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September 18 – Free Lunch N Learn: Book Marketing with Dr. Judith Briles

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Book Marketing with Dr. Judith Briles

Thursday, September 18 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!

When it comes to authors and book marketing, it may be an Apple Pie and Ice Cream experience … or Crème Brulé with a Dill Pickle Topping. Kinda … ugh. Whether marketing is fun or an overwhelming tsunami, there are tips, tricks, and tools that can calm your author resistance and get things moving once again. 

During this WNBA-SF Lunch N Learn, Dr. Judith Briles will open your eyes, ears, and get you moving forward on your book marketing endeavors.

About the Presenter 

Dr. Judith Briles is the award-winning and best-selling author of 48 books earning over 60 book awards and recently awarded the Author Laureate honor. To date, her books have been translated into 17 countries with over 1,000,000 copies sold! Judith’s books, and work, have been featured in over 1,500 radio and TV shows. She is the host of the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast that has received over 21 million downloads, posts less than three minute “how to publish and market” videos daily on her YouTube channel Dr. Judith Briles-The Book Shepherd and is the founder of the Colorado’s Authors’ Hall of Fame. Today, she will explore the wide, wide world of book marketing that leads to author success … that is, if you do it.

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September 4 – Free Lunch N Learn: Growing an Online Audience with TikTok

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Growing an Online Audience with TikTok

Thursday, September 4 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!

TikTok is one of the most powerful tools authors have today to build visibility, grow a loyal readership, and connect directly with audiences…but it has its own issues too. Join author Kiri Callaghan and Ana Visneski as they talk about how Kiri built an audience of 390k, and the state of author engagement expectations online.

Whether you’re launching your debut novel or looking to breathe new life into your backlist, you’ll walk away with practical strategies, examples of what works (and what doesn’t), and the confidence to show up authentically on one of the world’s fastest-growing platforms.

Meet the Presenters

Kiri Callaghan

Born from Ink & Stardust, Kiri Callaghan is an author of fantastical fiction, performer and poet. Existing work consists of The Terra Mirum Chronicles (Alys, Changeling), The Seek Anomalie Podcast and a collection of original poems performed live at the Los Angeles Poetry Brothel. When Kiri is not telling stories or pretending to be other people, she is likely exploring the world, dancing under the moon, or crafting something with superglue, paint and sheer audacity.

Her debut into traditional publishing The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder will release in Fall 2025.

 

Ana Visneski

Ana Visneski is a member of the WNBA and the author of F*ck it, Watch This. When not writing, she runs a crisis management firm, Merewif, and teaches crisis communications at the University of Washington.

 

 

 

 

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August 14 – Free Lunch N Learn: Share & Grow: Writers’ Favorites Mixer

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Share & Grow: Writers’ Favorites Mixer

Thursday, August 14 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!

It’s time for another Share & Tell… with a twist! Join WNBA-San Francisco for a “Share & Grow” Mixer on August 14th at 12pm PDT.

This month’s networking event is all about the tools, tips, and treasures that help us on our writing journeys. Whether it’s a favorite book on craft, must-have app, writing event, motivating podcast, or a creative ritual that keeps you going, bring a resource to share—and get ready to discover something new.

During this event, everyone will have a few minutes to:

  • Share: Their favorite writing resource
  • Grow: Set a goal, based on a new discovery

You’ll walk away with fresh ideas, new connections, and maybe even a few game-changers. As Debra Eckerling, the WNBA-SF networking ambassador, says: “You can’t reach your goals on your own, you need your people: they are your ambassadors, resources, and cheerleaders.”

Whether you’re a seasoned author or just getting started, everyone has something valuable to contribute. Let’s come together, lift each other up, and grow stronger—one favorite at a time.

It’s a MIXER, so please share this event and bring a literary friend or two to join the virtual fun! There will be a virtual guest book so you can share your contact info – and favorite links – there too.

About the Host

Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide and 52 Secrets for Goal-Setting & Goal-Getting. A goal strategist and the creator of the D*E*B METHOD® for Goal-Setting Simplified, Debra offers personal and professional planning, networking strategy, and book proposal development, for entrepreneurs, consultants, and creatives. The networking ambassador for WNBA – San Francisco, Debra has spoken on stages for TEDx, Innovation Women, SCORE LA, and more. She is the founder of the Write On Online community, as well as host of the GoalChat and Taste Buds with Deb podcasts. Learn more about Deb on our website.

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September 6 – Volunteer or Join Us at the Northern California Book Awards!

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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

PRE- EVENT HELP:

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:

  • Press Outreach: Help send out our updated press release (coming soon from Joyce!) to media lists.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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!

August 21 – Free Lunch N Learn: Building Your Readership & Platform via Substack with Kate Farrell

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A Substack Fairy Tale Success: Building Your Readership and Platform with Kate Farrell

Thursday, August 21 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

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, and She Writes Press publisher, Brooke Warner, 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.
Her new book, The Fairy Tale Heroine: Live and Create Her Journey, is available in Winter 2027 from Sibylline Press!

