Samantha Heil: How Fascinating Books Actually Build Hope

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living Presents, conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Rich Bennett 0:30
Schedged down over call fee, grows into a movement that brings thousands of people together through the power of books. For Samantha Hale, that idea became the book fair at Belair. A free, all ages celebration where readers can meet authors, discover new stories, and connect with a thriving literary community featuring more than 100 authors and vendors. Samantha is a career educator, literacy expert, author, and executive director of Book Fair at Belair, a 501 C3 non-profit, fit working to make a literary experience as accessible throughout Hartford County. Today, we're talking about how the book fair grew from that panera conversation into a flagship community event while its mission extends far beyond one day and how books can create connection, inspire hope, and give people a genuine sense of belonging. 

Samantha Heil 1:30
I love the intro. It kind of gave me a little, like, I got a little goose bump. 

Rich Bennett 1:34
Oh, get out of 

Samantha Heil 1:35
here. I did. I 

Rich Bennett 1:36
it. Oh, 

Samantha Heil 1:36
loved 

Rich Bennett 1:37
stop. Stop. It's 

Samantha Heil 1:38
so cool. 

Rich Bennett 1:38
You blush. 

Samantha Heil 1:40
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 1:40
I 

Samantha Heil 1:40
sorry. 

Rich Bennett 1:40
am really looking like seeing a few cheeks or 

Samantha Heil 1:42
I 

Rich Bennett 1:42
already. 

Samantha Heil 1:42
was like-- That sounds so cool, right? 

Rich Bennett 1:47
Oh, one of the things I have to tell you because-- All right, so those people listening that don't know about the book fair, Belair, well, obviously, they haven't been listening to my podcast, then-- 

Samantha Heil 2:00
(laughter) 

Rich Bennett 2:02
This was the second year, right? It was the third year. All right, so the first two years was at the Armory. Okay. I have to admit, as I was, and first of all, thank you for having me there as one of the future podcasts. 

Samantha Heil 2:20
Of course. 

Rich Bennett 2:21
But when I looked down for the upper concourse, just seeing-- I mean, the place was freaking-- It 

Samantha Heil 2:30
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 2:31
was-- 

Samantha Heil 2:31
it was. 

Rich Bennett 2:32
It was amazing, and you guys-- Well, I think you figured it out. Over 1,400 people came through. 

Samantha Heil 2:39
24. 

Rich Bennett 2:39
Or was it-- Huh? 

Samantha Heil 2:42
20. 

Rich Bennett 2:42
Over 2,400. 

Samantha Heil 2:44
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 2:45
All right, so it was 1,000, half. 

Samantha Heil 2:48
Just 1,000. We won't tell our 

Rich Bennett 2:50
I can-- 

Samantha Heil 2:51
sponsors that. 

Rich Bennett 2:51
That compared to the Armory, do you remember how many people came through to the Armory? 

Samantha Heil 2:55
Yeah, we track every year. So the first year was just about 1,400, and then 

Rich Bennett 3:00
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 3:00
we came up to 2100, just under 2100. 

Rich Bennett 3:04
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 3:05
Back in year. And this year is the first time we had no foot traffic, though. So I think that sort of factored into our growth because everybody coming to APGFCU was there specifically to see us. It wasn't like we were pulling people off of Main Street to come in 

Rich Bennett 3:19
Oh. 

Samantha Heil 3:19
and hang out. Yeah. And so we got up to 2400 this year, which we were pretty happy with. We were hoping to hit 3,000 of course because we wanted that, you know, that steady trajectory. But, you know, goals, goals for next year. So. 

Rich Bennett 3:35
I think you will. I think 

Samantha Heil 3:38
year. 

Rich Bennett 3:38
for 

Samantha Heil 3:38
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 3:38
next 

Samantha Heil 3:38
you hear some of the stuff. 

Rich Bennett 3:40
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 3:41
I'm 

Rich Bennett 3:41
well. 

Samantha Heil 3:42
so excited. I think we're going to do it. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:44
Oh, we'll get into that. But first, I have to ask you this. Okay. So. I guess it was what you and Erin had painear bread. 

Samantha Heil 3:54
Oh, it wasn't. It was actually me and your favorite author, Christy Wolf. 

Rich Bennett 3:58
Oh, my God. Why does her name have to come off again? 

Samantha Heil 4:01
(laughter) Yes. 

Rich Bennett 4:03
You know what? Here's the funny thing. Oh my God. Christy doesn't even have to be anywhere. She's still a bearish? The hell out of me. The author's door that came off while I was recorded at the book fair. And a lot of them had mentioned Christy's name. I'm like, okay, did she purposely just send you up here to embarrass me or what? 

Samantha Heil 4:28
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:28
And I think one of the authors was a five chili pepper author. 

Samantha Heil 4:32
Hmm. Hmm. 

Rich Bennett 4:33
I think. I don't know. I care. So. I think she's doing Christy. We're sitting at painear bread. So I want you to take us back to that conversation. What actually did you envision that day? And how close is today's book fair to that original dream? 

Samantha Heil 4:54
Sure. So I'll actually take you back even a little bit further because. That conversation was about something called The Right Women's Book Fest, which was happening in, I think, buoy at the time. And it was, uh, the first book festival I had ever been to as 

Rich Bennett 5:14
author. 

Samantha Heil 5:14
an 

Rich Bennett 5:14
Right. 

Samantha Heil 5:26
So, when you know what, it is this just amazing community of people who do this for a living, and, you know, the creativity and the effort and everything put into this. It just was so amazing. I was completely in awe of all of the work that Heather and Carden do with that organization. They still do. They're doing smaller things now. They don't do the big one, but, 

Rich Bennett 5:57
uh, well, you brought Carden onto the, 

Samantha Heil 5:59
to, 

Rich Bennett 5:59
you 

Samantha Heil 5:59
yes, 

Rich Bennett 5:59
brought Carden on yeah. Yeah, the exotic writer. 

Samantha Heil 6:02
Uh-huh. 

Rich Bennett 6:03
Yes. 

Samantha Heil 6:03
She, well, yes. She is an erotica writer. 

Rich Bennett 6:06
Yeah. Orotica. 

Samantha Heil 6:07
Um, 

Rich Bennett 6:08
erotica. God. 

Samantha Heil 6:10
Listen, potatoes, potatoes, you know. 

Rich Bennett 6:12
Yes. 

Samantha Heil 6:12
Um, so we, Chris, yeah, we're talking about that. And I just kept saying, you know, we don't have anything like that in this area. Everywhere you look, you know, we, and at the time we had no bookstore, we had no really connection, and our Barnes and Noble had been run by someone who didn't do a ton of community events at the time. 

Rich Bennett 6:33
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 6:33
And I just kept saying, you know, we really need something like this. I could do this. This is in my wheelhouse. I was a teacher for a long time, and the funny enough, I used to run student counsel, which sounds like small potatoes when you hear it from anyone else, but it was another job in and of itself. We're talking homecoming, we're talking like the big, I run big events at while I was teaching full time pretty much my entire career. Yes. 

Rich Bennett 7:02
Wow. 

