Hamptons Bedside Reading Weekend Brings Authors To Inns To Meet Readers March 1-3

Cozying up with a good novel on a chilly night is a favorite activity for many East End residents in the quieter months of the year. But it’s not often that readers have an opportunity to hang out with the authors of their favorite books and listen to them discuss plotlines, share insights or simply engage in conversation about the writing process.

But that’s exactly what “Hamptons Bedside Reading Weekend” is all about. Running March 1 through 3, the three-day event will take place at five different inns from Water Mill to East Hampton where five accomplished authors from the Tall Poppy Writers, a collective of female writers who publish in a range of genres, will take part in five different events.

The weekend promises to be a literary-minded escape from the winter weather and it kicks off with a welcome cocktail event on Friday evening, March 1, at Bridgehampton’s Topping Rose House with Amy Impellizzeri, the author of “Why We Lie,” and ends with a farewell book signing and refreshments on Sunday afternoon, March 3, featuring Sandra Block, the author of “What Happened That Night” at the Maidstone Hotel in East Hampton. In between will be three more authors with events at Water Mill’s White Fences Inn, and The 1770 House and The Baker House 1650, both in East Hampton.

The idea for Hamptons Bedside Reading Weekend came from Liz Brodar, who co-owns White Fences Inn with her husband, Eric. She was looking to find a way to bring guests to her business for an off-season stay.

“We are a destination for the summertime, but in winter no one markets you,” Ms. Brodar said during an interview in the living room at White Fences Inn. “Since we’re struggling to entice guests to come out now and March is National Reading Month, I thought maybe Jane can get some authors to participate.”

She’s referring to Jane Ubell-Meyer, the founder of Bedside Reading, a Stamford, Connecticut-based company that distributes books to luxury hotel properties around the country, including the East End. For seven weekends each summer, Ms. Ubell-Meyer comes down to the South Fork with tote bags, each containing five new books, that she distributes to eight inns across the South Fork, including White Fences.

Each week, the bags are filled with a new selection of best sellers, fiction, nonfiction, children’s, business or lifestyle titles and the books are given to each hotel guest as they check in or are placed in their rooms upon arrival. Guests are encouraged to read the books at the inn, at the beach or even take them home with them at the end of their stay if they like.

The concept, explained Ms. Ubell-Meyer during a recent weekend visit to White Fences, is all about promoting books and helping authors find new audiences to reinforce their brand.

“We have a modest fee for publishers and authors, and we market the books through social media,” Ms. Ubell-Meyer explained. “What Liz will do is take the bags and photograph the books and post them, hashtag ‘Bedside Reading’ and the authors, and connect the dots.

“It’s really a marketing tool for the books and publishers,” Ms. Ubell-Meyer added, noting that some authors have seen their book’s popularity rise greatly on Amazon simply based on its placement in the summer reading program. “We come here on Wednesday and sometimes stay over just to relax and go to a pool and then we drive home back to Stamford. This is our summer routine. I haven’t had a summer off in 18 years.

“Our season is 100 days,” she said. “It’s been extended to include the last weekend in September because the hotels get filled for the Hamptons International Film Festival.”

But hosting a book event in the off-season is a new concept, and because White Fences Inn has only five guest rooms, Ms. Brodar reached out to the other South Fork inns to see if they, too, would like to host an author event over the weekend to build on the theme and fill their rooms as well.

“Liz called me for something that could expand over the years. It could be impactful to the whole economy,” Ms. Ubell-Meyer said. “We’re starting now and will see how we can help the economy in the Hamptons and create a substantial and meaningful experience for people for a great weekend.”

“These people are readers,” she added. “They’re always looking for what’s the next book.”

For author Amy Impellizzeri, the next book and the one she’ll be discussing and signing as part of Bedside Reading Weekend is “Why We Lie,” a political thriller set in Washington, D.C.

“The timing is fabulous,” Ms. Impellizzeri said by phone when reached at her home in Philadelphia. “On March 5 my book is coming out, so it will available in the Hamptons first.”

