Santa Barbara Public Library Local Author Book Festival

Santa Barbara Public Library will be hosting local authors, particularly independent authors, to participate in this year’s Local Author Book Festival, taking place on the Michael Towbes Plaza at the Santa Barbara Central Library on Sunday December 8th from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. The public is cordially invited to come, meet the authors, browse a selection of original works by local writers, and celebrate Santa Barbara’s diverse and thriving literary landscape. There will be a complimentary book wrapping table hosted by the Friends of the Library for any books that are purchased at the event.

This event series began in 2016 when Indie Author Day was first celebrated in Santa Barbara and across the country. A team of SBPL’s Librarians organized a day for writers that included a panel discussion about paths to independent publishing, featuring two authors, a librarian, a bookseller, and two publishing professionals. After the discussion, the community participated in a speed-dating style networking opportunity to meet others working on independent publishing projects.

The following year Indie Author Day 2017 featured a discussion with a local independent author, morning breakout sessions on writing for various audiences and genres, group sessions on how to get your independently published book into bookstores and libraries, as well as marketing and design tips from book cover to page layout.

After a brief hiatus, this event returned in January of 2020 with a new name, SBPL Local Author Day, which included a panel discussion titled, “Art & Craft of Writing” as well as “Nuts & Bolts: Get Your Book into the Hands of Readers.” Participants at all three of these in-person author events particularly enjoyed the ability to network with each other and participate in a book sale at the end of the day, where they were invited to sell their work to the public.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Local Author Day went online in 2021 with a fully digital event that spanned two weekends planned by two SBPL Librarians. For those looking to hone their writing skills, a presenter led “Writing the Compelling Opening,” where participants engaged in developing and critiquing the opening sentences and paragraphs of narrative pieces they were working on. Authors who wanted support on the publishing side of things joined two local authors for a workshop that covered the process of approaching literary agents, from developing a savvy pitch, to crafting a compelling and professional query letter. Participants received immediate feedback on their drafts of a query letter to refine their pitch.

This year, SBPL is hosting local authors again to participate in a Local Author Book Festival, offering these authors the chance to network, meet a community of readers and writers, talk about their work, and offer it for sale. In the past, authors have really enjoyed this particular element of the Indie Author Day and Local Author Day events, giving writers a platform to share their books with the community.