Samantha Heil 7:02
so I had already been doing it. I'm like, oh, I can do this. And, you know, teachers have a very specific set of skills. They can do just, I mean, they're super, super human, right? They can do 

Rich Bennett 7:14
But 

Samantha Heil 7:14
anything. It's really true. And so I decided I was going to go, well, you were Christian, I was sitting there, talking about how cool the right women books, best is and I was like, I just looked at her and I was like, I'm going to do it. Like I'm going to do that. And I did. And she looked at me and she was like, yeah, you are. She actually, she took a picture of me at that time. And she was like, I was like, Christie, like take a picture of me, because I know this is the moment I know, I'm going to do this. And we can't find it. 

Yeah, I 

Rich Bennett 7:49
was on her phone. 

Samantha Heil 7:51
Of course it 

Rich Bennett 7:51
on. 

Samantha Heil 7:51
was. Come 

Rich Bennett 7:52
So she deleted 

Samantha Heil 7:54
Yeah. I 

Rich Bennett 7:54
it. What is 

Samantha Heil 7:55
think it's probably there or somewhere. 

Rich Bennett 7:58
right? 

Samantha Heil 7:58
We just can't find it. So 

Rich Bennett 8:00
Wow. 

Samantha Heil 8:00
that was the, like the inception of Bookfair Belair. And the first year, I begged a lot of people to come. I gave a lot of discounted tables. I gave a lot of free tables. I was just trying to get people in the door, 

Rich Bennett 8:18
try 

Samantha Heil 8:18
people 

Rich Bennett 8:18
to get 

Samantha Heil 8:19
out of table. And know,as  you can see historically, there was such an appetite for this kind of community event. We brought 

Rich Bennett 8:31
you 

Samantha Heil 8:31
almost 1300 people in the door in our first year, which is insane. But just in my experience going to events, a lot of them don't even hit 1000. You know, it's these events are not always well attended. I've been at some where there were under 50 people, like just. 

Rich Bennett 8:49
I heard that horror story. Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 8:51
you've probably heard a couple. There've been a couple 

Rich Bennett 8:53
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 8:53
around here and. 

Rich Bennett 8:55
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 8:56
They're happening more often. Because I think people look at it and they go, oh, I can do that. But they don't consider, do I have the skill set to do that? You know, should I, should not can I, should I do that? Is that something I should do? Am I in it for the right reasons? That's I think another huge part of it is. You know I'm, I'm an educator. I've been in literacy my entire life. This has been a part of who I am and what I do for most of my life. So this is really just another extension of that. 

Rich Bennett 9:29
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 9:30
And I really I care about people reading. I just do. I care that because I think that reading leads to so many. So many positive effects that we need to be pushing it more and as someone who. Yeah, as someone who keeps up with the research, I know what the numbers look like. They're awful. And, you know, as we see people, especially on social media, or we see people, or whatever, you know, we're unfortunately seeing people's inside thoughts a lot more than I think we ever were supposed to hear people's inside thoughts. And, yeah, and some of those inside thoughts, it's kind of like I really wish that you had a little bit more empathy and a little bit more compassion for people. And I truly believe that being able to see that, being able to, you know, those things are muscles, I think, and being able to 

Rich Bennett 10:32
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 10:33
exercise those things comes from being able to see somebody else's experiences. So if you're not going to go out and talk to those people, maybe you read about those people. And that's really, when I curate our featured author lineup, I'm looking for people who bring some kind of diverse perspective. We have such a lineup for 2027, and I'm talking we run the gamut. 

Rich Bennett 10:55
Already? 

Samantha Heil 10:57
Oh, we're we started announcing them already. They're they're already coming out. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 11:00
I saw some of the announcers as like, wait, wow, they're you guys don't wait. 

Samantha Heil 11:06
Oh, we, 

Rich Bennett 11:06
which is I have to give you credit for that. I was going to say, because and you know, being in the lines club, this is something I always tell everybody. Once the events over, you're working on it while the events going on. 

Samantha Heil 11:22
O, even before I've 

Rich Bennett 11:23
on 

Samantha Heil 11:23
been 

Rich Bennett 11:24
it. 

Samantha Heil 11:24
working 

Rich Bennett 11:24
Well, yeah, 

Samantha Heil 11:25
very Yeah. And you have to capitalize on the momentum because once people 

Rich Bennett 11:30
Yep. 

Samantha Heil 11:30
leave the event, they forget about it. So I made the big announcement at the event 

Rich Bennett 11:35
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 11:35
and then we made it after the event and we continue and now we're starting to we have we have one headline or this year, which they're a duo, they're a writing duo, like me and Aaron. And they are, they're rock stars. They have 22 titles that have been in the New Yorktime best-selling list, 22. Very few authors can claim that kind of notoriety. And so they are, they are a name. So 

Rich Bennett 12:11
a 

Samantha Heil 12:11
they are 

Rich Bennett 12:11
LAD to share. 

Samantha Heil 12:14
Oh, yeah, that that yes, their name is Christina Lauren. They're a romance writer. They just released a book called The Romance Revival this year. And they're going to have a show, I think it's a show. It might be a movie. I'm not sure coming to Netflix in December. It's a Christmas Christmas themed. And it's based on one of their books called In a Holidays. And it's very cute. It's it's one of those time time loop. 

Rich Bennett 12:44
Right. 

Samantha Heil 12:44
Plots. So like we keep going back and reliving the same 

Rich Bennett 12:47
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 12:48
thing over and over. And I don't love those. Sometimes I get like frustrated with them like, oh, come on. But this one is cute. It's cute. So they are, we are super excited to have them. And we are, we're already getting lots of other people who are super excited about them as well. But in addition to them, we have 10 featured authors. So it'll be Christina Lauren at the top, right? And then two rows, five and five. So that's what our bill, like our top billing looks like. 

Rich Bennett 13:19
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 13:21
And so we started announcing those. We've so far announced Rebecca Morrison, who is a middle grade author. And she is actually her debut. And it's called The Blue Dress. And 

Rich Bennett 13:33
might 

Samantha Heil 13:33
it 

Rich Bennett 13:33
have I heard 

Samantha Heil 13:34
fantastic. Maybe from our social. I don't know. We've been, 

Rich Bennett 13:37
an 

Samantha Heil 13:37
we've been 

Rich Bennett 13:37
probably okay. 

Samantha Heil 13:39
Yeah. And she has such a unique story and a unique perspective and such a really good message that I just love. 

Rich Bennett 13:47
Right. 

Samantha Heil 13:48
Her work. And then the second one that we just announced yesterday, their name is SJ Sindo. And they are DMV based. I believe they teach I want to say it might be University of Virginia that they're a professor at. I'm not 100% sure. But they across genres and lots of different things. So it's hard for me to even tell you exactly. There's some middle grade. There's some contemporary adult. There's like a little bit of everything. So but the again, very different perspective. Very I mean award winning writer. 

Rich Bennett 14:23
Wow. 

Samantha Heil 14:24
Yes. So those are the only three that have been announced so far. And let me tell you, we've got some surprises in there. 

Mm 

Rich Bennett 14:33
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 14:34
hmm. 

Rich Bennett 14:34
They actually what the surprises are, then they won't be surprises. 

Samantha Heil 14:37
No. 

Rich Bennett 14:37
All right. So where are first of all I have to tell you this. Thank you for doing this first. 

Samantha Heil 14:44
Of course. 

Rich Bennett 14:45
Because and I think Christy may I don't even, Christie might not remember. 

