We are excited and grateful to have Author Kim C. Lee join our team as the Director of Children's Programming. Kim has been a supportive community member of our event in the past, and as a children's author herself with some planning experience we thing she's going to really help make our children's portion of the event shine. 

Cardyn and I have faced challenges, not being children's authors ourselves, in figuring out how to best serve that portion of the event. We have of course had Drag Queen Storytime, Firefighter Storytime, Mermaid Storytime, crafts, and play areas, but it requires a level of focus and detail that the children's part of our event deserves and that Kim has agreed to come on and help us with. 

You can learn more about Kim at her website: ​kimclee.com 
Please welcome her warmly by following her on socials and picking up one of her books.

The Write Women Book Fest is an all-genre women/femme-identifying or non-binary LGBTQIA-friendly author signing event with panels and workshops. We've slowly been morphing from a one-day fest to a two-day convention.

There is discourse on Threads right now, which I imagine Lady Whistlethreads will be covering next week, about the costs of book events. I can't speak for all book event planners, but I will say the side eye that's happening over there, though I don't think is meant to be malicious, certainly gives me pause as to how authors perceive book event planners, our value, our labor, and our intentions. I would venture to say a large percentage of book events are run by authors who, like me, have day jobs and try and squeeze in writing. We do it for the love of community and the looks on author's faces when they sell their books. We have had several authors sell their very first book at our event, and that makes us extremely happy. We do it to connect and network with other authors. It's a LOT of freaking work.

I would say we have about 99% happy, appreciative, helpful, kind, cooperative, low-drama authors who come to our event. The complaints we have received were mostly that the tickets should have been free. One person opted not to show for our workshop day last year because she didn't like that I ordered vegan food for our workshop event, from one of the best vegan restaurants in DC. Though two people there were highly allergic to shellfish and said it was the first time they could eat from a buffet without worry of cross-contamination.

Over the five events we've organized, some people didn't sell many books, others sold a lot of books. It's generally the people that don't sell many books that are upset. No book event can guarantee you sales. I know it's upsetting when you don't make a lot of sales. I'm an indie author and I have been there. The way I think of book events when I attend them as an author is as a fan-building opportunity and a networking and marketing expense. 

Cardyn and I do all we can to set up a space conducive to connecting with readers, selling books, and we try to treat you like a star. We can't please everybody, we aren't famous, and our event still isn't selling out tickets in the first five minutes, but we get a little bigger and better every year. We have had the absolute blessing of slow growth. It's allowed us to learn and adjust as we grow without any major upsetting catastrophes. 

A LITTLE BACKGROUND
I started this event in 2019, the same year I started a local group for women writers called Women Authors of Maryland, or WAM. I did so to connect with local authors and because I feel women authors face challenges their male peers do not. Then the pandemic hit and online connections were very important so I changed the name to The Write Women Network, so women authors outside of my location would feel welcome to join us on Facebook.

So, I started WAM, then I looked for a woman-centered book event near me and couldn't find one, so decided I to create one. With the help of some of the group members at the time, and the person who now co-organizes with me, Cardyn Brooks, we created the first The Write Women Book Fest.

We had the event at a historical property and partnered with the parks department, so the venue space was free. However there were expenses and a lot of volunteer labor on my part during planning, and physical labor (I hope I never have to fold and lug 50 tables after a long day ever again) on the part of several wonderful volunteers. All told Cardyn and I spent about $1300-$1500 each to put this event on. That's right, we not only didn't get paid, we paid to do it in dollars and labor all to uplift and support women authors. The event went well and was exciting!

We wanted to try again the next year and figure out how to make it work because paying about $3k each year out-of-pocket was not sustainable for us. Plus the sheer exhaustion from set-up and tear-down was too much.

We had a few meetings about the 2020 event, then of course covid and the lockdown happened. We didn't know what would become of our little festival that had a pretty good first year but it looked like the parks department would be shut down. So, we pivoted to a virtual event for 2020. Then 2021 was a hybrid, and 2022 was also a hybrid, then last year 2023 was for the first time at a hotel. This obviously changed the pricing structure, which I will get into below.

First things I want to note to keep all of this in context - hotel fees and requirements vary WIDELY.
Event planner priorities vary WIDELY. 

