IWA was present again with a booth at The Word On The Street Toronto (WOTS) festival, June 11-12, which is considered the biggest book and magazine festival in Canada.
What a great experience!
We’ll let two IWA members (who represented us both days at this festival) to share their experience and the benefits for participating to this annual festival… whether you’re a writer, represent an organization from this sector, or simply love books and reading!
Emanuel Petrescu
“Participating at The Word On The Street book fest was one of the best experiences I had in a while. It allowed me to meet some people I’ve been communicating with virtually for the past two years. Also, to interact with people who discovered our association and the books we publish – or, as I like to say, with my readers. 🙂
Out of all the activities, the most rewarding for me was the opportunity to exercise my sales skills to promote the books and bring people to our booth to raise awareness. We also got lucky in terms of the weather.
I learned that no matter how well you prepare, there’s always going to be something. Can you imagine what will happen if you don’t prepare at all? I would most definitely bring cash and have two or even three alternatives in accepting credit cards. Because people buy books (from us too).
Also defining the audience would help. Are we promoting the association and we want people to join? Or are we promoting IWA’s anthologies and members’ books and want people to buy them? I would say all these, so we need to adjust our approach accordingly.
If you’re an IWA member (or would like to become one), you missed lots of opportunities if you didn’t attend this event as a visitor or helping IWA with the booth.
The event was a success! But I’m sure we would have had greater outcomes if all members were to promote, attend and engage with the prospects at the event. There’s a reason IWA’s second anthology is called Grow Together. “
Gabriela Casineanu
“Tiring, but totally worth it! New opportunities opened up for IWA and its members (including myself).
We sold both IWA’s anthologies and members’ books, connected with potential readers, other organizations (as potential partners), someone was interested in helping one of my books get into his university library, a media interview on the spot, invitations for us (IWA members) to speak in schools, visitors signed up to become IWA members, and a publicist wants to help IWA get press attention for its upcoming anthology. The best experience so far with this festival!
The first time I visited it in 2017 (right after publishing my first book), which inspired me to start IWA. The second time (2018), I sold one book and rarely saw visitors stopping at my author table (which was somewhere in a corner). The third time (2019) I helped the IWA’s booth, and it was better – although our table was indoors (with other associations), away from most visitors traffic.
This year (2022), I loved the circle booths setup which allowed visitors to pass along all booths. Some were interested in books, others took pics to search the Kindle format online, people signed up for IWA’s newsletter or membership, others to volunteer… or a combination of these. Many people were interested in reading books by diverse voices, so they stopped at IWA’s booth. I love what someone said when she stoped at our table: ‘This kind of books I want to read – not from the Victorian era, as someone wanted to convince me – because there’s so much diversity in this city.’
Overall, what I envisioned when I started IWA four years ago is already happening: people are interested in reading books by diverse voices, immigrants want to join IWA (it gives them a sense of belonging), people want to help IWA (as an organization) and its members….
In other words, ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ – as Daniel Shehori (the WOTS publicist) mentioned when I shared why I started IWA.”
A heartfelt THANK YOU…
• To WOTS 2022 staff and volunteers who made this event so successful
• To all the visitors and followers of this event
• To IWA members who represented our booth at this book festival: Phyllis Koppel (left), Claudiu Murgan (second left), Gabriela Casineanu, and Emanuel Petrescu.
On our table, we had books by IWA members and the three anthologies IWA published so far. Another one coming up in November, stay tuned!
Join our newsletter to be notified about the new anthology book launch and other IWA news.
Scroll down to see more photos and the ambiance at the WOTS 2022 Toronto festival.
More images from IWA at WOTS 2022
#WOTS2022