Publisher AMA with Kat Georges
Thursday, August 7 at 12 – 1pm PDT
FREE Virtual Event: REGISTER HERE
Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!
As everyone probably knows, you or your agent needs to get your book or proposal into the hands of an interested editor; that’s the first hurdle.
A well-crafted proposal, an agent with good relationships, and choosing the right editors to approach are the first steps.
What most would-be authors don’t know is that the editor has to turn around and sell you to an editorial board. The sales management, more often than not, makes the decisions.
If sales and marketing think they can sell your book, then you’ve got a wonderful chance of getting published.
So how do you sell your book to a publisher?
If it’s your first book, you have no Nielsen Bookscan number to get in the way. That can be a blessing, but you have to prove that you are an “influencer” that can sell your book and provide the publisher’s sales force with the ammo they need to go out to the trade.
Publishing veteran Kat Georges will help you navigate the rapids of book publishing so you can find the perfect home for your books. Bring all your questions about book publishing so you can learn from some of the best in the business!
Meet the Publisher:
Kat Georges is a poet, playwright, editor, publisher, and graphic designer. She is co-director and an acquisitions editor for Three Rooms Press, an independent publisher inspired by diversity, dada, punk, and passion. Her most recent book is the poetry collection Awe and Other Words Like Wow, and she is co-editor of MAINTENANT, the annual journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art. She lives in New York City. Kat is currently looking for LGBTQ+ fiction and young adult fiction that deal directly with current anti-queer attitudes, mysteries that center on bold and daring diverse main characters, and riveting women of history who need to have more attention given to them. Kat welcomes voices that have something different to say, that inspire readers, and that shows the power of innovative, compelling writing. To see the latest Three Rooms Press releases, visit threeroomspress.com.
To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!
Join the San Jose Woman’s Club and Women’s National Book Association for our CHILL OUT & READ Ice Cream Social and Summer Book Fair. You’ll be able to mix and mingle with members, local authors and neighbors to find out about our many activities at the club.
Register today for free on Eventbrite!
****THIS FAMILY-FRIENDLY EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO ALL****
ICE CREAM: Enjoy free ice cream sundaes featuring Marianne’s Ice Cream.
LOCAL AUTHORS: Meet 30 Bay Area authors in person to pick up great Summer reads with everything from Sci-Fi to Cookbooks, Travel Guides to Thrillers for every age group.
HISTORIC TOUR: Take a tour of the San Jose Woman’s Club 1929 Spanish Mission revival clubhouse, a California historic landmark.
MEET & GREET: Find out about the great groups you can join at the club to meet new people with shared interests
UPCOMING EVENTS: Get our event calendar listing all of the great activities we have planned for the upcoming year.
BECOME A MEMBER: Become a San Jose Woman’s Club member and become a part of our history.
Remember to follow WNBA-SF on Instagram @wnba_sanfrancisco to stay connected and current on our events, interviews, and other activities!
A Substack Fairy Tale Success: Building Your Readership and Platform with Kate Farrell
Thursday, August 21 at 12 – 1pm PDT
FREE Virtual Event: REGISTER HERE
Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!
Have you considered publishing your work on Substack? It’s a trendy, literary platform for writers of all stripes: essayists, memoirists, journalists, and novelists. Each passing month, it continues to attract more top thought leaders, like Heather Cox Richardson, Elizabeth Gilbert, Katie Couric, She Writes Press publisher, Brooke Warner, and Rebecca Solnit, to name a few.
Though free to join, it can provide a substantial income via reader subscriptions. Learn how my Substack posts of The Fairy Tale Heroine grew over two years of weekly, focused posts to engage over 2,000 readers. As is true in any publication, the key is well written content, relevant to a niche audience that continues to build. A consistent schedule adds reliability and credibility for you as the author, fulfilling weekly expectations for the readers who can anticipate your posts.
I’ll share effective tips to increase stats that include notes, restacks, use of media, subscribing to other stacks, and recommending those you follow, among others. But the bottom line remains quality of content and relevance. My work on the heroine’s journey is timely and appealing; without an inherent draw that attracts a general readership, Substack does not generate interest or engagement.
BIO
Kate Farrell, storyteller, author, librarian, founded the California Word Weaving Project: Learning through Storytelling; published numerous educational materials on storytelling, and contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Farrell’s award-winning recent book is a how-to guide on the art of storytelling, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories. Kate is the founder of Woven: Telling the Heroine’s Journey based on her work with storytelling as an educator-librarian; she finds profound meaning in the archetypes of feminine fairy tales and shares her process in workshops and on Substack.
To register, please visit the event page and fill out the form at the bottom of the page!
Volunteer or Join WNBA-SF at the 44th Annual Northern California Book Awards!
Join us for an afternoon celebrating the best of Northern California literature! The Northern California Book Awards is looking for volunteers at the event on Saturday, September 6 and pre-event for the PR tasks listed below. This free public event honors books published in 2024 by local authors and California-based translators. Meet award-winning writers, get books signed, and mingle at the post-event reception!
WHEN:
Saturday, September 6, 2025
2:00 PM
WHERE:
Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library (Civic Center)
WHY YOU SHOULD COME:
A must-attend for readers, writers, and literary aficionados. Special highlights include:
The Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement
California Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose
Awards in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Children’s Literature & more
WHO:
Presented by Poetry Flash, Northern California Book Reviewers, and the San Francisco Public Library, with partners Mechanics’ Institute and WNBA–SF Chapter.
MORE INFO:
Nominees announced in August at poetryflash.org
Kim McMillon, PR for NorCal Book Awards needs a few awesome volunteers to help spread the word about the Northern California Book Awards! Here are a few ways you can jump in:
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Press Outreach: Help send out our updated press release (coming soon from Joyce!) to media lists.
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Social Media Promotion: If you’re great at sharing events or would like to post about the awards, we have a one-minute video ready for TikTok/Instagram and a Save the Date graphic you can use.
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Bay Area Media Connections: We’d love to book an interview with Rebecca Solnit on KQED’s Forum (if she’s willing), so if you have connections at Bay Area radio or TV shows—like KPIX’s Book Corner—we’d love your help.
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Online Event Listings: I need to input info into local media/event sites—happy to do this solo, but if you’d like to help, I can send you links and email contacts.
If you’re interested in any of the above, please contact sanfrancisco@wnba-books.org—the NCBA would be thrilled to have your support!
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