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IMPORTANT NOTE: I meant early August in the email. Not early July. As always, things have a tendency to change last minute when on-site. But this is the plan. PLEASE SAVE THE LINK TO THIS BLOG POST OR EMAIL IT TO YOURSELF - If there are changes I will update here on this specific blog post. After I post one of these blogs I often get an influx of questions, and I appreciate the questions and clarifications, I just need you to know I'm going to be out of town this week and Cardyn also won't be available. That means email responses will resume when we return which will be a mere two weeks before the fest. We are a little in our feels about this being our last year, but Cardyn and I have had a lot of time to reflect and discuss how much we are looking forward to seeing everybody. If you haven't seen it, please check out the article about us at The Baltimore Banner (which is a newspaper I subscribe to, trust, and love). It's so nice and made us really feel seen during a tough year. https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/opinion/column/book-festival-write-women-bowie-654CYWAVUBC4HKSRFUB22623TU/ MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REVIEW IS THE LINK BELOW It lists your table/space (half or full, with or without assistant for full tables), your lunch selection, and how many after-party passes you have. If you had to cancel and your name is on this list, I missed it and I need to know please. If you switched table sizes, or paid for an assistant and it's not accounted for on this master list, please let me know. It is just for viewing, so let me know in email if something is wrong. Please don't request changes unless we've made a mistake or it's urgent. Things can get confusing very quickly when a lot of last-minute requests come in, and then mistakes happen. With that being said, apologies in advance if there are mistakes. We have not made many, but we try to make none! And they are never meant as disrespect. https://docs.google.com/document/d/19wGUL1us_99KC2SPaZfGH1VzZNa_xLdoPNnQpslKIPY/edit?usp=sharing SATURDAY 7/19 CHECK-IN 10am-10:45am Check-In
BOXED LUNCH These will be set out when ready and somebody will let you know to pick up your lunch. Last time folks had to wait in a line, but this year they are going to stack them on some tables and you just run over and grab yours. They will be sorted by lunch type, either the REGULAR TURKEY SANDWICH or a GF VEGETARIAN. We have a couple of really specific special allergen orders, but we can't manage a lot of those so if you can do turkey sandwich or GF veg, that's great. Authors who paid a full table with assistant fee get two lunches. The kind of lunch allocated to you is on the sheet I linked at the top of this blog that I need everybody to look at. If you can't remember what lunch you ordered on the day-of, you can refer back to this blog post for the sheet. CLOSING You can begin tidying up at 4:30pm at your discretion. Obviously if it's busy and you might make a sale, do that! Please be packed up and ready for the after-party by 5:30pm. The after-party is only for authors and whoever the author has decided to bring as a guest. Full table with assistant registration came with two passes to the after-party. Full table no assistant came with one pass to the after-party. Half tables came with one pass to the after-party. AuthorTubers and Narrators get one after-party pass each. People were allowed to buy extra after-party tickets for $65 if they wanted to. If you want an additional pass they are now $75 and I need to know by July 3rd at the latest. VENUE INFO FOR SATURDAY Bowie Comfort Inn & Conference Center 4500 Crain Hwy. Bowie, MD, 20716, US (301) 464-0089 SUNDAY INFO JULY 20, 2025 South Bowie Public Library 15301 Hall Road Bowie, MD 2-4pm CHECK-IN There will be a table to check-in at. Just bring your badge from the day before. Please arrive a little ahead of your time. This day is a lot more chill and hopefully will be like a warm writing community hug. If you are a moderator please have a few questions prepared for the panel attendees that relates to the genre. If you have time, it's awesome to look up the authors and visit their socials or website ahead. I know we're all busy. Good questions and good vibes is all that is required. I don't know what the A/V situation is in the library, so if you need something specific let Cardyn and I know ASAP please. We are excited about being at the library for day two. It's not what we had originally envisioned, but we love the library and are so happy they have cooperated with us to make this happen. Cardyn and I love the fact that most of you were on board to PIVOT with us, because we tried our best to give an equally valuable hybrid experience and we are pretty sure most of you see that. This year has been wild trying to promote and do cheerful marketing while so many people are feeling strapped and stressed. Thank you for all of the nice notes we have received and "cheer ups" you've all tried to provide as we navigate all of this uncertainty. Anyway, we think that Sunday will be nice, and the virtual additions will give us so much more material to connect through and promote with. IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND ONE OF THE SUNDAY EVENTS AS AN ATTENDEE PLEASE SIGN UP ASAP! THE SPACE IS VERY LIMITED. I know some of you will be tired from day one and some of you are heading out of town, but we hope the rest of you will come out and be with us for this one last Write Women Book Fest moment. IF YOU ARE A NEWER AUTHOR and you are self publishing, I highly recommend Erin's mini-workshop. She's an expert, so even folks who have already published indie can still gain some insight from Erin. SIGN UP TO ATTEND PANELS OR THE WORKSHOP HERE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZkUMPwBgnXDIoaa8gbenMb1wPrzSwilvYuSfuOOpEGKiNrg/viewform?usp=header  
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Updated Map, Discount Code for Your Readers, Ticket Sales Update, Deadline for Sunday Sign-Ups5/21/2025 What you'll find in this post: Updated Map I need you to check. Code for a discount for your readers that expires at the end of this month. Deadline for the sign-ups for virtual panels, podcast appearances, etc. Hello Friends! First I wanted to let you know that the books have begun arriving at the Bowie Barnes & Noble and they hope to have the display up and filling it as the books come in over Memorial Day Weekend and on. Cardyn and I will run by some time in the near future to take photos to see what all has arrived. Don't forget you can go sign your book! Let them know at information you're there to sign it, then they will put a sticker on it. Don't forget to pick up your book fest tees if you want one, before it's too late! Customized Girl takes a few weeks to ship. BOOK ERAS GRANDE FINALE TEE - BLACK INK BOOK ERAS GRAND FINALE TEE - WHITE INK LINK TO THE STORE TO SEE ALL OTHER TEES   TICKETS & MARKETING We have sold some tickets since last week. We have almost broken 50 sales. In an effort to help out a bit I created a $5 off discount code you can share with all of your readers that expires 5/31. The code is: booklove2025 Here is the ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-2025-tickets-1243638037849?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl Please share the code and link. I have made a graphic below to share to let your readers know about it, one has space to pop your headshot onto it, the other is just ready as-is. Or you can make your own graphic if you know how!   