The 2025 Dazzling All-Star Book Marketing Retreat

"I hate marketing my books! Do I have to come?!" Darling. We all hate marketing. It’s too damned hard. But we all love selling our books—earning an income and getting our stories into the hands of total strangers. That’s a buzz so delicious that we think it’s worth it to tackle the questions of marketing. So the Washington Romance Writers have pulled together a mighty and glorious list of experts to guide and help you. Want to see the dazzlers at our retreat? Dig this!

GAIL CARRIGER on getting and keeping fans, plus a social media breakdown you’re going to want to hear

KATE HALL on the (not so) impossible mission of making a splash on BookTok

INES JOHNSON on Facebook ads for those who can’t figure out how they have so little in book sales to show for as much as they’ve paid Facebook….PLUS Ines will make the Saturday Keynote, entitled “How to Fail Your Way To Six Figures”

QUINN BROOKS will tackle the eternal author question about running ads with Our Smiling Overlord, which is “what the hell is going on over at Amazon?”

ATHENA HERNANDEZ is going to share the things you were too embarrassed to ask about on author and book branding

VERONICA YAGER has a book marketing overview that’s going to curl your delicate little toes—plus she’ll pull back the curtain on the occult mysteries of metadata. Don’t be scared; you can do it too.

STUART BACHE has been looking into using AI for graphics. Controversial? Sure....Fascinating? Well YES! Just admit you're secretly interested!

JESS SNYDER will walk you through how to write a compelling book blurb, and let’s face it: you know how much you want that.

MINDY KLASKY has a list of 52 things you need on your promotional checklist…and for the as-yet-unpublished, Mindy is going to give you the straight skinny on whether you ought to be going for a traditional publishing contract vs indie.

KAREN WHITE lifts the veil on marketing for audiobooks--which is possibly the single biggest reason more of us haven't invested in recording our stories. Tell us, tell us!

MEREDITH BOND will take you by your nervous hand and whisper the secrets to building a decent author website.

HOLLY DARLING has the question of author newsletters figured out, and she’s going to finally put you on the right path.

GRACE BURROWES will be the keynote speaker on Sunday. After decades on the romance bestseller lists, girl’s got some wisdom to share!

KATHLEEN KAISER is tackling the tricky question of marketing for traditionally-published authors with and/or despite their publishers…and she notes that the indie author can do most of this, too!

LEE SAVINO has taken on the “inspirational bye-bye” post at the retreat, sending you back to your writing den encouraged, enthused, and equipped with the information you need to make marketing your…witch.

Shut up. Like that list of speakers isn’t reason enough to come! BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

Roundtable discussions on Saturday and Sunday. YOU can suggest a topic if you email [email protected] in time. Feel free to share a challenge that is particularly vexing to you. If others agree, then you can gather with other authors to discuss the marketing issues that are keeping you awake at night.

The Pre-Retreat Event—three hours on Friday afternoon from 2pm to the official 5:00 start time. Here’s where you go if you’re hiding from the DC traffic. We’re going to revel in a little frivolity, including a book exchange, a round or two of Romance Scattergories, a book club-like discussion of Lucy Score’s THINGS WE NEVER GOT OVER, and maybe a few writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing.

Exotic and delicious food prepared by the Cordon Bleu-trained master chefs at the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott, which is a fully ironic statement as their food staff is under no obligation to be either exotic or more than normally delicious but how else to pump you up about a “box lunch” dinner on Friday, coffee breaks on Saturday and Sunday, and two buffet-style lunches no doubt garnished with only the very finest parsley?

You don't have to say it. We know. This is a fantastic opportunity in one info-rich weekend and exactly what you've been looking for. C'mon and join in--it'll be even better if you're with us!

Host or Publisher Washington Romance Writers