But for years, I kept saying I wanted to put a book fair together because they're the same reason you wanted to. There wasn't one around here. Now you took it, so it's like, God, thank you. Just run with it. I can't. Maybe eventually I would. 

Samantha Heil 15:09
Okay, with that. 

Rich Bennett 15:09
I would love to open a bookstore, though, because I don't. There's not enough of them enough 

Samantha Heil 15:17
No, 

Rich Bennett 15:17
into. 

Samantha Heil 15:17
I think there should be one on every corner. 

Rich Bennett 15:20
Oh, absolutely. And I've what there's one in Hartford County, right? Just one. 

Samantha Heil 15:26
Yes. Just one. 

Rich Bennett 15:27
And I'm going to get the name wrong. I'd birds. 

Samantha Heil 15:30
You got it. 

Rich Bennett 15:32
Oh, that is the name of it. 

Samantha Heil 15:34
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 15:35
I knew that. 

Samantha Heil 15:38
Go. Yeah. They're actually, especially like very niche bookstores have been opening up at a faster pace than I've seen them, at least in the recent past. We have a lot of romance only bookstores. Yes. One in Baltimore County that I love that's called Lepetite Mort and the owner's name is Cheryl. And I just adore her. She is very sweet. And I, I just love her energy. And so we 

Rich Bennett 16:08
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 16:08
partner for a lot of different things. I've worked with jade from sweet nothings in Baltimore. There's actually a new one coming in Baltimore. It's called Be more romance or something like that. It's, they're 

Rich Bennett 16:22
I 

Samantha Heil 16:22
literally painting 

Rich Bennett 16:22
like 

Samantha Heil 16:22
the 

Rich Bennett 16:23
that. 

Samantha Heil 16:23
shelves. Yeah. I just have seen it. So I'm more than there's romance landia and centerville. Um, so I'm in the because because I'm in the romance space. I think I catch on to the romance only bookstores a little bit more than the, you know, just traditional every day and 

Rich Bennett 16:42
everything 

Samantha Heil 16:43
pop up 

Rich Bennett 16:43
right. 

Samantha Heil 16:44
Yeah. But again, I am of the opinion that we need to have them on every other book or because, you know, book people aren't all the same. Just because you're a book person doesn't mean that you're going to find your crowd with a specific 

Rich Bennett 16:58
right. 

Samantha Heil 16:58
Indie bookstore, you know, we, we have romance readers inside by readers and people who like my favorite are the monster romance readers. They're just hilarious human beings. I just love them. I think they're 

Rich Bennett 17:10
I 

Samantha Heil 17:10
so 

Rich Bennett 17:10
never 

Samantha Heil 17:10
funny. 

Rich Bennett 17:10
even heard of that. It's, I think it was brandy 

Samantha Heil 17:15
really. 

Rich Bennett 17:15
brandy stone That's what I heard of it. I'm like, what? 

Samantha Heil 17:18
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:20
And 

Samantha Heil 17:21
again, a very specific type of person. And I just love those people. I don't read a ton of it. I've only read. I don't know, maybe two or three. They're hilarious. I just think they're the funniest people. In general. So I just think, you know, we need so many more of them and 

Rich Bennett 17:37
oh, yeah, 

Samantha Heil 17:38
I think a lot of people. You know, it just depends on your personality. And it depends on all of that. But there's space for everybody. You know, we can all there's I'm very good friends with Amber who runs a Amber runs a bookstore, but it's not a brick and mortar. It is she does a lot of those special edition sprayed edges. Have you seen like the pretty book edges? 

Rich Bennett 18:06
No, 

Samantha Heil 18:06
She does those. 

Rich Bennett 18:07
I just found out what I just found out at the book fair that you could do special editions, limited editions and all that. 

Samantha Heil 18:15
Yeah, they have like the pretty, yeah, like the pretty edges. 

Rich Bennett 18:18
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 18:18
So she does those for authors. That's what her bookstore does. But she recently last year started an event called Romantisy in the Valley. It was her first one. And she nailed it. I mean, it was so good. It was so well done. We had 

Rich Bennett 18:33
right. 

Samantha Heil 18:34
so many people in the route. I was there as an author. And she just killed it. And you know, this year, the book fair is going to sponsor parts of her stuff. She's going to do some work for the book fair like there's room for us to help each other out and to 

Rich Bennett 18:48
Yes. 

Samantha Heil 18:48
cultivate, yo know, book spaces for everybody. And so when people. When I see people talking about, you know, oh, they're doing this or oh, they're doing that. And they're not super happy about it. That doesn't, it doesn't usually make me feel good about 

Rich Bennett 19:03
right. 

Samantha Heil 19:04
You know, where they're at in the community. I'm like they're there's, there's just space. I know it's a business. I get it. But if you're doing, if you're doing the right things and focusing on the right things, your business is going to do just fine. 

Rich Bennett 19:17
Now, with the with the book fair, Bel Lear, when did you decide to turn it into a five or once you three or was that always the plan? 

Samantha Heil 19:27
No, so I have been running an LLC for the past maybe 10 years. I started in education. Yes. So I started. I was teacher. And so I started publishing my own educational materials online. 

Rich Bennett 19:42
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 19:42
Anger, ehm, yeah. And I- it quickly started making more money than I thought. I was- I was posting for funsies, you know, 

Rich Bennett 19:50
OK. 

Samantha Heil 19:50
like, oh, 

Rich Bennett 19:51
Right? 

Samantha Heil 20:09
And so I would have an airport in all day long listening to podcasts about 

Rich Bennett 20:15
business and about. 

Samantha Heil 20:16
How to do everything and that's really where I learned and I came into my own as a business person was I got all of my education building this educational publishing platform. This was even before I was an author. Like, I had just, um, was like, uh, yes, so I- It's probably over 10 years at this point, but we're just gonna go with 10. Um, and so after that, uh, Aaron and I wrote a book and I was like, oh, well, I know how to do this, so let's figure that out. And so because we did- we did query for a while and that's just not for me. I want to have control of doing the stuff. It 

Rich Bennett 20:56
Right. 

Samantha Heil 20:56
moves so 

Rich Bennett 20:56
Right. 

Samantha Heil 20:57
slow. It said there's just so many, I'm- I'm indie in my heart. I think we will- like, I don't care if we sell a million copies. I think we'll always be. Indie-published. I just- 

Rich Bennett 21:08
I love- Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 21:09
So we got through that and so last year in the year before the book there was an LLC. And- 

Rich Bennett 21:16
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 21:17
I did not make any single penny on the book fair. And the amount of taxes that I had to pay on the book fair 

Rich Bennett 21:24
were 

Samantha Heil 21:26
just insane. I mean, they were- oh my goodness. And so then I met a local author, his name is Sam Polikoff. 

Rich Bennett 21:34
Yes. 

Samantha Heil 21:34
And he- he runs a- another uh, local book festival. And as I'm talking to him, watching him do his thing and learn and grow, um, he just kept telling me you need- you need to be nonprofit. Like, what are you doing? You need to be nonprofit. And I was scared because it feels like nonprofit just feels so far away for a lot of people. There's so much red tape, you know. 

Rich Bennett 22:00
Oh yeah. 

