Author Stage Application Information

APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2024 AUTHOR STAGE ARE NOW OPEN

DATE: September 7-8, 2024

TITLE ELIGIBILITY: Published between September 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024

 

Thank you for your interest in sharing your work with our community!  

Local authors who published books, short fiction, essays, or poetry  between September 1 of the prior year, and December 31 of the current year are invited to register for the program and submit their work for consideration.  Please note, authors of eBooks only will not be accepted.  The application process is the same for traditionally published and self-published authors, but the logistics are a bit different.  Please see our FAQ page for more information about the structure of the event and how book orders will be handled.  

Authors selected to present at the Author Stage will be offered a 10-minute time slot to include an introduction, remarks, a brief reading (3-5 minutes) and audience questions.   Authors will be set in groups of 2-3, to be on stage for the full 30-minute time slot.  We will make every effort to group authors by genre or theme.  A $20 registration fee will be assessed for selected authors.

Selected authors will receive: 

  • A spot on a panel with authors of similar genre and age. Panels range from 20-25 minutes, with a 5 minute slot for each author before a 10 minute discussion, moderated by a River Bend bookseller.

  • Post panel, a book signing table, managed by River Bend

  • An invitation to Author Alley (10-30 - 1:30), our take on "Artist Alley" from comicons. Author Alley will feature all our panelists for the day, as well as other local authors. It is an opportunity to meet readers through the day.

  • Your featured book will be on sale for the full 2-day Festival via River Bend Bookshop (please note, for self-published authors we require a flat rate of $1.00/book sold to cover processing fees)

  • Inclusion in the event digital flyer, distributed to our newsletter subscribers


If selected, River Bend Bookshop will charge a $20 admission fee for authors.

Interested authors may apply here. 

Please note: Authors are not permitted to make their own sales at the Festival.  River Bend is providing this platform as a service to the writing community, and all sales must be conducted through the Bookshop.  For more details, please visit our FAQ page.