Friday, September 22, 2023

Book Fairs & Literary Festivals Bible For Authors

  


There are a few hundred popular book fairs held across the country annually. There are also dozens of international ones as well. These fairs provide awesome opportunities to authors — and should be a key part of any serious book marketing campaign.  

Why should authors attend these book fairs? Authors can show up to:  

Speak

By having a discussion about or a reading of your book — or by participating on author panels — you establish and promote your author brand.  

Network and Discovery

Just by attending you position yourself to meet and connect with others, from fellow authors and book publishers to readers, literary agents, and book professionals (editors, illustrators, printers, distributors, marketers, and TV and film agents).  

Display

Set up a table or booth and display your book. Hand out fliers, swag, or sweets.  Sell your book.  

Advertise 

Use the fair’s website, newsletter, directory, or social media to advertise your book.  

See What Other Authors Do

Use this opportunity to go on a reconnaissance mission and monitor what competitors do to market effectively.  

News Media Coverage

This could be your lucky day of being in the right place at the right time. Journalists and book reviewers often attend these events, looking for a good story, great book, or interesting personality.  

Book Giveaways

Giving out free, signed copies of your books to book nerds could generate some word-of-mouth buzz.  

Social Media Opps

Maybe someone with a strong social media platform comes upon your book at the fair and decides to blog about it, post a video, interview you, or write a book review.   

To attend these book fairs, festivals, expos, and conventions, you may need to signup or purchase tickets months in advance. Should you plan on not just attending but to seek out booth space, advertising, or speaking opportunities, you likely need to contact them four to six months in advance.   

So, where does one find lists of scheduled book fairs? Look no further than these resources:  

Book Fair Directory

http://www.author.pub/Book-Fair-Directory.html  

Writer’s Digest Book Fair List

https://www.writersdigest.com/publishing-insights/list-of-book-fairs-and-book-festivals-by-state

C-SPAN Bookfairs List

https://www.c-span.org/bookTv/?bookfairs

 

Best Indie Author Events

https://selfpublishingformula.com/the-best-indie-author-events-for-2023/

 

Writer Conferences

https://thewritelife.com/writers-conferences/

 

Book Events

https://aalbc.com/events/list.php

 

List of International Book Fairs

https://blog.kotobee.com/book-fairs-2023/

 

Calendar of Daily Book Events

https://www.google.com/search?q=book+conventions+2023&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#fpstate=tlexp&htiq=book%20conventions%202023

 

What will you need to have or bring with you?

·         Brings Your Books  or Galleys

·         Take Business Cards

·         Carry Fliers

·         Have A Press Kit

·         Create/update Your Web Site

·         Establish Social Media Accounts

 

Here are 52 literary festivals from across the nation:

 

  1. Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway, Galloway, NJ. https://wintergetaway.com 
  1. Deep Valley Book Festival, Mankato, MN https://www.deepvalleybookfestival.com   
  1. SCBWI New York Conference, New York, NY https://www.scbwi.org/events/in-person-ny-winter-conference-2023 
  1. Tucson Festival of Books Tucson, AZ http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org 
  1. Savannah Book Festival, Savannah, GA  https://www.savannahbookfestival.org   
  1. AWP Conference and Bookfair, Seattle, WA https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference  
  1. Southern Voices, Hoover,  AL https://www.hooverlibrary.org/sv?sfw=pass1670037254   
  1. AWP Conference and Bookfair, Philadelphia, PA  https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference   
  1. Palm Beach Book Festival, Boca Raton, FL https://www.palmbeachbookfestival.com 
  1. Jackson Hole Writers Conference, Jackson Hole, WY  https://jhwriters.org/conference 
  1. New Orleans Book Festival, New Orleans, LA https://bookfest.tulane.edu 
  1. Sunshine State Book Festival, Gainesville, FL https://www.sunshinestatebookfestival.com 
  1. Left Coast Crime, Tucson, AZ  https://leftcoastcrime.org 
  1. Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference, LA, CA http://www.wcwriters.com/aglawc   
  1. Southern Kentucky Book Fest, Bowling Green, KY. https://sokybookfest.org    
  1. Florida Reading Festival, Fort Myers, FL http://readfest.org 
  1. Nantucket Book Festival, Nantucket, MA  https://nantucketbookfestival.org 
  1. Minnesota Writing Workshop, St. Paul, MN https://minnesotawritingworkshop.com 
  1. American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL https://2023.alaannual.org 
  1. Oxford Conference for the Book, Michigan. MS https://oxfordconferenceforthebook.com 
  1. LitFest Pasadena, Pasadena, CA https://litfestpasadena.org 
  1. Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference, Hamilton, NJ  http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/conference 
  1. Las Vegas Writers Conference, Las Vegas, NV  http://lasvegaswritersconference.com 
  1. Alabama Book Festival, Montgomery, AL  http://www.alabamabookfestival.org 
  1. Aspen Summer Words Writing Conference, Aspen, CO  https://www.aspenwords.org/programs/summer-words 
  1. A Rally of Writers, Lansing, MI. https://arallyofwriters.wordpress.com 
  1. Get Lit! Literary Arts Festival, Spokane, WA.. https://inside.ewu.edu/getlit 
  1. Bay Area Book Festival, Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park, Berkeley, CA  https://www.baybookfest.org/2023info 
  1. Montclair Literary Festival, Montclair, NJ  http://succeed2gether.org/montclair-literary-festival 
  1. Ohioana Book Festival, Columbus, OH. http://www.ohioana.org/programs/ohioana-book-festival 
  1. Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books, Pittsburgh, PA https://www.pittsburghbookfestival.org   
  1. Los Angeles Festival of Books, University of Southern California, LA. https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks 
  1. Newburyport Literary Festival, Newburyport, MA https://newburyportliteraryfestival.org 
  1. Annapolis Book Festival,Annapolis, MD. https://www.keyschool.org/community/annapolis-book-festival 
  1. Nonfiction Writers Conference, Gold River, CA https://nonfictionwritersconference.com 
  1. Biographers International Organization (BIO) Conference, Santa Fe, NM.  https://biographersinternational.org/conference 
  1. Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Ripton, VT  https://www.middlebury.edu/writers-conferences 
  1. San Antonio Book Festival, San Antonio, TX https://sabookfestival.org 
  1. Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference, Franklin, TN https://www.killernashville.com

    40. Maine Romance Writers Retreat,                   Portland, ME https://www.maineromancewriters.com/p/retreat.html


  1. Short Story Fest, Baltimore, MD. https://shortstoryfest.com 
  1. Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Ridgecrest, NC https://www.blueridgeconference.com 
  1. Book Lovers Con, Orlando, FL  https://www.bookloverscon.com 
  1. Write-to-Publish Conference, Wheaton, IL https://writetopublish.com 
  1. International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA https://www.innovopublishing.com/the-international-christian-retail-show.html 
  1. Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, San Diego, CA http://clarion.ucsd.edu 
  1. Oklahoma Writers Federation Conference, Oklahoma City, OK  https://www.owfi.org/#!conference 
  1. Sleuthfest, Boca Raton, FL https://sleuthfest.com 
  1. Readercon, Quincy, MA https://readercon.org 
  1. Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Salem, MA  https://masspoetry.org 
  1. Detroit Festival of Books, Detroit, MI  https://detroitbookfest.com 
  1. Hudson Children’s Book Festival, Hudson, NY  https://hudsonchildrensbookfestival.com

Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

Read This!

Read This Before Writing Or Promoting A Book!

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/09/read-this-before-writing-book.html

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.4 million pageviews. With 4,600+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.  

 

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