Our Priorities as we grew were as follows:

• A location to be indoors because worrying about weather and books was stressful
• A location that had ample free parking very close so women wouldn't have to be in parking garages and wheel to the location and the parking fees didn't add to expenses (some places parking was as much as $40 a day)
• Would hold about 100 authors and 400 attendees
• Located in Prince George's County preferably (ended up the cities were WAY too expensive, anyway)
• Provided set-up of tables, or the ability to rent and have tables set up

Other event planners might have a different wish list. If it's a very aesthetic thing like a fantasy con with a ball, they may want a very fancy venue and don't mind parking fees. If it's a Main St. style event, they might not worry about the weather. We had several lucky years at our first venue, but the year we moved to the hotel it poured, so we were glad to have done that.

Q. Why do conventions pay cover models? 
A. Cover models are comparable to a celebrity draw. They are "performers" and performers are entertainment, and therefore they get paid. We don't have cover models but we pay our drag queen, for example.

Q. Why are influencers let in for free?
A. Every author should have a keen awareness of the value of influencers. Influencers have a targeted market (sometimes an extremely LARGE one) and if they come to the book event and pick up your book and like it, it can be life-altering. To be able to get your book's swag into the hands of the right influencer is difficult and requires a lot of research and work on the part of the event planners. 

Q. Why do authors pay to put our books into a bag?
A. We have never charged to put swag into swag bags, but many events do. This may be to help pay for the bags themselves, to fund next year's seed money, it could be any number of reasons. Most of them don't require you to, and allow you to opt out. There is a LOT of labor involved with stuffing a hundred or more swag bags, storing the swag and so on. If you have to hire help because you can't find volunteers, that may also account for it.

Q. Why do we pay to attend?
A. There are many expenses associated with running a book event. Who should pay them? We try to balance the cost between the authors and the attendees, and it's a delicate balancing act. Our dream is to one day have a major sponsor that will help us keep our prices down.

Then there are monthly fees such as web domains, storage for book event bulky items, signs, marketing, lanyards, bags, nametags, also day-of managers so the even runs smoothly. Sound equipment rentals, decorations, software subscriptions. Some hotels require you buy a certain amount of catering as well. This is a photo of the price for the first day of our two day event next year. Not only is it expensive (and this is for a mid-range hotel) but you can see a deposit before you ever sell a space is required. I had to fork over $2k before I even knew if anybody would sign up. That's risk that all event planners take on. And this is one of the most affordable places I found!

Then there is the matter of my labor. It feels like on Threads the labor of the event planners is not being counted as worth anything. Maybe I'm being a little defensive, but comments seemed to be making an assumption that we are taking advantage of authors, so I'm going explain some of the labor involved. When you're a year out from the event it might be about 5 to 10 hours a week labor. But as you get closer to the event, the hours increase to basically a full-time job until the event arrives.

If you look at this website for example, every time a name changes, somebody comes on or drops out, I have to update everything. I have to link, find images, make graphics, schedule social media posts, find partnerships that are interesting and helpful. I have to look for influencers, the balloon arch person, where to rent sound equipment, how many mics we need, make the floorplan, price compare lanyards and order them, send out invoices and invoice reminders, answer dozens and dozens of emails. Put together the nametag kits and organize them properly, which is actually one of the most tedious jobs I've ever done in my life, but so very important to the organization of the event.

There is a LOT of labor involved with a book event, even a smallish one. And it's not just my labor either, Cardyn works all year long, we have meetings and phone calls. We try and organize workshops and panels. There is a lot that goes into it and most of it nobody would balk about paying a person to do or expect them to do for free. Last year we were able to pay ourselves a very small amount (less than $1k each), but only after we paid everybody else. That is the first time we have been able to do that.

Q. What about events that don't charge authors like mentioned on Threads, Strange Love Indy?
A. Some events might have a sponsor covering the space and people willing to organize it as volunteers. Some might be covered by grants, or the city.  Often free events are smaller and not held at hotels, or if they are, they are sponsored. Or they may put the whole expense onto the attendees. It's great that these events exist and if you can get into one, awesome. But it's not fair to think that because one event can do it, we all can do it, or that if we charge authors we are taking advantage of people. ALSO, we tried a few times having a few free slots for people to ask for if they couldn't afford the event, and those people tended to be no-shows. I'm sure there were good reasons, but it was bad for the event. I think some people would be very grateful to have the space, but to give up a space for free to have no-shows was not good. And not sustainable. Instead we have offered discounts when needed, or payment plans and that has worked better.