In writing her fictional works, Ms. Impellizzeri often turns to her real-life decadelong career as a lawyer in fleshing out storylines and characters.

“I write like a lawyer. I handle plotting and storylines that way and I close the loops the way I wrote briefs,” she explained. “My first two books were not legal books, though there were lawyers in the background. I was a civil litigator, it was not sexy. My third novel was a legal thriller, though I’m not in criminal law.”

A tale of greed, politics, and power, “Why We Lie” delves into the #metoo movement and the world of powerful political men who have long been given a pass on criminal behavior while their victims have struggled to be heard.

Ms. Impellizzeri explained that she was working on the book for a number of years. Though she didn’t intentionally set out write a novel with a contemporary theme, current events dictated that the fiction began reflecting reality.

“Having worked for a big law firm and with a lot of opinions on how women are treated in that world, when the #metoo movement gained steam it was conspicuous how violated women were,” Ms. Impellizzeri said. “There are a lot of sides in this book—a woman haunted by a false accusation, another haunted by her past. Hopefully, it will generate a lot of conversations.”

That, ultimately, is the goal of Hamptons Bedside Reading Weekend. Ms. Ubell-Meyer sees the event as a great girls weekend getaway and a marvelous way for readers and authors to bond.

“So many people are interested in writing,” she said. “Maybe we can get a workshop at some point where the authors come in and we fill the place. Usually, they love to talk and teach … These are best selling authors and they are all great women. All five have been in my program over the summer.”

As an authors collective, the Tall Poppy Writers was founded in 2015 by Wisconsin resident and USA Today bestselling author Ann Garvin. Ms. Impellizzeri describes the group of 45 accomplished women writers as a social media club of sorts that ultimately became a business.

“Some of us individually have partnered with Bedside Reading to have our books placed in various hotels,” Ms. Impellizzeri said. “When Jane was talking about this weekend, she was going to invite other authors and I thought: ‘Wait a minute, we have a lot of Tall Poppy Writers who are in Bedside Reading. Let’s make it a Poppy event.’”

The other four authors taking part in the weekend are Kelly Simmons, Sandra Block, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Amy Reichert and they will be traveling to the East End from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

Like their geographic diversity, the women’s novels run the gamut in terms of theme and plotline. What unites them as Tall Poppy Writers is the type of literature they produce.

“I think the best way to categorize us is as writers who write book club fiction,” Ms. Impellizzeri said. “That might be thriller or contemporary romance, but the majority of the writing is what we call book club fiction. We also have our online slumber party called Bloom with 8,000 readers. Every week, a Tall Poppy member takes over and talks about books.”

Each fall, the Tall Poppy Writers get together at their annual “Poppy Con,” usually in New York or Chicago, as their membership is clustered primarily in the Midwest and the East Coast.

“Amy Reichert, who’s coming to the Hamptons event, is the chef among us,” Ms. Impellizzeri said. “She writes a lot about food, so she cooks for all of us.”

She also admits that, even though it’s winter, the writers are all very excited about coming to the Hamptons for the weekend.

“That was the draw,” Ms. Impellizzeri said. “The other women said the same thing. We thought this would be fabulous.”

When asked if she expects that the audience for Hamptons Bedside Reading Weekend will be primarily female, Ms. Impellizzeri noted that while it’s likely, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that there are gentlemen in the mix as well.

“Our demographics are largely women, but we don’t market exclusively to women,” she said. “We are five authors who have male readers. I always laugh when a man picks up one of our books and says: ‘My wife had it. I was surprised to see it was for men too.’”

“But it’s true. Women buy most of the books in this genre.”

Though the event is geared toward East End inns, local residents are invited to take part in Hamptons Bedside Reading Weekend too. Tickets for all five author events, including books, are $100 at eventbrite.com. Books will be available at the signings.

For guests staying at one of the five participating inns, the five-book and event package is $150, which includes a $100 dining credit at a local restaurant and a gift bag. Accommodations start at $615 for a two-night stay.