Ballard authors (from left to right) Nicole Aloni, Karen G. Anderson, Erica Bauermeister and Rita Bresnahan set up their book displays at last night’s Authors and Neighbors event.
It was standing room only at last night’s Ballard Authors and Neighbors event at Sunset Hill Community Club.
The event brought together 35 Ballard writers in all genres—self-published, poets, comic books and more. The only unifying factor was that they all needed to live in Ballard or set their books in Ballard.
During a panel discussion moderated by author Erica Bauermeister, writers discussed building an audience and how the book market has changed with the advent of electronic readers and other technologies.
Secret Garden Books even sold books by all of the authors — even those that were self-published. A percentage of the proceeds were donated to Sunset Hill Community Association.
For author and event organizer Peggy Sturdivant, it was a chance to build community back in the local bookstores, many of which have gone out of business with the combination of a sour economy and rise of electronic books.
“It made me proud to be a Ballardite,” food writer Nicole Aloni said.
