Category Archives: Events

Traveling with the Luck of the Irish

Posted on by

OK, OK… We know everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s day but we’ve got announcements that may extend that for you. First off, we hope that all local folks know about today’s party at the BookLoft featuring Nancy Blanton and her new release The Earl in Black Armor.

Are you Irish enough... oops... we meant lucky enough to travel to Ireland with author Nancy Blanton? Click To Tweet

But besides that? Readers everywhere will want to know about Nancy’s latest adventure: she’s leading a trip to Ireland. An intimate group of about 16 adventurers will wind through many of the sites featured in Nancy’s delicious historical fiction — and she’ll be on board to talk to you about them.

Click the link below to get all the details.

BLANTON Ireland TOUR

Amelia Island Book Festival — Day 2

Posted on by

One of the wonderful staples of our local book festival is the writers’ workshop that takes place on Friday at the community college. Traditionally, while there are classes about craft there have also been workshops about the publishing business. This year, the social media and marketing section was conducted by our very own Dr. J — writer of romance and erotica.

The evening’s gala took place at the Ritz-Carlton and included both a  fund-raising auction and an author panel. The opportunity to name a character in a Diana Gabaldon novel was auctioned for a staggering amount of money before the assembled group got to hear the author panel answer questions posed by the honorary festival chair, Steve Berry.

##

Above: Authors Nancy Blanton and Andrea Patten meet Diana Gabaldon. The photobomber is Nancy’s sister Daphne. We wanted her up front!

 

 

Authors Ridley Pearson, Tess Gerritsen, Diana Gabaldon and Kristen Ashley answer questions posed by master of ceremonies Steve Berry.

 

 

 

Amelia Island Book Festival – Day 1

Posted on by

The organizers of the Amelia Island Book Festival will have my head but there is so much going on at the festival it should probably be spread over a few more days. <ducking and hiding>

Thursday’s kick-off luncheon was an opportunity for authors to connect with one another over lunch and then listen to witty banter between bestselling authors David Baldacci and John Grisham.

 

Thursday's kick-off luncheon was an opportunity for authors to connect with one another over lunch -- and listen to David Baldacci and John Grisham. Click To Tweet

In addition to an appreciation for the authors’ very different work styles, attendees also came away with a copy of Grisham’s latest — The Reckoning.

After a short break, several authors went off to facilitate the Teen and Tween Scene and spend time with young readers and writers.

Others of us went off to co-host AIBF’s first #indieauthors reception held at The Book Loft on Centre Street. It was wonderful to see authors rekindle friendships from festivals past as well as to meet others they’ll try to spend some time with on this busy weekend.

In addition to food, friendship and music event hosts The Book Loft and Amelia Indie Authors put together an author-specific raffle. The results are on our Facebook page (please “like” it if you haven’t already done so) and repeated here.

* “Cover out” shelf placement at The Book Loft: Lauren Gilbert
* The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron went to Leah Ward-Lee
* Special placement (near checkout) for Mike Arsuaga
* Author platform review for Meredith Spencer
* Colette Willis has a copy of The Business of Being a Writer waiting for her at the bookstore
* Mike Sanders’ book will receive “creative placement” at The Book Loft
* Adair Sanders won a copy of Brand Yourself Royally and a review of author branding by Nancy Blanton.Author
* Laurie Robertson will be interviewed on the Amelia Indie Authors blog
* A 25-page pre-publication manuscript review went to Louise Jacques
* John Cagle’s titles will be part of a front window display!

In addition to food, friendship, and music event hosts The Book Loft and Amelia Indie Authors put together an author-specific raffle. Click To Tweet

Congratulations to all the prize winners. And all Amelia Island Book Festival indie authors are invited to tag their own pages in the comments so we can follow you.

See you Saturday at the book expo #aibf2019

Dinner at Nancy's

Dinner at Nancy’s

Posted on by

 

Aside from the official events, one of the joys of being involved in the AIBF is seeing returning author-friends, year after year. Some of it is spontaneous. And, then there’s dinner at Nancy’s… with a special beachy cake from downtown.

 

SaveSave

Jacksonville Library Book Festival

Jacksonville Library Book Festival

Posted on by

Nancy and Andrea were fortunate to have been chosen to exhibit at the inaugural Jacksonville Library Book Festival in 2017.

On a beautiful Saturday in March, 150 local and national authors spread out in hallways and balconies in Jacksonville’s spectacular main library. The event was well-organized and the library staff was warm and efficient as they checked in authors, helped us find our spaces, and get the tables set up. They even checked on us from time-to-time during the day.

And, like almost any multi-author event, we met some wonderful people — both readers and other writers.

SaveSave

SaveSave

Party for the Prince Launch Event

Book Launch Party for The Prince

Posted on by

It’s important to celebrate your new book and there are lots of ways to do that. From time-to-time we’ll share the planning and components of various launch events with our members. In the meanwhile, here’s a flier from the bookstore-hosted lanch party for Nancy Blanton’s award-winning novel, The Prince of Glencurragh.

SaveSave