Samantha Heil 22:01
And, oh, it's just- and honestly, he was like, it's easy. You'll be fine. And so, you know, hearing that firsthand. Oh, it's easy. It's going to be fine. I'll be like, Oh, okay. Great. It was not- it was not easy. It's- 

Rich Bennett 22:16
oh, those of you listening. You could see the look on her face. 

Samantha Heil 22:20
It's still- 

Rich Bennett 22:21
it- wait. It isn't. No, but a lot of people don't understand. Being a nonprofit is still a 

Samantha Heil 22:32
oh, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 22:33
business. You still- 

Samantha Heil 22:33
100 

Rich Bennett 22:33
They're 

Samantha Heil 22:33
percent. 

Rich Bennett 22:33
running like a business. 

Samantha Heil 22:35
We're a business. 

Rich Bennett 22:36
You're right. There's just more red tape you have to go through now. 

Samantha Heil 22:40
Yes. And so we're just learning about how to function as a nonprofit. I still, 

Rich Bennett 22:46
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 22:46
to this day, do not really get paid at all. This is the 

Rich Bennett 22:50
Good. 

Samantha Heil 22:50
first year. 

Rich Bennett 22:50
Not yet. 

Samantha Heil 22:51
Very- no. I- some day I would love to run the thankful time. That's where I'm going to put it in the universe. But like, I get paid a very, very tiny, like $500 stipend. I mean, we're talking tiny, tiny- but this is a huge budget, you know, $, 000, $50, 000 operation. And I'm making just about nothing on it for what's considered at this point a full-time job. Right? Like I'm working 

Rich Bennett 23:16
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 23:16
on this thing all day every day. But with that being said, nonprofit made the most sense for us, especially because- if I'm sure I've talked to you- because I've talked to you many times. But my story is that I really got into this wanting to open a bookstore. That was my first goal. And, you know, COVID, the market, money, all of the things. I was just like- I- I talked to the people over at the Armory. Like, I, you know, I did all of that work. It just was not- that was not the way I wanted to do it. And so that's how I was like- I'm going to try the book fair. We'll see- we'll see how that goes- but the goal is still to get into a brick and mortar at some point. Um, that is so, but I just am now going about it. I'm going about it backwards. So, and I've also found with my teacher heart that this is the place I belong because I can really tap into that mission. And I think one of the reasons we've been so successful is because people know that I'm here for the right reasons. I am sincerely trying to spread literacy, love of books, joy because I think we've kind of as a community stuck up our nose at people for way too long and kind of judged, you know, what people read or how they read or oh audio books aren't reading a blah blah blah blah. Like no, like this community is not about that. We love everybody and we don't care how you read I don't care if you read a board book to your kids, but you should be reading board books to your kids, you know, 

Rich Bennett 24:57
I'm 

Samantha Heil 24:57
ri? Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 24:58
telling you, I, and the thing is, well, you know, all the different types of authors I have on, I would never have thought that I would be reading a romance book. And 

Samantha Heil 25:11
I 

Rich Bennett 25:13
am, because when I've had them on, especially if the other podcast, and when they read an excerpt from it, like Christy came on and pitched her 

Samantha Heil 25:22
book. 

Rich Bennett 25:22
one 

Samantha Heil 25:22
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:23
And she, after the excerpt, she just left me hanging. I'm like, but what the hell happened? She's like, we can have three. I mean, that was good. That was good. 

Samantha Heil 25:33
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:33
And Melissa Roosh. 

Samantha Heil 25:34
Well, her books are fantastic. 

Rich Bennett 25:36
Oh, yeah. But Melissa Roosh is another one and I'm reading her book and it's like, wow, but even children's books, you know, 

Samantha Heil 25:45
I read everybody's 

Rich Bennett 25:46
appreciate my. 

Samantha Heil 25:46
stuff. I think, yeah, so much. I mean, a well, a well done middle grade book is the hardest thing to do because you have to peel to everybody. 

Rich Bennett 25:55
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 25:55
Right? Middle schoolers don't listen to anything. We all know that they don't listen to anything. So if you can get a kids attention with a middle grade book, that's going to appeal to anybody who can read it. That's why I have such a heart for middle grade because it's so hard to do and do well. So I think people are always really shocked to find that I read everybody's books like I know my book fair authors and I know them well, because I read all of their books. And 

Rich Bennett 26:22
always 

Samantha Heil 26:22
people are scary. 

Rich Bennett 26:26
Yeah. Scary question for you. Then how many books do you read a year? 

Samantha Heil 26:30
So I used to read a lot more. I used to be almost a 200 book a year reader. Yeah. No, I'm not quite there anymore. I have slowed down quite a bit mostly because I was at home with my daughter at the time. 

Rich Bennett 26:46
Right? 

Samantha Heil 26:46
I was married at the time. Like there were just so many factors that went into why I was able to read 200 books a year. And now, especially where my brain is, I'm doing a lot every day and my brain doesn't love to sit down and read. So audio is just my jam right now. I always have, it's my favorite. It's the 

Rich Bennett 27:07
read. 

Samantha Heil 27:07
only way I 

Rich Bennett 27:07
It's still reading. 

Samantha Heil 27:08
Because I'm, oh, it's I'd listen, we could do a different episode on why it's still reading if you want. But like, as a literacy expert, it infuriates me when I'm online and see people talking about how it's not reading. And I constantly want to fight with them, but I'm like, no, I can't, I can't give that energy every single time I 

Rich Bennett 27:28
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 27:29
see. You know, I want to explain to them how it works because it's reading. I promise it's reading. It 

Rich Bennett 27:37
It 

Samantha Heil 27:37
is. 

Rich Bennett 27:37
is. It's sinking into your brain. 

Samantha Heil 27:40
You're 

Rich Bennett 27:40
You're taking. 

Samantha Heil 27:41
using, you're using the same muscles to get that information as you are when you're reading traditionally with your eyes. The only thing you're bypassing is is literally the Dakota. I talk with my hands all time Italian. No, 

Rich Bennett 27:59
I mean, that's the only muscle you're not working. 

Samantha Heil 28:02
I thought you were making fun of me because I'm sitting here talking 

Rich Bennett 28:06
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 28:06
with my hands. 

Rich Bennett 28:07
I would never make fun of you. 

Samantha Heil 28:09
Oh, never. Never. You never make fun of me. 

Yeah, so I don't even remember what my original point was. That's how far. Oh, how many books do I read? 

Rich Bennett 28:21
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 28:21
So I probably get to four or five or so a month now, something like that. But I 

Rich Bennett 28:26
I'm 

Samantha Heil 28:26
still. 

Rich Bennett 28:26
sure one of those types I can read more than one book at a time. Aren't you? 

Samantha Heil 28:30
Oh, I can for sure. Yeah. I was an English teacher. I was reading six, seven books at a time at one point in my life. That does not bother me. Yeah, you know what I can't do. 

Rich Bennett 28:42
You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

I want to share something really special about a company that I not only trust, but also use. And also truly admire freedom, federal credit union. Why freedom? Because they go beyond everyday banking to really make a difference in our community. They've established a Freedom of the Help Foundation, which actively supports local initiatives, making our neighborhoods stronger and more connected. Whether it's promoting financial education, or backing community projects, Freedom Federal Credit Union is there, investing in our shared future. And it's not just about community programs, I trust them because they provide excellent, personal and business banking services that make managing finances straightforward and secure. Their commitment to our community and their members really sets them apart. So if you're looking for a financial partner that aligns with your values and actively contributes to bettering the community, check out Freedom Federal Credit Union. Visit them today at freedomfcu. org or call 1,800-440-4120. Join me in banking where it matters. 

