Tales from the Podcast Stage – Star Wars Bookworms at Star Wars Celebration Chicago

Tales from the Podcast Stage continues with Star Wars Bookworms.

Tell me a bit about your Celebration experience. How many have you been to? Have you ever been on the podcast stage before (or applied but didn’t make it before)? Why did you apply to be on the podcast stage?

Star Wars Bookworms began in 2013 and the first Star Wars Celebration they could attend together was Anaheim in 2015. At that point Aaron had been to two Star Wars Celebrations while Teresa had not been to any. Star Wars Bookworms was one of the first podcasts to be on the new podcast stage that made its debut in Anaheim in 2015.

Star Wars Bookworms was on the podcast stage in 2015 at Anaheim and again this year in 2019 in Chicago. Star Wars Celebration Orlando in 2017 we did not apply for the podcast stage in favor of taking that convention a little easier. We like to do the podcast stage to bring more visibility to the world of Star Wars publishing, it also gives us the opportunity to podcast in the same place since Aaron is from Philadelphia, PA while Teresa is from Austin, TX and we record over the internet 99% of the time. It also gives us a chance to interact with our audience which is really fun.

How did you prepare for the podcast stage? Did you have a set structure for the conversation? Did you invite guests? Give out SWAG? Do giveaways?

We usually wait as long as we can to plan since news may break on books and comics. We also hope our panel is after the publishing panels so we can include news from those panels as well. Prior to the show we get a general outline of topics and we also determine whether we need guests to help us discuss these things.

This year we had our friends Bria LaVorgna and William Devereux on to help us discuss our favorite canon novels. We also were given the opportunity by Disney Lucasfilm Press to have EK Johnston on our panel. Having this opportunity changed what we wanted to discuss since we could really dive into the new book Queen’s Shadow with the author.

You have to be flexible with these things because guests can change and when that happens it can change your entire show outline. This episode of Star Wars Bookworms just happened to be our 100th episode which is a HUGE milestone. We made special commemorative buttons for the episode and everyone who came got that button. We also had our Keep On Reading May The Force Be With You buttons that we gave out at the show. We did do giveaways of books at our panel and it is always fun to give those books out to listeners especially if they have not read them before.

What were the highlights from your appearance on the podcast stage? Any big surprises (good or bad)?

Some of our biggest highlights were that so many of our friends and listeners we only know from social media came to our panel. We also had several people buy and wear our podcast shirts to the panel as well which was really cool. Having EK Johnston on the stage was amazing because most of the audience had NO clue she was coming. When she came into the room and we brought her on stage seeing their shocked faces was amazing for us. She really lights up a panel and knows how to have great conversation.

Another highlight for us was how well run the stage was this year and I think that is due to having Mark Newbold from Fantha Tracks and the Fantha Tracks team there to help. They also recorded our panel for us which is a huge help so we would have it as a backup recording to our own.

Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?

The only thing we should have done was make bookmarks…which makes sense since we are a books podcast…but believe it or not it never occurred to us until the panel was about to start.

Will you be at Anaheim in 2020 and if so do you think you’ll apply to be on the podcast stage again?

At this point there is no way to tell if we will be at Anaheim in 2020 since we do not know the dates and we both have full time demanding careers. We really hope we will be able to attend. As far as the podcast stage we may decide to apply again depending on if we go or not, I guess everyone will have to wait and see.

How can people find your podcast online?

If you want to listen to our shows you can find us online at the following links:

Twitter & Instagram: @swbookworms
Facebook Group: search for Star Wars Bookworms facebook group (there are a few screening questions to answer and then we will let you in)
Online we are a part of the Star Wars Report Network:

We would be honored to welcome new listeners.

And as always Keep on Reading, and may the force be with you!

Click this link or the image below to listen to the Star Wars Bookworms episode from Star Wars Celebration Chicago.