Seasonal Virtual Author Events to be Presented in Partnership with Regional Book Festivals and Author Lecture Series
Simon & Schuster is excited to announce the inaugural AuthorFest, the first in a series of virtual author events that, through a network of book festivals, literary venues and author lecture series, will provide live author programming to communities and readers in the U.S. and Canada not traditionally part of an-in person author tour.
The first AuthorFest event is slated for October 14 at 7pm EST and will feature #1 internationally bestselling author Bob Woodward and acclaimed reporter Robert Costa as they discuss PERIL, the extraordinary story of the end of one presidency and the beginning of another. Mindy Marqués, Vice President and Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster and the former Executive Editor of the Miami Herald will moderate the conversation.
Current plans are to stage one AuthorFest event per season in Fall, Spring and Summer. Here’s how it works
- Event partners will set up their own registration pages and, where applicable, enroll attendees through their established ticketing systems.
- Simon & Schuster will handle all technical matters for the event and provide Festivals with a Zoom link.
- Festivals and venues will handle book sales through their preferred bookselling partner
- The event will accept a limited number of questions from registrants submitted in advance in place of live Q&A.
- Simon & Schuster will promote AuthorFest events through all of its direct-to-consumer newsletters.
- Registration opens to the public on September 30.
“Book festivals play an important and vital role in celebrating book culture and promoting literacy” said Jonathan Karp, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster. “We are delighted that through AuthorFest we have found a way to partner with festivals that will enable them to provide their communities with world-class author events as a supplement to their regularly scheduled in-person and virtual programming.”
“In our discussions with book festivals we have been gratified by the overwhelmingly positive response to the AuthorFest concept,” said Liz Perl, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Simon & Schuster. “Bringing our authors to readers is a mutual goal of Simon & Schuster and the book festivals, and in this way we are able to circumvent the limitations of time and travel to present author events on nationwide scale, and that recognizes the important connection between book festivals and their communities.”
“While we love an in-person book festival, we recognize that the world has shifted and there is a struggle to develop meaningful programming in real time. Simon & Schuster’s AuthorFest is an opportunity for book lovers to meet their favorite authors and discover new ones from the safety and comfort of their own worlds,” said Holly Lange, Executive Director, Mississippi Book Festival. “We are happy to share S&S programming with our festival goers, knowing the quality of books will stand the test of time.”
In addition, Simon & Schuster is amplifying its outreach to book festivals through its just-launched Book Festival Resource Page, which will help book festivals and lecture series around the country find more information about regionally relevant books and authors suitable for their events. Literary festival organizers are invited to search for authors and titles by region or category, and can request appearances, all in one place.
Festivals and booksellers interested in participating in AuthorFest can email S&S Event Management for more information.