Samantha Heil 30:07
I can't write more than one at a time. Some people... 

Rich Bennett 30:10
Oh, I know I've had people wanting to do them. I'm like, "How? I'm going to get a mixed up." Just like with leaving, 

Samantha Heil 30:15
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 30:15
now I can read a novel, a self-help book, and 

sometimes a memoir at the same time. But that's about it. I cannot... 

Samantha Heil 30:27
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 30:28
the same genre, more than one at the same time. I get all confused. 

Samantha Heil 30:33
Oh, at one point I was only reading romance. That's 

Rich Bennett 30:36
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 30:37
all I was 

Rich Bennett 30:37
long. 

Samantha Heil 30:37
reading 

Rich Bennett 30:38
I 

Samantha Heil 30:38
all day 

Rich Bennett 30:38
can't... and I got... from all the authors I have on, I'm looking at some more, I have five Toots. There's probably 20 gallon Toots filled with books that I haven't read yet. 

Samantha Heil 30:51
That's amazing. 

Rich Bennett 30:52
Because I can't... 

Samantha Heil 30:53
that's amazing. 

Rich Bennett 30:54
I'm working on it, but shortly. 

Samantha Heil 30:58
Yeah, listen, we all read and your pace will My pace has changed. 

Rich Bennett 31:04
Mine already 

Samantha Heil 31:04
over 

Rich Bennett 31:04
has. 

Samantha Heil 31:04
the past few years. I'm just... yeah, and I'm just busier now. I don't have time to sit down and even though I want to, but audio has become the way that I still connect. And it's hard because a lot of indie authors can't do audio yet, especially because there's so much upfront cost with it. So 

Rich Bennett 31:23
Especially 

Samantha Heil 31:23
a 

Rich Bennett 31:23
if you're 

Samantha Heil 31:23
lot of the time... Because 

Rich Bennett 31:28
if you're doing 

Samantha Heil 31:28
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 31:28
a novel... 

Samantha Heil 31:29
or if you're novels. 

Rich Bennett 31:30
Yeah, because you have to have a different character voice. 

But 

Samantha Heil 31:34
Well, you don't have to, but we 

Rich Bennett 31:37
go ahead. 

Samantha Heil 31:37
as listeners tend to prefer them, I know. It's hard, but it's really expensive. It's in the $6, 7,000 range to produce even, you know, under 10 hour audiobook, it's 

Rich Bennett 31:49
And 

Samantha Heil 31:49
very... 

Rich Bennett 31:49
not... yeah. 

Samantha Heil 31:49
So I try... I try to do the Indies that have the audio. And if there's one I really want to read that does not... I will sit down and read it. But that's how I do keep in... you know, I keep a nice little pulse on who's doing what, who's releasing what. And I... If you've been to the book fair, if you've been a book fair author, you're now part of the community. I 

Rich Bennett 32:14
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 32:14
am now going to promote your stuff. I'm going to share your stuff. I'm going to comment on your stuff. The most I can. And, you know... You're just part of the people that we want to champion. 

Rich Bennett 32:26
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 32:26
No matter how many years you've come, if you've come one year, it doesn't matter. I'm still going to like your stuff on Instagram. 

So what we did this year going on profit was we decided... So we kind of started this last year, but we just didn't like put a name on it. 

Rich Bennett 32:40
Right. 

Samantha Heil 32:40
Kind of doing it. You know, under the whenever... Whenever I felt like 

Rich Bennett 32:46
it. 

Samantha Heil 32:46
Do I just go on? I was such a mess last year. I was like, let's do a book club this month. Cool. We're going to do a book club this month. That's kind of how it went. And so this year, we decided to broaden our programming to include year round programming. And originally what we wanted to do with that was we wanted to create an entirely new arm of the nonprofit 

Rich Bennett 33:12
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 33:13
with a new name, with a new branding with all of that. And then we decided, you know what? This is year four of Book Ferribellaire, and we get thousands of people in the door 

Rich Bennett 33:24
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 33:24
as Book Ferribellaire. So changing to a different name to do this work, it did not make sense. And so what we decided to do was rename different arms of the nonprofit. So we're going to be doing a bunch of stuff this year. I'll tell you about it in a second. And we decided that everything should be BFBA and then a word. So BFBA and then whatever 

Rich Bennett 33:52
is. Right. 

Samantha Heil 33:52
it So the first one we announced was BFBA Makes. And what we're doing with that are just really fun workshops based on some kind of like fun art project. It's like a gathering, 

Rich Bennett 34:04
Yeah. 

Samantha Heil 34:04
right? But it's like, we're getting together. We're doing, if we're partnering with local artists, we're partnering with local spaces. We're coming together and we're doing something together in the name of books and community and joy, right? So our first one is on October 16th, and I have to tell you, we sold out in like less 

Rich Bennett 34:25
than 24 hours. 

Wow, 

Samantha Heil 34:26
I was shocked that we sold out of tickets in less than 24 hours. And so what we wanted to do with these was not only do these workshops with local artists, but we wanted them to be affordable because when you see other places doing these local, these workshops, they look great, but some of them are $70, $80. And who in this economy can spend $70, $80 to go put together an art project 

Rich Bennett 34:54
yeah. 

Samantha Heil 34:54
and hang out with your friends for a little bit like that's really, it's a tough ask. 

Rich Bennett 34:59
Hmm. 

Samantha Heil 34:59
So. 

Yeah, no. And so we have the opportunity to be able to write grants and solicit donations and all of that. And so we started this program. This first workshop is just $25. We're making a, I don't exactly remember what you called it, it's a some kind of acrylic mosaic 

Rich Bennett 35:21
Okay, 

Samantha Heil 35:21
and you put it together kind of like, it looks like, it looks like stained glass when you're done. And it's a ghost. And so we're doing like a fun spooky evening and we're partnering with Lopateat Mort Books in Cockiesville. And so we'll have fun stuff, food, place to take pictures, work show, you know, the word Sam from Starlet and Spellbound is the artist who's coming in and, and so the book fair was able to supplement that because those kids aren't, they're not cheap, they're not, 

Rich Bennett 35:52
right. 

Samantha Heil 35:53
they're actually a little bit expensive. So we were able to bring that, bring that price down through the nonprofit and still do that. And so we're gonna be doing four of those this year. We're doing one this month. We're gonna do a holiday one. We're gonna do one in March, which I'm so excited about. I'm getting like nerdy. I will just tell you that I'm a cowboy romance girl. That is my thing, which is so silly. Because if you know me, you know how ridiculous that is because I don't have, like, I don't have an inch of cowboy in me at all. Like I'm just not a cowboy person. 

Rich Bennett 36:28
You're okay. 

Samantha Heil 36:29
And then, and then we're doing one in May, which will be a completely different, a completely different thing. And I totally know where you went with that, but I'm just gonna keep 

Rich Bennett 36:39
You're 

Samantha Heil 36:39
moving. 

Rich Bennett 36:40
talking about (laughs)

Samantha Heil 36:42
I know, I know. So in addition to that, so we have BFB and A-mix, and then we have a bunch of other arms that are gonna do similar things. And we kind of put a cap on how many of each one we're gonna do. 