Here is an updated map - I made the text bigger so I had to shuffle things a bit to fit the words. I have put half-tables together in some places that sort of cross over genre areas, but it can't be helped when I have a half table in publishing open but the only other half table is non-fic and so on. Mostly everybody is in the vicinity and close by where they belong, regardless. It's best viewed on a mobile device so you can zoom in. I hope it's all good because my eyes are crossed at this point! LOL!  DEADLINE TO SIGN UP FOR A VIRTUAL PANEL OR PODCAST APPEARANCE IS 5/24 Sunday 7/20 is a hybrid event and runs from 2-4pm with a few panels and a workshop. Please go to the link and fill out your either attendance and/or your participation by this coming Saturday night (5/24) so I can work on getting the marketing and schedule together and finalized on Sunday. This is free to the public at the South Bowie library branch. The featured panel is going to be awesome and the workshop is by the talented and knowledgeable Erin Wright who is an expert in publishing wide. I mean EXPERT. She knows all the tips and tricks. There are 80 slots for that workshop, so if you want to attend it please go over to the Sunday sheet and sign up right now before I start pushing it to the public: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XT33yc6StQg9j7xmdUjiT_6h7L3DUsKehjfPutYxEkE/edit?usp=sharing  We are getting to the last bits of finalizing and everything will be marketing and administrative work from my end. Cardyn and I still have a lot of work to do with swag, bags, notes, flyers, and more, but it's getting there!
Thank you all, Cardyn and I are really looking forward to an amazing Grande Finale, and we're glad you'll be part of that! SOON I will be posting the check-in and author/vendor info for the schedule, parking, check-in time and all of that in a separate post. Best! Heather - and Cardyn too! Happy Monday Everybody! Since Sunday changed, the old graphics don't work anymore, so I've made some new ones! Thank you for all the messages of appreciation and support. It's a spoonful of sugar for the medicine. I will be working on a few marketing things tonight beyond what is below. And I wanted to answer some of the questions I've been getting. Thank you to the folks who have been marketing and those who have stepped up marketing. We are trying our best to make the hybrid event nice and worthwhile to make up for it not being the way we envisioned it initially. We may not be able to live up to the letter of what we wanted to do for Sunday, but we are definitely living up to the spirit of it. We have added opportunities for virtual participation in the way of virtual panels and podcast appearances. We hope you'll participate, come to panels, attend the workshop, and have a nice writely day communing with each other. I have not posted yet about when check-in is or the full day's schedule from the author/vendor side. So, don't worry, you didn't miss check-in info yet. I will have a blog post fully dedicated to that you can refer back to easily. The most basic info is that Saturday 7/19 is a signing from 12-5pm at Bowie Comfort Inn and requires and Eventbrite ticket for attendees HERE (share far and wide): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-2025-tickets-1243638037849?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl There will be coffee/tea/light breakfast type pastries and yogurt during load-in. There will be a boxed lunch. There will be an after/goodbye party immediately following the signing event with Golden Angel's keynote address. Also, here is a Facebook Event page you can share if you're a FB person and have a lot of places you can share it on FB. https://www.facebook.com/share/1E8wB9x1NM/ Sunday 7/20 is a hybrid event now and runs from 2-4pm with a few panels and a workshop. This is free to the public and I am about to put up a sign-up sheet tonight on the website for people from the public who want to attend. The library wants me to provide a projected number of attendees. The featured panel is going to be awesome and the workshop is by the talented and knowledgeable Erin Wright who is an expert in publishing wide. I mean EXPERT. She knows all the tips and tricks. There are 80 slots for that workshop, so if you want to attend it please go over to the Sunday sheet and sign up right now before I start pushing it to the public: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XT33yc6StQg9j7xmdUjiT_6h7L3DUsKehjfPutYxEkE/edit?usp=sharing This graphic below will be on the program page soon. Once the virtual panels are full, I will list info about those under Sunday as well.  Here are some graphics you can use for socials and newsletters. I left a big space in the middle of one of them to drop your photo into if you want. Please tag us on Instagram @thewritewomenbookfest and if you want you can tag me on TikTok and IG at @hlbrookswrites and I will share your post as a story. Instagram 4:5      Instagram Square Instagram story or you could use these in a reel or TikTok.      Happy Mother's Day to anybody who celebrates! I'm trying to get this whole post and the new Sunday schedule and sign-ups up before my daughter comes over this evening for a movie and mother-daughter time. She doesn't get off work until 8pm though, so I may actually be able to hit "post" before she gets here. I hope ALL of you are having a nice day because man that weather is lovely! First, thank you SO MUCH to those of you who sent lovely, thoughtful, kind, validating notes to us. It means the world to us. Yes, it was a hard decision, but YES we are so glad we get to spend the last WWBF with you! Cardyn and I are a bit salty that the bad event got so much attention from the press while we keep waving our arms for a little bit of that time! I digress! As you have heard by now, we have moved to the Bowie Library for day two. This means a lot of changes to the in-person schedule, and it means going hybrid. We are sorry to have to adjust your expectations for the change, but it has a lot of advantages. If you want to learn more about the expenses and costs and such scroll down. I know there are a lot of folks who just don't understand how it works, so we will do our best to explain it to those who want the information. Otherwise just hop over to this doc and fill it out as soon as you can so we can get the info sorted and the schedule up. The options have changed, and because we've added virtual it means more panel opportunities, so please have a look as soon as you can. Day two was always planned as a panel and workshop day, all day. We designed the event this way because authors and vendors are tired and keep having to leave their tables to do panels during signings. Our concept was to have the second day as relaxing and talking publishing and connecting. We had planned on coffee & pastries, and a boxed lunch. Due to the shortened in-person schedule because of library hours, and the fact that we eliminated the higher tiered tickets that were meant to pay for day two, we won't be having those things. Our priority was to lower the prices to attract as many readers as possible to your tabling day, feeling that was what was best all the way around. GO SIGN UP AND LOOK OVER THE 7/20 SCHEDULE Please note I wrote this blog, and that schedule in about five hours without anybody to be able to proof it, so if you see a mistake, lemme know. I just want to get it up and out there! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XT33yc6StQg9j7xmdUjiT_6h7L3DUsKehjfPutYxEkE/edit?usp=sharing  For those who want a bit more info on how planning an event like this works for us, here you go.
