Vendor Application & Guide
Vendor eligibility for Booktoberfest 2025: Authors will be eligible to apply if they currently live in Nova Scotia and will publish a book between October 5, 2024, and the date of Booktoberfest 2025 (TBA). Publishers will be eligible to apply if their press/magazine is entirely or partially based in Nova Scotia and will publish one or more books/issues between October 5, 2024, and the date of Booktoberfest 2025 (TBA).
Vendor selection: Applicants will be offered table space by WFNS staff if they meet the eligibility requirements. Table space will be assigned in the order in which applications are received.
Table space: Author-vendor space (limited to 48 vendors) will be 3 linear feet + one chair. Publisher-vendor space (limited to between 7 and 14 vendors) will be 4 linear feet + one chair. Publisher-vendors accompanied by one or more of their authors will be given 8 linear feet + three chairs. Any collaborating authors, teams of press reps, or authors accompanying presses will need to time-share the available chair(s).
Creative writing workshops: Applying vendors may provide an elevator pitch for a 45-minute workshop, which should focus on lecture-style presentation, discussion, and takeaway exercises. Each selected workshop instructor will receive a $125 honorarium.
Applications for Booktoberfest 2025
will open in late June or early July, 2025
Vendor Application Form
Where to be
Booktoberfest will be held in Paul O’Regan Hall at Halifax Central Library (5540 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax).
On Saturdays, nearby street parking is free. From Queen Street, you can find (1) open-air paid parking directly south of the library and (2) the entrance to underground paid parking within the library, parking for which will be $5. An elevator leads from the underground lot to the library’s main floor.
The greenroom adjoining Paul O’Regan Hall will be for vendor use only. You may store food and personal items here (left at your own risk) and use its fridge and lavatories.
When to be there
Booktoberfest is open to the public from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, October [TBD].
Vendors should arrive between 10pm and 10:30am to begin table set up.
Vendors will need to complete table teardown by 4pm.
WFNS staff and volunteers will be available to help you find, set up, and tear down your table as well as bring books and other materials from a nearby vehicle into Paul O’Regan Hall. (If planning to park farther away, please consider unloading at Halifax Central Library’s Queen Street entrance.)
What’s provided
- Promotional images:
- See the main Booktoberfest page for regularly updated, social media-ready images (left-click to expand; right-click to download)
- Table space:
- For author vendors, 3 linear feet and 1 chair
- For publisher vendors, 4 linear feet and 1 chair
- For publisher vendors accompanied by one or more authors, 8 linear feet and 3 chairs
- Basic tabletop signage, name tag(s), Booktoberfest programme, and pamphlet detailing upcoming WFNS program deadlines
- Assistance from WFNS staff and volunteers in finding, setting up, and tearing down your assigned table space
- Bottled water and snacks (available in the greenroom)
What to bring
- Copies of your titles(s) published in the eligibility time frame (Oct 2024 to Oct 2025)
- Copies of any other titles and literary items for sale or giveaway (e.g., chapbooks, broadsides, bookmarks, press swag, other writerly and readerly goods)
- Tablecloth or other decorative covering that fits (or can be folded to fit) your assigned table space
- Tabletop book displays and additional tabletop signage that fits your assigned table space
- A smartphone or other device (if accepting payment by card or e-transfer) and a change float (if accepting payment in cash)
- Two or more pens (for book-signing)
- Lunch (which may be consumed at your table or in the greenroom)
