate on that,” says Jon Lewis, author of “The Revenge of the Shadow King.”
Lewis, Hale and nine other local children/young adult authors — Frank Beddor of “The Looking Glass Wars” series, Chris Gall of “There’s Nothing to Do on Mars,” P.J. Haarsma of “The Softwire” series, Dean Lorey of the “Nightmare Academy” series, James A. Owen of “Here, There Be Dragons,” Janette Rallison of “Just One Wish,” Laini Taylor of the “Faeries of Dreamdark” series, Brandon Mull of the “Fablehaven” series and Stephenie Meyer of the “Twilight” series — took their friendship with Hochhalter to a whole new level by hosting the Project Book Babe fundraiser.
For the authors, Hochhalter has been more than a book buyer. She has been a close, personal friend who has moved mountains for their books.
“Faith has just pushed and has been someone who has given me encouragement and liked the books,” Mull says. “She is someone who was influential at the Changing Hands bookstore and was a cheerleader for the books.”
Bookselling is more than just a job or hobby for Hochhalter — it is her passion.
“I am a passionate bookseller, as most of [the authors] will attest to, and when I believe in a book there is no going back for me,” Hochhalter says. “I will always do whatever is in my power to make sure that just about everyone I know reads the book.”
“As a book buyer, I would get ARCs (advanced reading copies) of books and most of those particular authors’ books were some of the ones I loved. Most of them were first time authors,” Hochhalter says. “Those ARCs were ones I stayed up all night reading because I could not put them down and, in a couple of instances, ditched my friends so I could finish. I would immediately start talking about those books with my co-workers and asking the marketing dept if we could get the authors for a signing.”
However, the actual promotion of the authors’ work went beyond just word of mouth. Hochhalter worked her magic to plan a variety of events for the authors she loved.
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