For many newly published authors, book festivals can be quite frustrating and limiting in getting the required exposure and sales needed. Since most book festivals prioritize well-established and famous writers, less popular but talented authors are often neglected. If you fall in this category, then you’re invited to join a more grassroots-oriented book fair in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Book Expo is one of the largest literary festivals bringing together great authors, publishers, editorial services, artisans, restaurateurs, and many other professionals seeking to network with each other and connect with a much larger audience in the Ottawa area and internationally.

This year, the Expo is scheduled to hold at the Horticulture Building in Lansdowne Park from Friday, August 26 to Sunday, August 28, 2022. It is a bilingual and multicultural event that was created to showcase the literary-cultural vitality of Ottawa, and Canada in general.

Organizers of the festival support not-for-profit and charitable causes with a focus on spreading social awareness about illiteracy even among people who may have gone to high school and have not yet achieved basic literacy. Also, the Expo supports the eradication of homelessness. Authors and publishers in Ottawa seeking to promote marginalized voices in their society by expressing themselves through published titles—especially those of different cultural backgrounds, gender, and LGBTQ communities—would feel quite encouraged during the festival.

It is quite a common occurrence for previous book festivals in Ottawa to typically promote famous writers, the Ottawa Book Expo 2022 is a lot different as it caters to both new and established authors who are seeking to get the much-needed motivation, inspiration, exposure and guidance to grow their career, network, or book sales.

By becoming an exhibitor, you will get quality exposure when listed in the Ottawa Book Expo printed guide and on the official website. Also, there would be articles about your books which will benefit from the organizer’s search engine marketing—ultimately, improving the visibility of your work. By simply attending the Ottawa Book Expo, you are guaranteed more sales through social media marketing made available to all exhibitors. Also, you will be entitled to publish an unlimited amount of promotional newspaper-style articles on the site about your book(s).

The Ottawa Book Expo team has arranged a wide array of activities for festival-goers this year, with a keen focus on connecting them with authors and artisans. The event organizers will be leveraging their broad experience in the Canadian book publishing industry to boost the commercial success of all exhibitors by offering a wide range of virtual services. These services include public relations, press release writing and distribution on news sites like FOX TV, high-quality newspaper-style 800-word promotional articles, book reviews by independent journalists, branded video podcasts, book website design, author blog design, author signing events, marketing consultation, book production, book listing and distribution, social media management and many others.

With the book publishing industry equally experiencing a digital transformation, it is important for authors seeking to continuously improve their craft, to understand that to keep up with these constant changes, there is a need for more educational and networking opportunities. This would allow them to effectively produce, market, and sell their books in this digital age.

If you’re looking to connect with new buyers in the heart of our nation’s capital, exhibiting at this year's Ottawa Book Expo would allow you to achieve that. This year, like the previous years, the festival would be structured in a way that encourages the building of new friendships and new business relationships among artisans, restauranteurs and authors from all backgrounds and diversities on a non-discriminatory basis.

Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to find people who are likely to be interested in your work and industry professionals who would make the best business partners as there are still a couple of booths available for vendors to take advantage of.