Pulpwood Queens: Connecting Authors with Readers in a BIG Way!

Pulpwood Queens… where tiaras are mandatory! This year’s contest was won by Bren McClain, author of the upcoming One Good Mama Bone, boasting her book to the reading world!

A little press doesn’t hurt either. Here, authors featured on the front page of Sunday’s Daily Sentinel!

Each year, over Martin Luther King day weekend, a cast of brilliant authors gather with hundreds of book clubbers from across the country in a two-day festival of book discussions and themed book events. It’s called the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend (though some Timber Guys book club members also join in the fun) and it’s a celebration of books, readers and writers unlike any other on the planet.

If you’re not a member of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club (but you really should be), the weekend sounds, well, okay, a bit silly. And as silly as I’m willing to get myself over books and authors, it didn’t seem like it’d be my “cup of tea” – ’til I made the trip for the first time last year and got to see firsthand what all the fuss was about.

Naturally, I had to go back this year (and yes, we’ve all already signed up to head back again in 2018 – it really is mandatory!)

Because – and authors, this is important – an event such as this allows you to REALLY connect with your readers. As one panelist so aptly put it, “Who reads a book that someone else hasn’t recommended?”

We observed after each and every panel (each featuring 3-5 authors) the mad rush to the bookstore at the back of the room, as the attending book clubbers went to grab copies of various authors’ work, to then have signed. And when you stop to think that each of those books sold (many authors’ works sold out!) were put right into the hands of a book club reader, who’ll share her thoughts with other readers, you can quickly calculate the vast and lasting influence well beyond a weekend in a small town in Texas.

This year was personally very special to us, too, since the charity being benefitted by the vast array of silent auction items was the newly opened Pat Conroy Literary Center. The reading world lost its prince of tides, Pat Conroy, on March 4, 2016. Thanks to family, friends and so many readers Pat touched, his legacy lives on through the center and all the great folks working to make it a kingpin of literacy in the southeast.

Pat’s widow and fellow brilliant author Cassandra King Conroy was on hand for the festivities, as well as daughter and author Melissa Conroy and family friend and author Janis Owens.

Want to get in on the fun? HINT: Early registration for next year ends soon (after which the price begins to rise – $50, and another $50 later in the year…) CLICK HERE to register and hope to see you with plenty of fellow WWW tribe members in Nacogdoches, TX next year!

Creator of Where Writers Win, Shari Stauch has been involved in publishing, marketing, and PR for thirty years. She is the principal author of the WWW blog, and works with authors and publishers around the country, helping them market themselves and their work to find more readers and sell more books. Where Writers Win’s innovative Winner Circle is an author resource market that offers access to vetted book reviewers, live book clubs, and other curated resources for authors, publishers and book publicists.

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