We have not, until our last blog, talked so publicly about how much work and money it takes to run these events because we don't want anybody to feel bad or like we're trying to curry sympathy or seek out a bunch of accolades. We're both not super comfortable with that, but we absolutely 100% appreciate all of the kind and supportive words that have come in since our last post. We just want to put on a good event and everybody to have a nice time and make you feel like a star. I think maybe it would be helpful moving forward for authors to have an idea how planning these book events work. And it maybe helps resolve any hard feelings you have ever had towards an event that didn't refund you. There is no one way to do this. There are MANY ways to do this, but this is how we do it. We don't charge authors what it costs to run the event in hopes of being more accessible than some other events. We split the cost between authors and ticket-holders while taking on a huge financial risk if the tickets don't sell. Some events mitigate costs by requiring you get a hotel room, that means they can get the venue space for free (again, this varies). We don't do it that way, we know not everybody can afford or needs to stay in a hotel room. Again, accessibility is always on our minds. It's also why we chose a hotel with ample free parking! We have thrived on the faith that if we build it, the readers will come. It's hard every single year to get people to notice us, and it's scary and stressful on a normal year, but this year it's extra hard for obvious reasons. People are afraid to leave their houses, they're afraid to spend money. We have a very inclusive event and because of that it probably has more of an impact on us than some others. The outstanding amount for 2025, if we don't sell the tickets, falls to Cardyn and me to pay. At this point it's a pretty significant amount to us. If we sell all of the 450 tickets at $29, we will gross enough to cover our expenses and pay taxes. We would love to sell as many of those as possible. Please tell your readers, friends, family and co-workers about this beautiful buy small, buy local, DEI event. Some of you did reach out already! Thank you! We are moving ahead with a hard marketing push starting tomorrow. And we will be getting back to those of you who have come up with some marketing ideas. Also, I noticed an uptick in posts about us, including a lovely post from Kait Disney-Leugers, and Calla Claire! Thanks all! THANK YOU FOR FIVE WONDERFUL EVENTS - can't wait to do year six with you! The below is authored by Heather, but comes from both Heather & Cardyn. Hello LOVELY Book Fest Family! We have some really important updates for you, as well as the final list from Barnes & Nobel in terms of the books they will be able to carry for their in-store display. Please remember we have no control over who's books are published in a way that B&N can order them. We don't make any decisions on this. We partner with them to get as many of our author's books on the display as possible. B&N management has been very helpful and accommodating since our first year. That list will be at the end of this post. We know our dream was always to have our books in stores, so we worked towards this to make that a reality for others. Ok, I want to talk about the elephant in the room--the recent unfortunate situation in Baltimore for an event that did not deliver and I want you to know that Cardyn and I always do our very best to live up to every promise we make. That event seemed to go way beyond slow ticket sales and "things happen" into a situation I could only describe as neglectful. Some of the authors at that event will be at our event and Cardyn and I are feeling extra responsible this year to make sure everybody has a nice time and feels seen. It really sucks to have to make some changes to The Write Women Book Fest on the heels of that catastrophe, because we don't want people to be nervous and think things are going to be like that event. So here is an update, some changes, and some very important news. SATURDAY, JULY 19 This day's planning is almost finished. We upped our Children's Room game and the lovely Kim C. Lee came on board for this year to organize that portion of the event. We have some craft takeaways for the kiddos. There will be two balloon arches this year, one similar to the last time and a rainbow one in the kid's room. Live poetry all day with EC Poetry and Prose with Patti "little pi" Ross as the MC as we have had every year. And we have more authors this year than ever! WOO HOO! Full transparency - ticket sales are slow. This current economic environment we are in has people holding tight to their dollars. We decided to do away with the tiered tickets for a few reasons, and this was one of them. We kept the lowest tier ticket, which is at $29 (plus Eventbrite fee) in the hopes that it would mean generating more ticket sales. We will keep you posted. This falls under the "out of our control" category. I did do some ads and boosts over a month ago, but they didn't get much traction. I will be doing heavy social media and newsletter blasting starting right after Mother's Day. Anybody that can do the same, much appreciated. Other than the slow ticket sales, everything is going great. We have plenty of volunteers this year - the first year we've really had enough sign up. We've got the event manager booked, and we have about ten influencers this year! We recommend if you're on Instagram that you look for their highlights on our account and follow them. We have several hundred free books to giveaway for the "scavenger hunt." We've got some raffle baskets for I Support the Girls, and overall things look good. SUNDAY, JULY 20 We have made the decision to move day two of the book fest, Sunday, July 20th, to the South Bowie Library. This was not my original vision of a two-day event at the hotel, but we believe it's actually an improvement. With slow ticket sales our priorities are two-fold, 1 - To keep the tabling day completely intact so authors could meet new readers and SELL BOOKS. 2 - To make the decision early enough that people could change their hotel bookings, or other plans if they needed to without incurring any cancelation penalties. It's actually a better situation for us and for the library, which WE LOVE. The more we do at the library, the more they can show need, which in this climate is important. This is great for all of us. The schedule will look different due to the difference in hours the library is open, and the size of it, and the fact that entry must be free, so we're going to figure out a hybrid situation for Sunday that means everybody gets some kind of highlight/spotlight, if not on Sunday at the library, then in virtual panels, blog interviews, on Erin's podcast or on our podcast (Heather & Cardyn's) The Bitchy Quill. The updated schedule, sign-up options, and information will be coming soon. WE ARE GRATEFUL IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF TWWBF We want thank you all for being a part of our event. Some of you have been with us since the first year and have come back time and again, and I can't tell you how proud that makes us. To know you put so much trust and good energy into us and our little event that could. It's grown from hard work, love, and the joy of reading and writing books we all share. For those of you who don't know, I started The Write Women Book Fest in 2019 when I couldn't find a woman-centered