Dear Author,

RE: LA Book Festival on April 22 & 23

I want to extend a personal invitation to showcase your title(s) at the upcoming L.A. Festival of Books. I have purchased a table (as an exhibitor) and to help curtail the costs, I am asking for a $149 contribution from each author to help cover the cost of the event. My investment for the 10 x 10 booth was over $1,000 (and that doesn't include travel costs).

I do not want to set expectations that you'll sell x number of books, but I do know it will be an effective way to get your book in front of some of the over 150,000 attendees who attend there and we'll have a sign-up sheet for potential reviewers which will be one of the main goals.

Brendan Kelso has attended in years past and did sell a fair number of books in 2 days, as well connected with many new readers he wouldn't have otherwise. Keep in mind you will be sharing a table with other authors, but if you plan to attend, we'll schedule a block of time for you to do a book signing.

Agents and publishers also attend, so it's a good potential to be seen. And given this is LA (Hollywood), I would expect there will also be people from the film/tv industry in attendance.

In general, I am doing this because I believe it is a great opportunity to get some off-line exposure in the online world of books.

You are welcome to attend, but I am not expecting you to. I do know a few of you are and that's great. I will be looking into lodging options this weekend. Because parking is $12/day (They only provide me a pass for 1 vehicle), if we all stay at the same hotel we'll have the option to carpool.

One of my main objectives will be to find you new readers/reviewers, and we'll have a giveaway as an incentive for people to signup for review copies. I'd like to suggest you offer a copy of your book as an incentive and I am giving away several eBook readers as an incentive as well.

I will send an email blast one week after the event with a link to a webpage you prefer to all those who sign up.

You will receive 100% of the proceeds from the sale of your books minus any credit card transaction fees.

Additional costs you should consider for this event:

  1. Cost of mailing me books (I recommend 10 copies, although as I said, don't want to set any exceptions you'll sell any). I will charge you actual shipping (media mail) to return any unsold books. For books sold, you will receive 100% of the proceeds minus any credit card processing fees. I recommend letting me drop the price to $5/book on Sunday afternoon to curtail additional costs of mailing the books back to you.

  2. Marketing materials (see samples below). I'm going to suggest business card bookmarks and can have my designer assist you for a nominal fee and can recommend some low cost print options (ie. Vistaprint or Overnight Prints).

  3. Travel costs if you plan to attend (note that on site parking is $12/day).

Because am limiting the number of authors for this event, I need to know if you will be joining us (by way of payment) no later than Feb. 28, 2017.

I will send more info and next steps in the days ahead.

Thanks so much,
Brian Schwartz
805-225-1251 PDT

Reserve your spot

Sample biz card bookmarks

Here are some sample low cost promo bookmarks (business cards). I recommend the vertical orientation to give the feel of a bookmark:

Planning to attend?

If you are interested in attending, I would encourage you to submit to the Festival Author Committee who is selecting authors to participate in readings and panel discussions. You will need to refer to Wise Media Group as your publisher (and be sure to indicate that we have already purchased a table at the event).

Note: You do not have to attend both days.

Send your email to: festivalprogramming@latimes.com

Include the following:

Due to the large number of submissions the programming committee receives, they are unable to reply to each email. If you are selected, you should hear back by March 1.