Just to keep this here kind of manageable, 

Rich Bennett 37:02
Right, 

Samantha Heil 37:02
right? So we have BFB A-mix, and there's four of those. We have BFB A-reads. And so that's gonna be a monthly book club featuring authors from the book fair. 

Rich Bennett 37:13
oh. 

Samantha Heil 37:13
And the super fun thing that I'm so excited about this is it's gonna be run by community members. I'm not running it. 

Rich Bennett 37:21
Really? 

Samantha Heil 37:21
Yes, it's gonna be a different person. Yeah, a different person each month, who's in the book community. So either they're an influencer or an author or somebody in the book community will be featured that month as the person who is facilitating the discussion and putting the... And so it's all online, we're using Discord. 

Rich Bennett 37:41
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 37:42
And they will be, it's gonna be their month. And so I am excited because A, I don't have to do it. Every month was just super exciting. We get to introduce people to new people where they might not know 

Rich Bennett 37:57
Right. 

Samantha Heil 37:57
who were in the book community doing their thing. So we're super excited about that. And then the next thing we're doing is called BFBA After Dark. And these are their adults. 

There are adult events that take place maybe in a bar or maybe in a you know whatever, but last year we did two genre nights that went really well. I mean, people just we had so many people in doors great. We did a romance night, and it was so much fun. We had a great time. And then we did a fantasy night, which was also a lot of fun. And so the after dark nights this year will be in February and June. And we're going to probably do a spin on the same thing, but that's that kind of arm of what we're doing. And then my favorite thing, we have two more the my favorite thing we're doing is called BFBA cares. And this is where we are going to be back in the community, doing work with books and getting books into underserved 

Rich Bennett 39:07
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 39:07
communities. 

Rich Bennett 39:07
Coma. 

Samantha Heil 39:07
So this was really yes, this was really the heart of why I wanted to go nonprofit and why I wanted to do what I do. And I want to expand this far and wide. So I'll talk to you in a minute about where I eventually see this going. But this year in specifically in December, we're going into an assisted living facility. And we are giving out free books to the residents there. And we've already coordinated with them. We already know where we're going, we got the date and we are just going to now in the next couple of months find the books. See, we have an opportunity to get books, you know, really cheap because I can buy wholesale books. And so they're asking they actually sent us wish list, which I think is so cute. 

Rich Bennett 39:55
Wow. 

Samantha Heil 39:56
So we're taking books and cookies and sandhats and we will be in the assisted living facility, making sure these people have books. So we're going to do that. 

Rich Bennett 40:06
Do you have a date for 

Samantha Heil 40:07
And then 

Rich Bennett 40:07
that yet? 

Samantha Heil 40:08
in. and? I don't know if I'm allowed to announce it because it is. It's an event that the place is holding. It's their event. 

Rich Bennett 40:19
Is the door 

Samantha Heil 40:19
And we will just be there as part. I don't know. 

Rich Bennett 40:23
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 40:23
I think it's a. So here's the great thing about this year is I also have a huge team and my team takes stuff off my plate. This is Chelsea's baby right now. She has been organizing for us. And so she would have more of that information. We haven't announced anything yet. You're literally getting like all of the new stuff that has not been announced yet. And so BFB cares. We will be getting donations. So when you donate to us now, you can specify which program you wanted to go to. And so if you want to donate specifically to BFB, a cares, you can write on there. I want this to go to BFB a cares, but when you give us money, we, we are using it for, you know, all things and operating costs. I also, so my assistant last year has now been promoted. And she is now the assistant director of Book Fair of Bell Air. Her name is Sarah. And so those of us who are in the community have seen her around, you know, she's, she just did so much. I'm like, we had to she was doing assistant director work before she was even assistant director. She is begin to my Yang. She is the organized human behind everything because I am. So I'm a bad scientist, 

And she is the the organized human. So I'm so happy that we have her this year. She is making my life. Oh, about 10 times better. So it's so much better. So those are the ones that we've announced so far. So we're also going to start some giving programs. We're going to have a friends of BFB program where you can give monthly to go towards these programs. And we're going to pitch that that's going to come out real 

Rich Bennett 42:17
yeah. 

Samantha Heil 42:17
soon. I mean, it's literally like you can get five bucks a month and be part of the program. It's, you know, and we we're going to start, you're going to now see monthly where the money is going because we're going to start monthly giving reports where it's like, Hey, this is what we did this month. This is where the money went. You know, there it is. And then next month you'll see something different. We're doing a big bingo fundraiser this year, which we haven't announced yet. We're excited about I love bingo. Love bingo. Yes, that's going to be in April. And then the very last thing we're doing, which I was going to wait, because we are, we are definitely putting out a lot at once this year. But this was just so important to me. And we already have the infrastructure to do it because in my old business, I've done something similar is we are going to put out a writing conference for our authors. And so I know it's going to be, it's going to be a big, it's going to be big. So that portion is called B F B A And we're doing a couple of things through this. We are putting on the virtual writing conference. We're also going to sponsor some tables for some of our authors through the nonprofit so they can apply to get their table comped and get their money back for their we're doing a bunch of 

Rich Bennett 43:35
rights 

Samantha Heil 43:35
things 

Rich Bennett 43:35
awesome. 

Samantha Heil 43:35
with our authors this year 

Rich Bennett 43:36
There. 

Samantha Heil 43:36
because table fees are no fun for anybody, right? They cut into your profits. Nobody wants to pay table fees, but they're a necessary evil because I have to. 

Rich Bennett 43:43
Yeah, venues, 

Samantha Heil 43:44
venues like I can, you know what I mean? So I had so many conversations last year with people who. It's how much what is I'm like, yeah, and we get a nonprofit rate like, it's not, it's not pretty. So what we're going to do this year is we're going to allow authors to sponsor with local businesses who can donate on their 

Rich Bennett 44:09
Mark. 

Samantha Heil 44:09
behalf. And we're going to refund that money directly to the author. Yeah, and so they'll get like special benefits, they'll get the ability to like have their name under the author's name on the website. They'll be announced with the author on social media. We're going to put something at the author's table that has the business name on it. Like we've just got a bunch of ideas for how to make that happen. And so we're also doing something fun with new authors and we're creating an entirely new space for authors to only have one to three books 

Rich Bennett 44:41
That 

Samantha Heil 44:41
in their 

Rich Bennett 44:41
is 

Samantha Heil 44:41
back list. 

Rich Bennett 44:42
awesome. 

Samantha Heil 44:43
And so this will be different. 

Rich Bennett 44:44
Wow. 

Samantha Heil 44:45
Yeah. Yep, it's half the price and we did not advertise this widely 

Rich Bennett 44:52
Right. 

Samantha Heil 44:52
because we wanted people who truly wanted to be at the book fair. And so what we did was we were only taking the people from people who already applied. And so I did kind of under the radar tells some people we were doing it just because I was like, listen, I know you, it's hard to make your table feedback when you only have one or two books. It's really hard. You don't expect to go to these and make your table feedback. And so I was like, Hey, I know the table fee is scary because we had to, we had to increase it a little bit this year. And to be fair, we are still well under. For the amount of people we get in the door and what you get for your table fee, we're still well under most other places. 

