Book festivals are a great place to market your own book and see what others are doing. We spent a few minutes with New York Book Festival’s own Bruce Haring to find out just how a book festival can help you.

Tell us a little about what you do to help make the New York Book Festival and/or Hollywood Book Festival a success?

I'm the managing director of both festivals. I have a hand in virtually everything done with the festival marketing, production and programming, coordinating the teams that put both events together and supervising the many issues that crop up with producing large events. The best part about my job is meeting so many great authors and publishers who carry on in the face of overwhelming odds to produce great literature and reach an audience.

What kinds of programs occur at such a major event as the New York Book Festival?

Author readings and signings, book sales, live music, clowns doing face painting, food - it's held in Central Park, so it's a celebration of literature in a really wonderful, bucolic setting. The Hollywood Book Festival is similar in style, although the focus there is on books worthy of further attention from the film, TV and multimedia industries.

What kinds of books does your festival accept?

Anything except hardcore adult materials and things clearly intended as advertising. We've had everything from hand-printed 'zines to hard cover, fully illustrated coffee table books win our competitions. I have a special place in my heart for really esoteric fiction and poetry, and I love 'zines that cover really obscure subjects. I think they are all major cultural contributors.

How does an author participate in the festival?

Visit our web sites at newyorkbookfestival.com and hollywoodbookfestival.com to enter the competitions. You will also find information on obtaining vendor applications. You can also get on our mailing lists and keep track of upcoming events and get insider news. We also take solicitations from various public relations people touting worthy candidates for readings and signings.

Can an author be unpublished or self-published in order to send their material in or do they have to be with a publishing house?

We run story-oriented events and are mostly interested in the writing, not who manufactured the work. We accept unpublished works and manuscripts in various categories. It doesn't matter who published it or whether it is self-published. We believe in literary democracy, particularly in this over-crowded publishing market and particularly with all the wonderful tools that have become available via the desktop. We don't need others to tell us what's good.

Are there any new things in the works for this year’s festival?

We are exploring genre-specific tents at some of the events. But every year brings new people and a fresh sense of excitement about the opportunity to meet and discover great new writing. I haven't ever run an event that didn't bring some great memories of people and performances.

How does your festival help an author get their book out to the masses?

It's a crowded marketplace, so you need every opportunity you can grab to get attention from consumers, press and others. Whether you win one of our competitions and can use that in your marketing, or you merely come to the events and see what others are doing, you will learn what's going on in publishing. That can give you an edge and some new ideas. We also widely publicize our winners and, in some events, mail out copies of the winners to our various contacts. We certainly talk about the books that excite us to our audience.

What others things can an author do to successfully market their book?

Think outside the box about the people who might buy your book. Many of them will not see it in a bookstore. But they may see it at another retailer that sells products related to your subject, or at a vibe-y coffee house, or hear about it in a bit of media that normally doesn't cover books. Don't do what 10,000 others do - try to get in alternative locations and areas of interest.

What does a book of any genre need to have in order to stand out from the crowd?

Some say the cover, some say a great blurb, some say positioning in a location where an impulse buy is likely. But I think what a book needs is a persistent author or publisher that's willing to push it on people. Some of the most successful authors/publishers I know carry their books around and sell to people they meet on the street. A sale is a sale is a sale.

What would be the one thing you would tell any author trying to break into the publishing industry?

No one, not even most major publishers, will love your book in the way that you do. So be pro-active in your marketing and promotion, hire your own people and do a large amount of legwork on your own. Otherwise, you'll rely on someone else to care for your baby - and they may neglect it!

Thank you to Bruce Haring for taking some time to sit down with us. If you’d like more information on book festivals near you, visit The Center for the Book and share your book festival experiences with us!