This is the third and final week that Book Expo America is using the medium of Unshelved to tell you about what's going down in Los Angeles later this month. To summarize: a lot. We walked away from last year's BEA in New York City saying that it was our favorite library conference, and there's every reason to think 2008 will be even better. Especially for those of you who live on the West coast, BEA 2008 is the place to be. Let's review, shall we, why you should be among the 4000 librarians and educators who will be there:

• The lastest books, Advance Reader Copies, and Galleys that will be buzzing for summer and fall
• 1,000 authors to meet, greet, listen to, get autographs from, and recruit for your school or library!
• 2,000 exhibitors with thousands of money-saving show specials, including...
• 1,200 publishers, more than you’ll see anywhere else. Including major publishers, university presses, independents, and audio publishers.
• Special events featuring renowned authors and editors
• Conference sessions you can use, like budgeting, hot book titles, how to program events, and more!
• Affordable registration - cheaper than any other national show
• A special hotel at a special price

And then there's the fun stuff going on at the Unshelved Library Lounge:

• Publisher Book Slam - The hottest publishers each have 15 minutes to pitch you the hottest books. Emceed by Bill.
• Library Confessions - Tell your darkest secret to Gene for later podcast. Names will be changed to protect the not-so-innocent.
• Unshelved Live - Bill and Gene will write and draw an Unshelved comic strip with your help! Suggest the topic, come up with the punchlines, and lay it out.
• Unshelved Store - Jana will have more Unshelved books and merchandise than ever before, including our new book, Frequently Asked Questions.

Finally, Gene and I will be debuting our new talk Surviving the Public Saturday at 11am. Learn the Unshelved way to deal with the worst people on earth: customers.

If you're not already registered the best place to do it is through our Unshelved@BEA page, because you'll qualify to win cool prizes from Unshelved and BEA, including an appearance in Unshelved. We've still got three more drawings, so sign up today for the most chances to win!

A brief reminder that we are currently accepting preorders for our new collection Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Not only will you be among the first to read FAQ, not only will Gene and I sign your copy of FAQ, but I will sketch one of our characters (Colleen, unless you specify otherwise) in it. This offer expires at the end of the month.

We've also got a great price on buying a set of all six of our books - at $70 you get almost two books free, plus free shipping. We're also experimenting with the free market by letting you choose any six of our books for the same price. That means you and five of your friends can get a killer price on FAQ, if you choose. Or get the three books you're missing from your collection and get the rest as low-price gifts. We don't care. We love all our children equally. And until the end of the month, Gene and I will sign all the books you buy with a copy of FAQ.

A brief update on my emerging love affair with Twitter.

I only have two coworkers - Gene and our store manager Jana - each of whom I meet with once a week and talk to every other day. And of course I work at home, so I see my family quite often. But I miss the hallway conversations of a workplace. I tried replacing them with instant messaging, but it's too 1:1 for my taste, and my friends aren't always online when I am (or else they're pretending they're not).

Twitter is my new workplace hallway. I'm tracking the passing thoughts of a dozen cartoonists (and growing), the ones they'd never bother blogging. There are pithy comments, advice, opinions, confessions, news, all posted asynchronously so it doesn't matter who's online when. It can be noisy, and it's easy to fall behind, but unlike a blog no one assumes you're reading it all and so you can just start from scratch any time you want. And if someone is particularly noisy you just drop them from your list.

For my part it's a place to talk about myself without feeling self-concious because that's what it's there for. And I do so love to talk about myself.

Bottom line: I'm certain it isn't for everyone, but Twitter fills a communications gap in my life. Follow me.