Q. Why am I paying to be here when someone else is receiving compensation to be here when my presence adds more value to the event?
A. I can't answer for all book events, but for us, it's a matter of name recognition, draw, experience, visibility, past support, and whether that person requires compensation. Will they bring in some people that might also buy from the other authors? Do they have a fanbase that works with the event?

Great big events with big names? I'm not one of those so I can't answer how they determine who has to pay and who gets paid. But my guess is that they estimate that person will bring in a lot of people and sell tickets and hopefully some of those people buy books from other lesser known authors.

Q. Shouldn't there be transparency so people know it's fair?
A. If it's a non-profit, yes. Otherwise, no. I'm going to just ask people to think about whether you want people up in your business decisions. Imagine the book world demanding you be transparent with all of your business details, who your editor is, what you paid for lunch, the car you rented, the character art you ordered. It's intrusive. If a business wants to be transparent, ok. That's fine. but EXPECTING somebody to just add MORE labor to their event planning just so people can scrutinize if mid-list Author Jane Doe's keynote was worth a free hotel room and two lunches, or if you spent enough on Facebook ads, or if you spent too much on lanyards, or if the hotel was charging too much for chicken sandwiches? No thanks. If it ever gets to that point, I will stop organizing book events and bury myself in writing.

Right now, Cardyn and I love planning this event. We have had so many amazing interactions and exciting moments. We've nearly had breakdowns and I almost fainted in 2022. In the end it comes down to what is sustainable and fair for us as the event planners whether we will continue on into 2026. We have done all we can to grow and make this event a positive experience. We fall short sometimes, we are human. We try to learn and do better next time. We aren't for everybody, and that's ok. Overall it's been a great experience because we have featured a very inclusive list of authors and we like being their cheerleaders.

Author Keturah Kendrick was our very first special guest our very first year of the book fest back in 2019. She has a new book out titled "And You Know This: Lessons on Living From Young Folx" which Cardyn and Heather will be discussing on The Write Women Book Fest Instagram on Thursday night at 7 p.m. EDT. Hope to see you there!

Hello! Authors, if you would like to be notified when registration for the  book fest opens in March please fill out THIS FORM. Thanks so much!

I've noticed some heated discussions in writer groups on Facebook about paid beta readers. Sometimes you'll see a person asking about hiring one and a flood of comments will come in saying things like, "I don't pay for beta readers," and "Run, it's a scam." 

Can a paid beta reader scam you? Yes! So can an editor, a formatter, or a book cover designer, but it doesn't make them any less legit as a business model. 

What is a beta reader?
A beta reader is a person who reads your book after alpha readers but before ARC readers. Beta reading a book requires labor, and like any labor it can be volunteer or paid. 

Here is a good post by Sarah Kuiken on the Draft2Digital blog about the differences in alpha, beta, and ARC readers. That article leans heavily on the example of volunteer beta readers as the default and doesn't mention paid readers, so I want to cover why you might want a paid beta reader.

Volunteer Beta Readers, Advantages & Disadvantages
Volunteer beta readers are sometimes a friend, or somebody from a Facebook group who enjoys beta reading. They could be part of an author's "street team" who are excited about seeing a not-yet-released version of the book, or they could be somebody who loves the particular genre the author writes in and like being part of the process.

The advantages of having a volunteer beta reader include knowing the person is excited to read the book, they are free, they might want to read your ARC and will leave you a review. Also, if a volunteer beta reader has a big platform and really loves your book, they might hype it a bit.

The disadvantages of  having a volunteer beta reader include not being able to ask them to stick to a deadline because you're asking them to do free labor. Not knowing their ability to catch problems in a full work. If they are not known to you personally, sending an unpublished work is risky.

There are many lovely, trustworthy, skillful beta readers out there who can't wait to help you, but finding them isn't always easy. Fortunately there are groups and other resources to help you.

Paid Beta Readers, Advantages & Disadvantages
The biggest advantages to having a paid beta readers:

• You can vet their background and not feel weird about it
• You can have a checklist or even a form, or they may have a form that covers specifically what they will be checking for
• You can have a contractual and enforceable agreement that they will not leak your book
• You can have timeline expectations as to when they will have the work completed by
• If your content is private or material you are keeping under a pen name due to the subject matter, you have more privacy security
  
  

The only disadvantage is having to pay them! 

Two years ago TWWBF had a video interview with a professional beta reader, so that video is being included here. 

So, if you see people saying that paying a beta reader is a scam, try to normalize paid beta reading as a legitimate profession. Still, know as much as you can about your beta readers either way!