 

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NEW DATE: August 7 – Publisher AMA with Kat Georges

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Publisher AMA

Thursday, August 7 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

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 fill out the form below: 

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CHILL OUT & READ 2025: Ice Cream Social & Summer Book Fair

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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.

July 17 – Free Lunch N Learn: Speaking for Authors Fireside Chat

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Speaking for Authors Lunch N Learn Fireside Chat

Thursday, July 17 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!

Join WNBA-San Francisco for a fun and informative conversation on the importance of public speaking for authors. 

Bobbie Carlton, founder of the Innovation Women speakers platform, will be in conversation with WNBA-SF networking ambassador Debra Eckerling. 

Public speaking is a powerful – and necessary – tool to help authors build their audience and boost book sales. In this lunch n learn, you’ll discover how how speaking—whether in a bookstore, on stage, or on a podcast—can help you connect with more readers and make a bigger impact. It doesn’t matter if you write fiction or nonfiction, short or long-form. Speaking helps bring your message, experience, and/or characters to life, and gives people a reason to want more. 

Learn:

  • Why speaking is essential for authors
  • Tips for crafting a compelling author talk
  • How to use speaking to grow your author platform
  • Ways to get out of your head, so you are more likely to get onto the stage 
  • And more!

Whether you are a new or seasoned author, there is a lot to gain from this conversation.

Meet the Speakers:

Bobbie Carlton is the founder of three companies, Carlton PR & Marketing, Innovation Nights, and Innovation Women, an online “visibility bureau,” dedicated to providing women and other underrepresented voices with a chance to be seen as thought leaders and experts. InnovationWomen.com.

 

 

 

 

Debra Eckerling is an award-winning author and podcaster, goal-strategist, and speaker, who helps authors, entrepreneurs, and consultants create the life they want through goals. Debra speaks on the topics of setting personal and professional projects, networking strategy, and book proposal development. She is host of the GoalChat and Taste Buds with Deb podcasts, and author of Your Goal Guide and 52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting. Note: Bobbie, as well as WNBA-SF president Brenda Knight and events manager Kate Neff, are all featured in Deb’s new book. 52SecretsBook.com

 

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June 26 – Summer Writing Goals Mixer

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Summer Writing Goals Mixer

Thursday, June 26 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!

As summer approaches, it’s the perfect time to evaluate this year’s writing progress and set your summer goals.

Join WNBA-San Francisco for a Summer Writing Goals “Share & Tell” Mixer on June 26th at 12pm PDT.

Share what you have accomplished so far this year, what you are working on, and whatever support you need.

Our networking ambassador, Debra Eckerling says: “You can’t reach your goals on your own, you need your people.”

At WNBA-SF, we are fortunate to have such a strong, supportive community.

During this event, everyone will have a few minutes to:
– Share: Your wins so far this year and your summer writing plans
– Tell: What support you need to accomplish those goals AND ways you can help others.

It’s a MIXER, so please share this event and bring a literary friend or two to join the virtual fun! There will be a virtual guest book so you can share your contact info too.

About the Host
Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide and 52 Secrets for Goal-Setting & Goal-Getting. A goal strategist and the creator of the D*E*B METHOD® for Goal-Setting Simplified, Debra offers personal and professional planning, as well as book proposal development, for entrepreneurs, consultants, and creatives. The networking ambassador for WNBA – San Francisco, Debra has spoken on stages for TEDx, Innovation Women, SCORE LA, and more. She is the founder of the Write On Online community, as well as host of the GoalChat and Taste Buds with Deb podcasts.
 

 

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June 5 – Free Lunch N Learn: How to Work With a Literary Agent

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How to Work With a Literary Agent

Thursday, June 5 at 12 – 1pm PDT

A FREE Virtual Event

Unable to attend? No worries. Register anyway and receive the replay!

Are you looking for a literary agent? Have you sent out your query only to receive a polite rejection letter wishing you well on your publishing journey?

Here’s the reason: Literary agents are overwhelmed. Some receive 1500+ queries a month. But there’s an even bigger reason as to why you are not getting the traction you want.

Agent Andy Ross will share his expertise and explain the secrets behind his decades-long successes in championing the work of his clients. He will demystify the reality behind the art of obtaining a literary agent in our current publishing landscape.

If achieving literary representation for your manuscript is your goal, let Andy guide you with his insights and advice to receive a “yes” from the agent of your dreams! Andy will share what agents respond to positively, what topics are currently popular in the market, the quickest way to get agents to stop in their tracks, the one thing to absolutely not do if you are serious about getting a literary agent and much more.

We hope to see you there!

Meet the Agent:

Andy Ross opened his literary agency in January 2008. Before that, he was the owner for 30 years of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley. The agency represents books in a wide range of subjects including narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, religion,  children’s books, young adult, middle grade, literary and commercial fiction, and cooking. However, he is eager to represent projects in most genres as long as the subject or its treatment is smart, original, and will appeal to a wide readership. In non-fiction, he looks for writing with a strong voice and robust narrative arc by authors with the authority to write about their subject. For literary, commercial, and children’s fiction, he has only one requirement– simple, but ineffable–that the writing reveals the terrain of that vast and unexplored country, the human heart.

 

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