diverse event to participate with as an author. The first year was so great! Better than we expected. Then 2020 threw us a curve ball, but not wanting to lose momentum Cardyn and I worked on a virtual option. Then the next year was hybrid. Then the year after that was hybrid. Then in 2023 I felt we'd grown so much and were also pushing our luck at another year outdoors. When I tell you I got hives every time we set the date because I was worried people would make a bunch of plans and it would be cancelled due to rain, I'm not exaggerating. We moved inside to the Comfort Inn for the first day of the event. It turns out it poured that day, so we were grateful we made that call! We would have been rained out! We have pivoted, shuffled, fox-trotted, and pirouetted our way for six years through so many challenges, with the help of some amazing authors, vendors and volunteers. With all of that said, Cardyn and I have made the decision that this will be our Grande Finale. Honestly, I did cry. Cardyn let me talk for almost three hours straight at her on Zoom about it, bless her. It was a hard decision, but we think it's the right one. This will be a final celebration of six years of the book fest, ending our curtain call on a high note. And while we made this decision about three weeks ago, and finalized it two weeks ago, the disaster that was the Million Lives book event has been hard for me to watch and casts a pall on all book events. Disappointing people scares the hell out of me and the bigger this event gets, the more risks are involved. Cardyn and I have always tried to be respectful, helpful, and resourceful in our efforts, we hope you all can see that. I know there will be questions as to all of the whys, so here are some of the main reasons besides those already alluded to: We still have to fight every year to get people to notice us. Flyers, boosts, ads, postcards, social media, newsletters, we've done it all. Cardyn has spent time reaching out to local council members, the lieutenant governor, local papers, radio, tv--all six years, and nobody has taken her up on a visit to our event. That starts to feel ... erm ... not great. Finding sponsors is hard and a lot of work. It would be one thing if our team was bigger and there was a dedicated sponsors person who could spend time looking for a lot of sponsors, but that just has not worked out. The economic climate in our area is bleak. People are not feeling celebratory. I would say a lot of people are even scared and stressed--me included. When you've got this much job loss and economic instability, people don't feel free to spend money on extras. Cardyn and I are on the hook personally for any financial shortfalls if tickets and sponsorships don't cover the remaining costs. Neither of us are feeling like taking that risk on for a seventh year. In addition to that, we are still a small team with most of the administrative work on me. Back in October I had to start working a lot more hours for my day job. I don't have the same amount of time to dedicate as I did before, AND it's taking more time than ever to organize this event because of how much it has grown. Plus each year new expenses are added on. The to-do list has gotten so long I ignore my own writing and sometimes housework just to keep up with the administrative tasks of the book fest that lay mostly on my shoulders. Cardyn also has a lot on her shoulders as well. If it wasn't for her outreach efforts we would not have partnered as quickly with the library! Also, she's just generally an amazing, balancing force full of good ideas who does most of the thank-you gifts, media outreach, ambassadorship, and a lot of "Heather calming" duties. In short, we are tired and there is too much uncertainty, too much work, and too much stress. We are in good company though. A very large book fest, Book Bonanza, which was organized by the well known author Colleen Hoover and was attended by some BIG name authors, tapped out after seven years (2024 was their last year) for some of the same reasons we are. They had a large team, and a lot more money to work with, but still found it too difficult to do the way they wanted to. Knowing that made us feel less alone in our decision. I also was told that HEA Reader Event is having its last year, too. Venues are expensive. It's a lot of work. And you don't want to be the person who ruins somebody's fun day. So we are going to have a fun, celebratory, amazing last Write Women Book Fest and be glad we got to have this experience with you. One last thing. We aren't completely shutting the door. We will be getting back to our roots and back to Marietta to help them organize a very small (20 authors), free-to-attend, PG Parks funded book fair in 2026. Our goal has always been to amplify the voices of women and marginalized authors in an accessible way, and this is a way we can serve that mission in a more sustainable, less labor-intensive, and less risky way. OH! I almost forgot! Because Cardyn talked to Bowie South Library about Sunday 7/20, they offered for us to host other events if we like. We don't know if we will, but it's nice to know we can. As I said, we will be doing a big marketing push to make sure every booklover we can find can come find you at TWWBF2025 and maybe make you their favorite "auto-buy" author. If there is a person with $29 for a ticket, that loves books and lives in the DMV we are going to find them! We are so thankful for all of your kind words over the years. Let's not be sad! Let's celebrate! LOVE! Heather & Cardyn B&N SHEET BELOW You should be able to save the below graphic and look at it closer. The writing is tiny. Please note, do not despair if you are not eligible. You've learned something! They've put notes in there telling you why they can't order your book. Mostly books that didn't make it are non-returnable. You've learned that B&N can't carry your book the way it is published, which means you can work on fixing that. Also of note, B&N has had a number of small author events. They've always been nice and cooperative with us. If you don't know what to do next you could either consult a publishing pro about what you're doing wrong, or you can reach out to B&N through their website.  UPDATE 6:51PM 5/4 - I AM ADDING THE ADJUSTED MAP BELOW AFTER FEEDBACK I GOT TODAY! THANKS! Just to clarify, changes to the map are for errors only at this point. If we've made a mistake please let us know. I think we've got it all sorted. The map and some info about the event is now on the 2025 PROGRAM page! I will continue to update that page as info becomes finalized. _______________________________________________________________ HELLO TWWBF FAM! Thank you for hopping over to check out this blog post. Today's update is the latest map. Thank you to those who sent me their corrections. As always, mistakes are not meant as disrespect. We value each and every one of you. Before we hop down to the map I want to let you know that we should have Barnes & Noble's final list this week and I will be posting it on the blog here when I get it. The deadline to apply for that has long passed, and B&N makes the decisions on that based on the books they are able to order through their system. We simply partner with them to help enable any of our authors who ARE able to be carried in a B&N will get at least one of their books on the display. It's hard to get your book in a B&N brick and mortar and it's a dream many of us have, so we have done all we are able to try and make that happen for authors. Please look over the previous couple of blog entries if you've not had the chance, everything you need to be aware of is in there! Don't forget we have these fun tees to show your TWWBF pride! They take a few weeks to arrive. They come in a variety of styles, colors, and sizes. https://www.customizedgirl.com/s/thewritewomen  Please share the Eventbrite link that emphasizes the Saturday signing. We want you to sell lots of books! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-2025-tickets-1243638037849?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl Please share this flyer in the teacher lounge, in the work breakroom, with the parents at your kid's drama club or sports team meet, at the grocery store, and with your book-loving friends. It's two per page to make it extra easy and economical. Plus it's an opportunity to let folks in your life know you're an author or small business, if you want that. Cut it in half and share please! Did you know that PGCMLS allows for ten free copies per day? Below is the jpg, I recommend the downloadable pdf, though, just beneath the jpg.  
OK - now the MAP! THE MAP! After a few fixes (thank you to those who sent in your corrections), this is what we have. Do you see an issue? Let me know as soon as you can at [email protected]. This is the "final" map if there are no changes. Please keep in mind this map can change at the last minute because unexpected things happen sometimes!  One year the tent folks set our big tent up the day before about 20 feet away from where I had mapped it, which kind of made the set-up not match the map. People sometimes have last minute emergencies and can't come and we might alter things a bit. I've learned this is just how things work when you have so many components out of your control. Fortunately we have lovely authors and vendors who are good at managing a few changes and we ALWAYS try to communicate with you to keep things running smoothly. How about let's just imagine this is how it's going to look and we'll all manifest a lovely, un-problematic event together celebrating women and marginalized authors and BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!    As always, we are looking forward to seeing you!
Heather & Cardyn Hey All You Lovely People! Cardyn and I (Heather) are sending you so much love and light right now. We have a shorter-than-typical post from me today! Panel and mini-pod interviews info. The latest update to the event layout/map. Merch link. If you did not read the great big blog post before this one, please do so, it answers just about anything you might still be wondering about this event. I didn't call it The Big Update for nothing! Pretty soon I will have the program schedule and info up as well. If you look at the top of the website you'll see "2025 Program" and that's where it will be. Thank you for all of your kindness and enthusiasm! Happy Easter and Ostara and Spring and Passover and all the things - whatever you celebrate. Renewal is a dream to be devoutly wished right now. SUNDAY 7/20 IS OUR PANEL & WORKSHOP DAY You can sign up to be on a panel. The deadline for this is April 30th - that's 15 days from now! We have a variety of panels you could be on and a few of them still have space. None of our closed door romance authors have signed up for that panel yet! Also - you don't HAVE to be on a panel, but it would be great if you attended the panel sessions on Sunday. We also have six slots for MINI Podcast Interviews with Erin P.T. Canning for her podcast Embracing Fiction Author Journey Podcast. The link to the sheet that includes sign-ups both of these things is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hMhTdg1QBS7AVn42mFu4JC_9ZycGFU_16gScw5AFlsg/edit?usp=sharing MERCH We also have started designing merch for TWWBF25. Please consider buying some merch to support Write Women. Share the link with friends and family and those who maybe want to attend but can't and love supporting bookish events. So far I have some TWWBF25 shirts, romance author and reader shirts, and other fun stuff. I will continue to add to it in the coming days. I plan on shirts for other genres. Probably some mugs. If you want a shirt before the fest, I suggest ordering no later than mid-June. It takes a couple/few weeks. If a shirt you want isn't available in a particular style or on a particular item, let me know and I will try to add it! You can buy merch here: https://www.customizedgirl.com/s/thewritewomen  THE MAP THE MAP THE MAP The map looks tidy, but when doing it, it can make ya dizzy! HAHA! I think I implemented all requested changes and fixed a couple of boo-boos. Please let me know ASAP. This map is also subject to change! Things happen, the world is imperfect.    Hello Lovely Authors & Publishing Friends! Grab a cup of tea, or glass of wine, a snack and please take time to go over all of this. I know how hard it is to find time, but this post covers everything you need to know up to today. The deadline for participating with Barnes & Nobel's display has passed. There is still time to participate in other optional portions this year. Please note: parts of the email that led you to this blog, and the post, may not pertain to you specifically. Nothing here is personally directed at any one person, it's to help clarify things to a large group of people. Also, I always get emails after I post a blog update so please be patient with me while I answer them and please scroll through this to see if your answer is in here. Many thanks to the folks who wished me well for my oral surgery, but the night before it was supposed to happen they moved it due to an anesthesiologist scheduling conflict. Now it's going to be tomorrow morning and I'll be resting for two days, then have to catch up with my day job work on Friday, and get back to anybody with questions over the weekend if I'm up to it. The seating graphic is in this post (at the very end), but I have not had time to DOUBLE TRIPLE check it yet, so if you see an error, please feel free to let me know, I just wanted y'all to see how it's looking. I do make mistakes, I am happy to fix them, and I never mean any disrespect by them. We have grown about three times as big but still have the same very small team, so thank you for your patience. We also want to remind everybody that the tables are 18" deep, not 24" - so they are more shallow than the standard banquet table. Please plan accordingly. We do mention this in the registration form. Some authors were disappointed at the table sizes last time--we mentioned it last time too, but I think sometimes things don't stick because you're busy or don't have context. I'm doing an extra reminder here for you. And for context the tables are these very tables behind me in the red cloths - you can see they aren't as deep as a standard table.  Cardyn and I met to knock some book fest things off of the list, make to-do lists, and make sure our ducks are all in a row, QUACK QUACK. Also a shout-out to Cardyn for the birthday cupcakes. I turned 55 mid-March.  