Hello Friends in Publishing!

Cardyn and I (Heather) have had a couple of meetings to kick-off planning for the 2025 Write Women Book Fest. We are excited to build on the lovely experiences of the 2023 event. So many thanks to all of the beautiful authors who have been a part of our event and contributed your talent, and lovely energies to the vision of amplifying women in publishing.

We had a meeting last week, read our notes as well as went over feedback from last year. We wanted to address a few points that came up so we can move forward knowing we have tried to communicate further what we are offering. We of course want to make everybody happy, and sometimes Cardyn has to remind me that that isn't possible. I always want everybody to feel welcome and have a good time so I can tend to expend a lot of energy figuring out how to meet everybody's desires. That's when she said to me, "We aren't offering every possibility, we are offering this possibility." 

I'm going to start with what we offer first, then if you want, you can read on to the part where we address some of the critical feedback we got, which we thank you for providing, good and bad. 

WHAT WE OFFER

• An inclusive, supportive, diverse, LGBTQ-friendly event that lifts up the voices of women authors.
• The opportunity for authors to table, sell, and sign books and promote their work.
• Vendor spaces at a rate we researched and deem in-line with other similar events.
• The opportunity for authors to be on panels and attend workshops.
• The opportunity for new authors to table alongside more seasoned authors in a safe and helpful space. The same with panels. It's a great event for newer authors.
• An event space that provides rooms, an adequate sized ballroom, and ample free parking on the premises. We aren't subject to the whims of weather and wheeling your things into the space will be fairly painless with the parking lot being right there!
• We will be providing vendors with light breakfast items, coffee and tea on Saturday, lunch on Saturday, lunch on Sunday, and an after-party on Sunday.
• The opportunity to enjoy whatever perks we can provide via partners - in the past that has been a Barnes & Noble partnership and a Prince George's Community Library partnership.
• A small thank-you note and bag from Cardyn and me. And truly, we are thankful.

If all of that sounds like your kind of event, we are so happy we've found each other!
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CRITICAL FEEDBACK RESPONSE

We often get conflicting messages since the experiences can be so varied based on a variety of factors related on a vendor's past experience. We don't take the feedback personally, we use the bits that we feel we can absorb and improve where we can because we want this event to be a positive experience for you and we want it to be the best work that we do, too.

Below is some of the feedback, paraphrased, and our responses.

You should have the event at a venue with more passerby foot traffic.
One factor outside of our control is weather. That's the biggest reason we moved indoors, and thankfully we did because while we lucked out with beautiful weather the previous years, in 2023 it was pouring. We have people fly in or drive a long way from all over for this event. We know the effort and expense involved with attending one of these events, being authors ourselves. Hotels in the city with more foot traffic are over double the cost of the hotel we are at now, which in 2023 was about $13k for just Saturday. Also, having a location with more people walking by does not necessarily mean more book buyers, and if it's raining or too hot, or too cold, then we've paid all that extra money for nothing. And while Cardyn and I paid for the event the first couple of years, that was not a sustainable model for us as we moved to a hotel. We are working on getting sponsors to cover the expected increased costs of 2025, and if you know of anybody who wants to sponsor the event, please send us a note at t[email protected]. Sponsors help keep it affordable and allow us to get day-of staff and pay for things like storage, office supplies etc.

We also chose the location for 2023 and 2025 because they had experience hosting book events in the past and have ample free parking right next to the hotel. If you've ever had to wheel your stuff from a dark garage two blocks away and pay $40 a day for the privleged, you'll understand why this was one of my priorities. The Comfort Inn is very close to BWI and not all that far from DC. It's a location we likely will stick with for a while based on it meeting our top priorities in a venue.

You should make the tickets free.
We have found that having free tickets does not equal more attendees. We also feel the price for tickets isn't so high that it would prevent people who have a book budget from buying books. We were free for four years. In addition we offered multiple discount opportunities - I sent out coupon codes several times to share with readers and followers. In some cases it busted the prices down to $5 and I shared all of that through email and the vendor blog I set up just to keep communication with the vendors nice and flowing. We had multiple ticket sales from authors sharing those codes. It was very cool!

The vendor fee is too high.
We researched the vendor fee, then took into consideration our expenses such as storage, office supplies, domain name, signage, marketing, day-of assistants, decorations, swag bags, printing, and of course the hotel fees--and settled on a price that helped us cover most of that and made up the difference with a couple of sponsorships and ticket sales. We couldn't have the event at all if the vendor fee were any lower.

