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Gratitude & Growing Pains, TWWBF2023 Edition


 




Thank you! 
The Write Women Book Fest team thanks the long list of people who made this year's success possible: EC Poetry & Prose, each participating author & vendor (especially those who travelled long distances by train, plane or automobile), the featured panelists, panelists* & moderators, each day 2 workshop presenter, everyone who attended one or both days, our Chief Voluntolder, our day-of operations manager, all of the volunteers, supportive family and friends... 

Extra Special Thanks to 
Author Leslye Penelope, featured panelist on day 1 & day 2 keynote speaker 
Marietta House Museum, our partner in bookish endeavors since year one
EC Poetry & Prose 
TWWBF Poet Laureate Aressa V. Williams 
Prince George's County Memorial Library System 
Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Bowie Town Center
Curmudgeon Books at Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland 
Draft2Digital 
Michelle Fewer!!! 
Digital Creator & Mompreneur @lifeandworkbetter
Erin P.T. Canning 
Maria Secoy 
Parents who Write 
DC Vegan 
Bowie Comfort Inn Conference Center
*Jeaniene Frost, who registered without any fanfare, as if her storied career hasn't earned her lots & lots of fanfare!   

About participating TWWBF2023 authors and bookstores… 


Having 100+ participating authors this year who are mostly self-pubbed, indie or through Amazon combined with the complicated ordering criteria for Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores like Curmudgeon Books when stocking books that aren’t from the big major publishers created a bit of an administrative mess that we’re still working to untangle. 


Sincerest apologies for underestimating how much more time was needed to make this element of TWWBF go smoothly. 


The good news is that B & N and Curmudgeon Books still plan to create displays of books by TWWBF authors and to keep them up later into the winter holiday shopping season. B & N’s is currently a work in progress using books by TWWBF authors that were already in-stock to get started. 


Is my book in the store? 

Here's how to check for B & N: 

Go to barnesandnoble.com, search for your book by title or author, then under "Pick Up In Store" click the "Check Availability at Nearby Stores" and change the distance to 5mi, enter 20716 zip code, which will yield the Bowie Town Center store as the only result. Green check marks next to "in stock in store" and "available for pick up in store" mean it's there; red check marks mean it's not.  


A reminder that the store has complete control over this and their decision is final. Also, please be patient. This year's list of authors was significantly longer than previous years and has shown that we need a much longer lead time on ordering. On the plus side, books that make the bookstore criteria will be on display deeper into the winter holiday gift-buying season than in previous years.  


And you can always encourage your fans to buy books at the Bowie Town Center B & N in-person or online year-round, which still helps you as the author, the store and TWWBF.


Details are less defined right now for Curmudgeon Books, but here are the links for their store website and for bookshop.org: 

https://curmudgeonbooks.com/  

https://bookshop.org/shop/curmudgeonbooks 


Happy creating & reading!

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