And I this is the first time in four years. We raised it. So 

Rich Bennett 45:38
we got a bigger place 

Samantha Heil 45:39
pretty 

Rich Bennett 45:39
which 

Samantha Heil 45:40
cool to 

Rich Bennett 45:40
cost 

Samantha Heil 45:40
be able 

Rich Bennett 45:40
more 

Samantha Heil 45:40
to say that too. 

Rich Bennett 45:42
You have more costs. 

Samantha Heil 45:45
Yeah. Yeah. And where I mean we're bringing in this author too. That's like, I mean, they were going to bring traffic. So you want to, you want to bring in traffic? I got pay for it. So yeah, there's we're doing so many things we're trying to get into. There's so many things we want to do. We want to do grants for writers to be able to make audio books and publish. And it's expensive. So we want to be able to help with that. And then we eventually want to get into more schools too. We want to do grants for teachers. We want to do more of these more of these little book fairs. Book. You know, Scholastic comes in and does their book fair and bless them. I, I get it. You know, but not every kid can afford the Scholastic book there. And honestly, it, breaks my heart a little bit. So as a teacher mom, I always give my kid extra money in her account. And like tell the teacher, hey, go pick out extra books if there's kids who 

Rich Bennett 46:39
yeah, 

Samantha Heil 46:39
don't have, you know, money, which is something I can do small scale. But now that I have a nonprofit, I can, I can do 

Rich Bennett 46:48
it 

Samantha Heil 46:48
things that are larger scale. So we are going to, um, we're going to donate to some Scholastic book funds this year. And we're also going to do one big. It'll be completely free fair. I don't want to say the school yet because it's not. All it it's not like you know, done done, but we have picked out the No, it's not that just don't, but we have picked out the school. And we are going to partner with a couple of local book companies who will send us some books to take with us into the school as well. So we're hoping to get every kid two books. That's our, that's our goal. And then also like, we want to be able to them to pick like a pencil and like a little, you know, you know, the stupid stuff from like that. But like, they get so excited about, oh my, the games table this year, those kids were. 

Rich Bennett 47:37
school. 

Samantha Heil 47:38
Oh, they were just, they were like, a pen, a pencil. Like, they just get excited about 

Rich Bennett 47:44
here's 

Samantha Heil 47:44
that. 

Rich Bennett 47:45
the funny thing 

Samantha Heil 47:45
And 

Rich Bennett 47:45
though 

Samantha Heil 47:46
so 

Rich Bennett 47:46
it's, it's. Those are 

Samantha Heil 47:47
it's, 

Rich Bennett 47:47
things we take for granted. And I, I just had to, I just had an author on. 

Samantha Heil 47:53
Yeah, for sure. 

Rich Bennett 47:54
From Communist Romania. She wrote a book, and she was talking about how 

Samantha Heil 48:01
Oh. 

Rich Bennett 48:01
when they went to school, and she had nine siblings, when they went to school, they got one pet of paper, which was not even a, not even a eight and a half by eleven size. And one pencil, not a pen, one pencil. 

Samantha Heil 48:18
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 48:18
That's all they got for a year. That's what they had to use. 

Samantha Heil 48:24
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:24
Oh, yeah. 

Samantha Heil 48:25
And well, my kids leaving pencils all down. 

Rich Bennett 48:27
I heard that story. I'm like, 

Samantha Heil 48:28
or you know, she can't ever find a pencil. I'm like, 

Rich Bennett 48:30
yeah, 

Samantha Heil 48:30
what did you do with the ten 

Rich Bennett 48:31
I bought you? Yeah, I got. 

Samantha Heil 48:35
Where were the ten, fifteen pencils I bought you? 

Rich Bennett 48:37
Pencils 

Samantha Heil 48:38
was. 

Rich Bennett 48:38
from where my 

Samantha Heil 48:38
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:39
daughter 

Samantha Heil 48:39
So, 

Rich Bennett 48:39
elementary school. And now she teaches, I mean, 

Samantha Heil 48:43
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:45
Yeah, I am proud of you. You are going full force with this thing. This is awesome. I have a funny feeling. All right. So 

Samantha Heil 48:53
Thank 

Rich Bennett 48:53
twenty 

Samantha Heil 48:53
you. 

Rich Bennett 48:54
twenty seven you're going to hit three thousand plus easily. goal. But I have a 

Samantha Heil 49:00
I 

Rich Bennett 49:00
funny 

Samantha Heil 49:00
hope 

Rich Bennett 49:00
feeling 

Samantha Heil 49:01
that's 

Rich Bennett 49:01
within 

Samantha Heil 49:01
our 

Rich Bennett 49:02
within five years. The book fair is going to end up having 

Samantha Heil 49:06
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 49:06
to 

Samantha Heil 49:07
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:07
be a two day event. 

Samantha Heil 49:12
You know, people keep saying that. But the problem is that I don't have the 

Rich Bennett 49:16
money. That' why 

Samantha Heil 49:16
for two day events. So if somebody can figure out how to get me, like able to do two days, then I even have trouble right? Yeah. I have trouble as an author doing two day events, like, and I'm not even running the thing. So no, the goal is to eventually open 

yeah. No, she's she's phenomenal. You know, the goal is really to eventually open a 

Rich Bennett 49:40
a little. 

Samantha Heil 49:41
literacy 

Rich Bennett 49:41
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 49:41
center in Hartford County, and we want to, you know, focus on classes and, you know, adult literacy and ESL and ASL and, you know, all the things that are really hard to find. We want to concentrate that into one space and have events and, you know, just lots of fun things all based around literacy while still serving the community. And helping people learn how to read a whole lot better. 

Rich Bennett 50:10
Big changes. Any other big changes you can tell us about for 20 27. 

Samantha Heil 50:19
I feel like I've given you the biggest ones I can. I gave you the headliner. I told you that we're doing the sponsorship. I told you that we oh, I can give you another big one, but it's not it's not settled. this rolls back. Oh, I don't even I think it I'm like. 

Rich Bennett 50:35
Okay, 

Samantha Heil 50:36
center, it's going to be a thing. So I'm going to announce it. And then if it ends up not being a thing, I'll text you and you could pull it before you. 

Rich Bennett 50:42
Okay. 

Samantha Heil 50:43
Because it's we'll know on Friday if it's going to be a thing or not. I believe kids is getting its own space away from the book fair and bigger. So the ABGFCU has an. 

Rich Bennett 50:55
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 50:56
Jim down the hall that I did not know existed until until this week. So we're going on Friday to tour to make 

Rich Bennett 51:04
right 

Samantha Heil 51:04
sure it's not too far of a walk and we can still sign everything clearly, but she said that people use it all the time as part of the rental. So I think it should be fine. But we're going to we're going to we're going to make the kids space huge. We're going to do characters and we're going to do we're going to do story time properly and not have it get swallowed in face painting because last year it cuts all out. We're redoing the lines for face painting and character so people don't have to wait around in the line. They can scan into the line and go do whatever they want. Come back when it's their turn. And we are we are amping. 

Rich Bennett 51:40
So 

Samantha Heil 51:42
we're going to 

Rich Bennett 51:43
be to increase the amount of authors to with that right? 

Samantha Heil 51:49
Yes, we are going to bring in more children believe in or not though is hard to find children. Children's has been again children's authors tend to have a smaller backless than 

Rich Bennett 52:00
right. 