QUESTIONS THIS BLOG POST ANSWERS What hotel is it and can I book a room and get a discount? What is parking like? I forget what is included with my registration, can I get a reminder? Can I bring a helper, friend, guest, or child? How many after party passes do I get? How do I set-up a pre-order? Do I need to send swag, and if so, when and where? Do you have graphics I can share to show I am in the event? Is registration totally closed? Yes, registration is totally closed. Sorry. Where can we sign up to be on panels? Is there a ticket link? What all can I sell? WHAT HOTEL IS IT AT AND CAN I BOOK A ROOM? The hotel is The Bowie Comfort Inn & Conference Center I you are flying in, the best airport that is closest to us is BWI. You can come in DC if you want! We are semi-close to that as well, but BWI would be my choice. Parking at the hotel is free and onsite and plentiful. It's one of the reasons we chose this venue. If you're having a group of friends come, carpooling is a helpful suggestion to them.  I forget what is included with my registration, can I get a reminder How you registered depends on what you get. Anybody who did not get the full table with an assistant will have to have any visitors or helpers buy a ticket if they are doing more than helping you load-in and load-out. Please be mindful of your neighbors, and don't block their tables with your signs. We prefer authors mostly stay behind their tables during the signing as to not block neighboring tables - though of course coming out for a photo and such is fine! The event is structured like this: SATURDAY Check-in Saturday Morning - times will be sent out in June. Saturday is a tabling/signing reader day. There will be live poetry and a children's room with children's authors. The rest of the space is dedicated to authors & author services. Lunch will be at your table (sorry, it's just the most practical way to do it!). You will go to the bar (connected to the ballroom) to pick your lunch up once it's available. Saturday after we close up signing we will have a small gap, then have an after-party that is just basically a cocktail mixer for unwinding and talking to your fellow authors and publishers. What can you sell? You can sell your books and anything related to your books, or if your a publishing company or author services, anything related to those services. No need to check-in on Sunday, just wear your badge to attend or access panel rooms. We need volunteers to help with this portion, if you're not going to be on a panel, please volunteer. Sunday is all panels and the Erin Wright workshop for publishing wide. Full space with assistant - you get a full table on Saturday and two passes to the after party. Each of you are able to snack on the light breakfast items, each will get a lunch on Saturday and passes for panels and the Erin Wright workshop (at least to capacity, first come first seated) on Sunday and lunch on Sunday as well. Full space, no assistant - you get a full table and one pass to the after party. You are able to snack on the light breakfast items, and will get a lunch on Saturday and a pass for panels and the Erin Wright workshop (at least to capacity, first come first seated) on Sunday and lunch on Sunday as well. Half table, no assistant - you get a half table space and one pass to the after party. You are able to snack on the light breakfast items, and will get a lunch on Saturday and a pass for panels and the Erin Wright workshop (at least to capacity, first come first seated) on Sunday and lunch on Sunday as well.  Blind Date With a Book Participation Prepare yourself for our Blind Date with a Book game. We realize some authors don't like being approached by folks just for a signature to get their free blind date with a book, but it's happening. This was 98% enthusiastically received last time and we try to keep it chill. No deadlines for the attendee, it's while supplies last. And only 10 initials are required. The idea of this is to get folks to stop by ten tables. Some authors wanted to participate with this last time so YES, you can definitely donate some of your books to the Blind Date with a Book Game. All you have to do is wrap them in plain brown paper, it can even be a grocery bag, and put the genre and a brief description on the wrapping. Bring these with you the day of the book signing (July 19th) and drop them off onto the BDwaB table.  Raffle Baskets & Items - A Good Marketing Opportunity If you would like to provide a raffle basket we are welcoming you to do that. We recommend if you are going to do that, that you use branded goods and your own books or if you're a publisher or narrator, or BookTuber that you provide things that lead back to you. Please no homemade food items. Please nothing with peanuts. A raffle basket is a fun marketing opportunity. Half the proceeds from the raffle baskets goes to I Support the Girls and half goes back into the book fest. To participate bring your already assembled basket to the raffle table the morning of Saturday 7/19. We will take care off the rest! Book Raffles for I Support the Girls We spent a part of the day making 12 raffle book bags, all profits for those will be going to I Support the Girls, who is partnering with us this year. We were pretty proud of ourselves for making these little book bag cubbies out of Trader Joe's paper bags. Upcycling for the win! Each bag cubbie will have six books with a loose theme and some other bookish goodies. We are asking if you are able to bring for donation of their most needed items which would be overnight maxis with wings, and new underwear in the package of any size. We will have a collection space at the event for these things. If you have other period products you already have on hand, please feel free to bring those!  SIGN UP FOR A PANEL You can sign up to participate with a panel HERE. Please note, with limited space and time there is a chance that everybody that wants to participate won't be able to, so sign up sooner rather than later if you are sure you want to be on a panel. Deadline to sign up is April 30th. We have one really good workshop this year by Erin Wright on publishing wide, we are excited and feel lucky to have her. We don't have time for additional workshops during Sunday's event, but you can always submit to do a virtual workshop and we will happily promote it! Our Keynote Speaker this year is Golden Angel, and she will speak on Sunday, so if you don't want to be ON a panel, there is plenty still to enjoy and do, including an inspirational speech by Golden Angel sure to inspire and motivate. ALL ABOUT PRE-ORDERS IF YOU MISSED IT IN OUR LAST POST (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SET UP PRE-ORDERS, YOU CAN JUST SHOW UP WITH YOUR BOOKS YOU ALREADY HAVE IN STOCK) PRE-ORDERS WITH BARNES & NOBLE Most Importantly - Your Book Has to Be Able to Be in the B&N System If your book/s is/are not available through B&N and you want to provide for preorders, you'll need to set one up for yourself we can link to on our website. This option is best for people who are flying, for people who have a larger fanbase and are likely to have 20 or more book orders, or for people who might only want to bring a small amount of their own stock and really heavily push pre-orders. HOW IT WORKS Provide your readers with the store phone number and have them order your book from the Bowie Barnes & Noble and tell them it's for The Write Women Book Fest. The books will be ordered and held at the store by the manager until the event, or until the customer comes to pick it up - whichever comes first. That's it! Aren't sure if your book can be preordered through B&N? Call the number and they'll look it up and tell you. You can do this for however many of your books you want to offer up for pre-order through this process. The drop-dead last date for people to get those orders in is Friday June 27th.
