In the era communication, technology and connections, the personal lives of the media class has become a part of our society’s social lives and entertainment. Our magazines are almost entirely focused on celebrity lifestyles, and social media allows their lives to be instantaneously announced to millions. Unfortunately, the lives of our favorite authors and writers seem to have not yet joined this trend. The Valley Bookseller is trying to change this.

The Valley Bookseller has teamed up with the Daily Grind, a local coffee shop that shares its building, to begin the Authors After Hours meetings. The meetings have a guest author come in to speak to a small audience and to work on connecting the lives of readers and writers.

The meetings generally involve a speaking portion, where the author goes over their different books and some aspects of their personal and profession lives, and later the floor is opened for questions from the members of the audience.

“They want to know the information behind their stories, why they write, all about their writing process,” Gretchen event organizer for Authors after Hours said. “Readers get to pose nitty-gritty questions to a real live author. It feels like participating in a smart, fun book club,” author Katie Pierson said, who spoke for an Authors After Hours event on Aug. 28.

The events began last July and have been meeting once or twice a month since then. West had the idea for the program and worked with the Valley Bookseller manager, Kathleen Eddy, and the Daily Grind to begin the organization.

“We have a really successful event series called Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour, for mystery writers,” West said. “When I came on board I thought we should do something for all the other writers out there.”

Who is your favorite author?

• Nicholas Sparks
• J.K Rowling
• Jodi Piccoult
• Veronica Roth
• Suzanne Collins

View Results

 Loading ...

These events are enjoyable for both readers and writers. An exchange of information in such an under-documented aspect of entertainment is important for readers and beneficial for authors.

“Authors After Hours is a win-win for authors and readers: its informal vibe lets authors truly connect with readers,” Pierson said. “I think readers like to know more about the authors they’re reading or authors in general,” West said.

The atmosphere of the Valley Bookseller and the Daily Grind were excellent for accommodating the club, and in turn many see the club as a beneficial aspect to both the store and the community of Stillwater as a whole.

“Being a indie bookstore in a small, touristy town, it’s a pretty literary community, and I think that the more we can foster those relationships between writers and readers would be a good thing,” West said. “Stillwater is extremely lucky to have this program. I’ve done dozens of readings and author events to promote my book since June. Authors After Hours really stands out: Valley Bookseller’s enthusiastic staff and the casual format – including great coffee – puts everyone at ease instantly. The concept makes the evening a success before it even gets started,” Pierson said.

The event has not grown in size accordingly in regards to its reception, but the organizers have high hopes for the future and are working on ways to boost attendance to gain a more steady, regular audience.

“It is growing, but it is not as popular yet. I was told Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour took a few years to get up to the level where it is,” West said. “In 2016 we’re going to start doing two authors one time a month to try and build the audience.”

Authors After Hours has been well received since its conception and will continue to grow and fulfill its goals of connecting readers to writers.

“We’ve gotten lots of good comments about the event,” West said. “Readers want to connect with authors.”