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Indie authors connect with readers at Writers at Westclox Chapter Two · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Indie Authors Connect with Readers at Writers at Westclock's Chapter 2. Written
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  by Emily Beebe This article is being read by an automated voice
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  brought to you by Everlet. Writers at West Clocks Chapter 2 brought
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  32 local authors to Fire on Fifth, located inside the historic Westclox
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  building from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, giving readers the chance to
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  meet the authors behind the books and take home signed copies. Representatives
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  from the Peru and La Salle libraries also attended.
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  Organizers C.D. White and Angelique Burrell said the fair is a partnership
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  that works in both directions.
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  A lot of us indie authors have to promote our own books,
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  White said. Even if we’re published by larger publishers, we’re still responsible
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  for a lot of the marketing. So many of us will do
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  library events, and we love supporting our local libraries, but a lot
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  of people come to those events, and they’re looking to borrow books,
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  not necessarily purchase them.
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  The venue benefits too. Fairgoers buy food and drinks and linger over
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  to the tables instead of heading straight out. Authors pay a minimal
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  fee to participate, which the organizers put back into advertising.
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  The first 50 attendees through the door walked away with tote bags,
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  and the tables came with perks: authors offered free bookmarks, stickers and
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  more alongside their books. One tote bag held a surprise beyond the
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  freebies: tucked inside was a piece of cardstock announcing that its recipient
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  had won a bookish-themed gift basket. Since no one came forward to
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  claim the basket by the end of the event, the basket stayed
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  at Fire on Fifth, where a Facebook post encouraged attendees to check
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  their bags for the winning certificate. Whoever holds it can pick up
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  the basket at Fire on Fifth.
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  White and Burrell met through the Society of Children’s Book Writers and
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  Illustrators while volunteering at a conference, and the idea for a relaxed,
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  pop-up style fair took shape from there. The first chapter, held at
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  Fire on Fifth in March 2026, drew such a response that Fire
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  on Fifth general manager Hannah Scoma told them they could come back
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  anytime. They aimed for the second pop-up fair to be in late
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  fall, right as the Christmas season kicks off.
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  Authors don’t just show up, they apply. The organizers put out a
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  call on social media and their website, then curate the lineup.
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  We try to create a good mix of genres, White said. So
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  it’s not just kids picture books, or just mysteries, or romance. We
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  try to get a little bit of everything.
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  For White, the venue is personal: she loves historic old buildings, and
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  it was her son who first found Fire on Fifth and recommended
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  it. When she brought the fair idea to Scoma, the general manager
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  had never attended a book fair and liked that it offered the
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  community something different from the usual music acts, with the event making
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  for a family-friendly afternoon.
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  Looking ahead, White sees room to grow.
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  I feel like the Peru area isn’t as heavily saturated with these
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  pop-up book fairs as some of the Chicago suburbs, she said. So
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  I would love to see more of them here.
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  If the fair keeps growing, the organizers would love to use one
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  of the Westclox building’s larger event spaces, still working with Fire on
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  Fifth.
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  For Burrell, the fair is as much about the authors as the
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  readers.
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  When you write a book, you think you’re done with it, she
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  said, The hardest part for me is the promoting and the marketing.
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  The fairs have built a community of writers who support each other,
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  more of them than the organizers ever imagined.
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  It’s just a way to kind of help each other, Burrell said.