SELF PREORDERS (THE DEADLINE FOR THIS HAS PASSED) SWAG - OPTIONAL Want to send us swag for the swag bags? Swag is a nice way to reward attendees and keep your name in their minds. We recommend keeping some swag at your table, too. Send a minimum of 200 pieces of swag. A maximum of 500 pieces of swag. We do not yet know how many swag bags we will have and won't know until late June. We need swag no later than May 15th to: Heather Brooks 511 Prince George St. Laurel, MD 20707 PLEASE DO NOT SEND FOOD, OR ANYTHING THAT WILL MELT OR EXPLODE OR LEAK. Please add your name and information to this sheet and when we receive your swag we will check it off. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SWAG HAS YOUR NAME AND/OR BRANDING ON IT! We do sometimes get swag with no identifying features which is sad because it's supposed to help sell your books. LIBRARY PARTICIPATION - OPTIONAL
AUTHOR CHECKLIST
GRAPHICS TO SHARE & TICKET LINKS Here are the ticket links: https://www.thewritewomenbookfest.org/2025-tickets.html#/ Please include this in your newsletters and on your socials! Thank you!    LAYOUT MAP Below is the layout map for Saturday's signing. This is NOT finalized so please understand this may change some, but overall this is it. I'm sorry the close up text is soft, that's the best I could do with a screencap and the PDF download doesn't include all the info, so this will have to do for now.  Here they are zoomed in a bit.   NEW AND STILL FEELING A LITTLE LOST?
That's ok, just email Heather with your questions at [email protected]. It can be kind of overwhelming and when you don't know the shape of something, it can be a big confusing blob that needs more context. Hopefully I have answered most of your questions. There WILL be more updates - merch, final map, other important info, in the weeks to come. Thank you for being such an important part of our event. Best, Heather & Cardyn  Hello Publishing Friends! Just a reminder that when I (Heather) post a blog entry it's often followed by a lot of emails with questions for me and it may take me a week or so to get back to you. This week I have oral surgery and don't know how I'm going to feel, so just FYI about that, too. I sent out a recent update and we got a lot accomplished. Below you will find the latest info (some of it repeated so you don't have to scroll back to the previous updates). I wanted to also mention that some people felt my last note about unpaid invoices was directed at them individually. There were 15 who had not paid out of over 100, and that message was only intended as a nudge to check spam or let us know you are dropping out and to let those who didn't pay know that we would be moving ahead to next steps in the event planning. So that post was only meant for you if you hadn't paid yet. These are group messages and general information posts, and therefore not every part will apply to every person. We are passed all that now, though. If somebody hasn't paid by this point they are considered as withdrawing their participation and will get a private email. If you think you paid but can't find your invoice, let me know. Nobody who paid or tried to pay or did anything in good faith is going to be booted from the event. We try to be reasonable, but I just have to move on to the next phase of planning. As far as what's going on in the political climate and how it may impact us, we are doing our best to stay flexible and pivot as needed, just like we did through the pandemic. We still have everything planned that we had planned originally and have no intention of changing it, including Drag Queen Storytime and loud and proud live poetry, as well as books in a variety of genres. A gentle reminder that the tables at this event are primarily 18" deep by 6' wide. They are shallower than the usual banquet tables, so please plan accordingly. I did lay this out very clearly in registration because people get disappointed when they bring a lot of stuff and it won't all fit. AM I REGISTERED FOR BOTH DAYS? This question has come up a few times so this is a reminder of what your registration includes. Your registration includes both the 19th and 20th. Saturday is an author/vendor tabling/signing. Sunday is panels and workshops (more about that lower on this page). Sunday will have opportunities to either attend panels and workshops if you don't want to be on any panels. And will also include a little inspiration by our Keynote Speaker Golden Angel.
PANELS & WORKSHOPS As soon as I finalize the roster and updated graphics today I will be working on getting a schedule and info together for panel and workshop participation to be up by the end of this month. I had to wait until all registrations were complete and all invoices were paid before I could move on with that, otherwise it would have caused some confusion and organizing chaos. WHY ISN'T MY NAME ON THE WEBSITE? I am in the middle of updating the website graphics and page listings. This is something that I like to do in batches because it can be really hard to stay organized with people dropping out and coming in and not having my final lists, which means every time there is a change to the roster I have to update the lists and graphics. If you check the graphics and 2025 pages tomorrow, Monday 3/10 and your name is not on them and you've paid your invoice, I've simply made a mistake. No disrespect is meant, I make mistakes. Just send me a note letting me know. This also goes for if you switched from virtual to in-person, or in-person to virtual, or asked to change your genre listing and you're not listed properly, just let me know and I'll gladly fix it.