The tables are too narrow.
We made sure everybody knew in the registration form that these tables, while six feet long, were not as deep as the tables some people are used to. These are the tables the hotel provides to us at no extra cost. If we had to rent tables it would have cost a good bit more money. I don't recall the amount, but I considered it quite high, plus delivery fees and having to get the tables back to the rental company. It was not something we felt we could afford or manage our first year at the hotel, which is why we put the notification in the registration so people would know they were getting an 18" deep table.

You didn't advertise enough.
We advertised as much as we could afford to, mostly in the form of Instagram boosts and Facebook boosts. You also can look back at our social media to see how many times we posted. We sent out newsletters, we sent out information to the local press to try and get features, we invited city council members and Cardyn even reached out to the Lt. Governor's office. We truly did our best with what we had. We don't have big bucks for advertising just yet. The best money in my opinion is the money we spend using Eventbrite because so many people use it to find events. We will continue to make our best effort to market the event. 

You shouldn't expect us to market the event.
We don't have direct access to your fans, your readers, and potential readers. When we market to book lovers in the area, we might miss out on people who want your motorcycle sweet romance, or your non-fiction tale of growing up in London. Yes, we expect people to market  to their followers, fans, and readers to let them know where they can find you live and in-person. We were honestly a little perplexed by this particular sentiment and we feel like if Beverly Jenkins is posting about all of her events on Twitter, then we are being reasonable in the expectation that those who participate with our event will also let their readers and followers know about it. We understand if this isn't something you want to do, but it's something we would like our participating authors to do.

We hope all of you will have an amazing 2024 and we hope to see you in 2025 at the fest! Y'all are the best!

​Heather & Cardyn

We were lucky to have the personable and professional author, editor, and podcaster Erin P.T. Canning do a round of mini-interviews for her podcast at The Write Women Book Fest 2023.
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Erin's charming personality and genuine interest in helping authors comes through in her podcast and in just about everything she does. 

If you're an author or want to be an author, if you need author services or just a cheerleader, you should visit Erin's Facebook page and group where she often does a "write in tandem" to help you get those words on the page! 

In addition to the very busy day of Saturday interviews Erin taught classes on our Sunday author development day! With publishing professionals like Erin the book fest grows and evolves, and we are so glad for that!

As a busy parent she knows how hard it is to pursue your passions while also shaping the lives and taking care of little humans. But you don't have to be a parent to appreciate the writing advice and encouragement. 

I think her mission says it all:

Parents Who Write is a safe space for parents to rediscover and reconnect with your whole self through writing.

Be heard. Feel validated. Our voices and stories matter.
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Parents Who Write Website
Parents Who Write on Facebook Page
Parents Who Write Facebook Group
​Parents Who Write Podcast

This year we are trying out pre-orders for some of our Featured Panelists. Please select the form under the author's image and fill it out. Don't forget to pick up your ticket for Saturday October 14th! GET TICKETS HERE

Mariah Ankenman Pre-Order Form - Deadline September 20th

Leslye Penelope Pre-Order Form 

As we get closer to year five - YAY FOR SO MANY AMAZING WOMEN AUTHORS - we want to give an announcement about year six. We will not be having The Write Women Book Fest in 2024. 

We have found it more and more difficult to plan our event in September and October. September so many mothers and grandmothers are very busy and we have a lot of women authors who fit those categories. And October is chock full of local book events - two of them we very much don't want to hinder in any way or make people choose, so we are moving our event to July. Now that we are indoors we don't have to worry about the summer heat and that means summer opened up as a possibility. We have not solidified a date yet, but it will be one of the last two weekends of July 2025. Due to the timeline being moved forward, and it taking a full year to plan this event, we are just moving straight into planning 2025 instead of rushing to plan 2024 and possibly not doing the best we can. We'd rather just take our time and keep leveling up and evolving the quality of the event.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in being a participating author, publishing professional, or book-related vendor please fill out this interest form and you will be notified FIRST when registration opens.

Love books? Meeting authors? Buying books for yourself or for gifts? Getting books signed?
Get your tickets for Saturday October 14th - an event where you can meet 100 women authors in a variety of genres from romance and fantasy to self-help, history, and spirituality. Your new favorite author could be at this event! Tickets are only $29. The event will be held at the Bowie Comfort Inn and Conference Center in Bowie, Maryland.

​https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-author-expo-reader-event-tickets-572092844097