LIBRARY PARTICIPATION - OPTIONAL
 SWAG - OPTIONAL Want to send us swag for the swag bags? Swag is a nice way to reward attendees and keep your name in their minds. We recommend keeping some swag at your table, too. Send a minimum of 200 pieces of swag. A maximum of 500 pieces of swag. We do not yet know how many swag bags we will have and won't know until late June. We need swag no later than May 15th to: Heather Brooks 511 Prince George St. Laurel, MD 20707 PLEASE DO NOT SEND FOOD, OR ANYTHING THAT WILL MELT OR EXPLODE OR LEAK. Please add your name and information to this sheet and when we receive your swag we will check it off. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SWAG HAS YOUR NAME AND/OR BRANDING ON IT! We do sometimes get swag with no identifying features which is sad because it's supposed to help sell your books.  Cardyn & Will stuffing swag bags 2022.  Cardyn & Heather stuffing swag bags 2022. GRAPHICS TO SHARE It's a great time to start letting people know you will be attending. Here are some graphics you can share. PLEASE send people to buy tickets. All levels of our tiered tickets are available on our website. Each ticket has the information you need if you click on it and read inside the ticket description. ALSO the one-day SATURDAY ONLY tickets are available on Eventbrite as well. The tickets cover all of the rest of our expenses. Tell your fans you will be there. Send them ticket links. Add it to your newsletters, and tell your friends. Instagram Square Instagram Portrait Facebook Post  Instagram Portrait PRE-ORDERS WITH BARNES & NOBLE Most Importantly - Your Book Has to Be Able to Be in the B&N System If your book/s is/are not available through B&N and you want to provide for preorders, you'll need to set one up for yourself we can link to on our website. This option is best for people who are flying, for people who have a larger fanbase and are likely to have 20 or more book orders, or for people who might only want to bring a small amount of their own stock and really heavily push pre-orders. HOW IT WORKS Provide your readers with the store phone number and have them order your book from the Bowie Barnes & Noble and tell them it's for The Write Women Book Fest. The books will be ordered and held at the store by the manager until the event, or until the customer comes to pick it up - whichever comes first. That's it! Aren't sure if your book can be preordered through B&N? Call the number and they'll look it up and tell you. You can do this for however many of your books you want to offer up for pre-order through this process. The drop-dead last date for people to get those orders in is Friday June 27th.
If you are coming from out of town or want to offer pre-orders and don't want to use B&N or can't because your books are distributed to or through B&N please fill out this form as soon as possible but no later than April 1st so we can market it on our website and we recommend you heavily market it yourself, too.  So, that means the next update on here will be the signups for panels and workshops. Thanks everybody!
Hello Publishing Friends! Well, it's been a helluva a year already. Feels like five years. Cardyn and I have been working in the background on the book fest and have some updates for you. I always get a flood of emails and questions every time a post a blog entry and it can take me a week or two to get through them all, just FYI.  Heather & Cardyn drag their stressed out butts to Barnes & Noble in February to finalize things for TWWBF 2025. INVOICES We have 15 invoices that remain unpaid. Tomorrow 3/3 at 9pm is the drop dead cutoff for paying your invoice. This actually my LEAST FAVORITE part since I would do everything for free if I could, so please let's just get those in or if you're expecting to drop, let me know. So, folks who don't pay by close of business tomorrow will get a note on Tuesday that their space has been cancelled so we can move on to our next phase of planning. If you aren't sure if you paid your invoice just check for an email from Square. If you didn't pay yet and can't find your invoice please let me know ASAP. BARNES & NOBLE EXTENDED DEADLINE - things were supposed to be in yesterday but a couple folks were still asking about it so I am extending the deadline until midnight tonight. So that makes this the LAST DAY TO FILL OUT THIS FORM - I am sending B&N Management the list tomorrow. As per the last blog entry, we are partnered with Barnes & Noble in Bowie again this year. You need to fill out this form if you want to apply to be a part of the display there, which will be during the weeks leading up to the fest. This is a benefit of participating with our fest and yes, even virtual participants are allowed to apply for this and it does not cost extra. We will get notification in the coming months as to who's books will be included and they will be posted on this blog. I won't know until they release the list to me. They do encourage you to come sign your book! You'll go to the info booth and tell them you're going to sign your book and they'll put a special sticker on it. PRE-ORDERS WITH BARNES & NOBLE Most Importantly - Your Book Has to Be Able to Be in the B&N System If your book/s is/are not available through B&N and you want to provide for preorders, you'll need to set one up for yourself we can link to on our website. This option is best for people who are flying, for people who have a larger fanbase and are likely to have 20 or more book orders, or for people who might only want to bring a small amount of their own stock and really heavily push pre-orders. HOW IT WORKS Provide your readers with the store phone number and have them order your book from the Bowie Barnes & Noble and tell them it's for The Write Women Book Fest. The books will be ordered and held at the store by the manager until the event, or until the customer comes to pick it up - whichever comes first. That's it! Aren't sure if your book can be preordered through B&N? Call the number and they'll look it up and tell you. You can do this for however many of your books you want to offer up for pre-order through this process. The drop-dead last date for people to get those orders in is Friday June 27th.
SELF PREORDERS If you are coming from out of town or want to offer pre-orders and don't want to use B&N or can't because your books are distributed to or through B&N please fill out this form as soon as possible but no later than April 1st so we can market it on our website and we recommend you heavily market it yourself, too: OTHER STUFF
TICKETS Please start promoting tickets as soon as you can. We will begin a hard push in the next couple of weeks. We have tiered tickets this year with a range of options available. On Eventbrite people can buy our lower tier ticket only: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-write-women-book-fest-2025-tickets-1243638037849?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl For all ticket levels please direct people here: https://www.thewritewomenbookfest.org/2025-tickets.html#/  Cardyn, Heather, and Kim in front of Comfort Inn & Conference Center in Bowie after a meeting so Kim, our new Director of Children's programming could get a feel for the space. |
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