Samantha Heil 52:01
You know, other authors. And so for children's a lot of the time that that table fee gets in the way, but I do hope that anyone out there listening, if you're a children's author, come and apply because we're going to have options for you this year. You might have to put the money up out front, but we're going to give you ways 

Rich Bennett 52:18
all 

Samantha Heil 52:18
to 

Rich Bennett 52:18
right. Also, I'm Chris me if I'm wrong, especially now that you guys are 501 see three. Don't the authors get to use that with their paying for the tables as a right. 

Samantha Heil 52:34
Not technically because it's not a donation. It's a fee they're paying for, you know, for their 

Rich Bennett 52:41
Okay, 

Samantha Heil 52:41
business. It's not the same, but a business that donates on their behalf is different. So it's not technically, no. Could they be doing it, 

Rich Bennett 52:52
right. 

Samantha Heil 52:52
not telling the IRS? Maybe I'm unsure. But the distinction is that you're not supposed to. That is a fee. 

Rich Bennett 53:00
And the thing is I am 

Samantha Heil 53:01
the donation 

Rich Bennett 53:03
right, 

Samantha Heil 53:04
giving us 

Rich Bennett 53:04
Well, and I'm glad you 

Samantha Heil 53:05
that's 

Rich Bennett 53:05
mentioned 

Samantha Heil 53:05
a 

Rich Bennett 53:05
the 

Samantha Heil 53:05
don't. 

Rich Bennett 53:06
business thing because whenever I have authors on lately, one of the things I've been pushing

businesses to sponsor books from authors, you know, purchase a bunch of them. 

Samantha Heil 53:18
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 53:19
they could give them to whoever. but I think 

Samantha Heil 53:22
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 53:23
if a business sponsors a table for an author, I like that even better. So where do Well, 

Samantha Heil 53:32
both ways, 

Rich Bennett 53:33
okay. Where do people? 

Samantha Heil 53:35
The authors can get their own sponsors, right? But then also they can come directly to us and tell us that they want to sponsor. And so we're going to be putting out sponsorship forms within the next month or two because we were doing rolling admissions this 

Rich Bennett 53:49
Right. 

Samantha Heil 53:49
year, so 

Rich Bennett 53:49
Yeah, 

Samantha Heil 53:49
we're not completely done. Applications to get into the book fair as an author or vendor end at the end of this month. So once we're done with that, and we've picked everyone and we've loaded everyone in because it's a process to get everybody in. We will start putting out the sponsorship material, which will go to the authors and they can find their own, you know, whoever they want to sponsor. Or we're going to have businesses can come directly to us and some have already come and said, Hey, I want two tables. Hey, I want three tables. 

Rich Bennett 54:17
right. 

Samantha Heil 54:18
It is a $200 donation per table just for anyone out there curious, well, how much is the table? It is, it's a $200, it's a $200 donation and there will be a bunch of perks that come with that. So you'll be able to find that on our website soon, which is bookfair@bellair. org. And you can also join our email list there. You'll get a nice little pop up. It'll say, Hey, book bestie. Join our email. And it will say, Hey, put your email in and let us email you. We're going to start doing regularly now that I have my lovely assistant director on with me more. So we should be more consistent with things instead of whenever Sam feels it, like at time, which is usually how does does Sam have time today? Oh, yes, Sam has time 

Rich Bennett 55:02
Oh, 

Samantha Heil 55:02
to do. 

Rich Bennett 55:03
god, 

Samantha Heil 55:03
but that's not how it goes, but 

Rich Bennett 55:06
I 

Samantha Heil 55:06
thank you. So we appreciate you have been such a huge supporter of us since the day we got started and we loved having you in the authors have nothing but nice and wonderful 

Rich Bennett 55:16
off, 

Samantha Heil 55:16
things to say about you. I 

Rich Bennett 55:19
love being abused by all of you, 

Samantha Heil 55:20
supporting them. 

Are you have to, because you keep letting us come back. 

Rich Bennett 55:27
So, yeah, I know. All right. So Sam, I'm going to have I'm going to start because I know you got to go. I need you pick a number between one and a hundred because you're picking the last question. 

Samantha Heil 55:38
Oh, 52, 

Rich Bennett 55:41
52, right. Let's his own number. 

Okay. What is I have a funny feeling. I already know the answer for this. But what is something you've come to appreciate more as you've gotten older? 

Samantha Heil 56:00
Having less friends who are real friends, if that makes sense. Being okay with the types of friendships where people can be acquaintances, and I can be completely okay with that. I think now in my older age, you know, when you're younger, you want everyone to love you, you want to have all the friends bottle. I'm okay with having just a few really close friends, so I know my back. And then everybody else, you know I have love for you, and I wish you well. But they're, you know, they're they're in that acquaintance pile still and I'm cool with that. I, you know, 

Rich Bennett 56:35
yeah, 

Samantha Heil 56:35
I feel I feel good about that as I get 

Rich Bennett 56:37
Good. 

Samantha Heil 56:37
older. 

Rich Bennett 56:38
I always got your back. You knew that. 

Samantha Heil 56:41
Yes. Thank you. You're in the you're in the inner circle. You know that. 

Rich Bennett 56:45
Sam, thank you so much. I'm really looking forward to the next one. People. I'm telling you whether you live here or not, you have to get August 7th, right? Is 

Samantha Heil 56:59
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 56:59
that the day? 

Samantha Heil 56:59
We're August 7th, 2027, and it's 10 to 3 next year. We're doing a VIP hour from 10 to 11. And so that will be ticketed. Yep. And then the rest of the day will be free as usual. 

Rich Bennett 57:12
And if authors want to sign up for it, just go to the website, right? Because that's limited. 

Samantha Heil 57:17
Yep. Bookferretbeller. org. Yes. We only have so many spots. So we're taking applications clear up to the end of the month. And once that's over, we will be closed for 2027. And we will pick our people and that will be that. 

Rich Bennett 57:32
Damn. Always great seeing you and talking with you. I like it when I can see it. It just makes it so much easier. 

Samantha Heil 57:38
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. [laughs] 

Rich Bennett 57:41
Thanks a lot. 

Samantha Heil 57:43
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 57:45
Well, an incredible example of what can happen when someone sees a need in the community and decides to do something about it. What began as a conversation at Penera Bread, and I'm sure it wasn't over three chili peppers, has grown into the Book Fair Belair, an event that welcomed over 2,400 people this year, and continues to connect readers with authors, stories, and of course, one another. But as Samantha shared, this mission now reaches far beyond one day. Through its non-profit work, the Book Fair Belair is creating affordable workshops, community book clubs, adult literary events, programs that bring books into underserved communities, and new opportunities to support authors. And I especially love the plans to provide books to assist at living residents, help children who may not be able to afford books, support emerging authors, and eventually establish a literacy center right here in Harford County. Sam's story is also a reminder that reading builds more than vocabulary. It strengthens empathy, introduces us to experience beyond our own, and helps people feel understood. Whether you read a printed book, an e-book, or listen to an audio book, what matters is discovering stories that educate you, entertain you, and bring you closer to others. To learn more, support the non-profit, become a sponsor, or make plans to attend the Next Book Fair Belair, visit bookfairatbelair. org. And if you know an author, educator, business owner, or a book lover who should hear about this work, please share this episode with them. Until next time, I'm Rich Bennett. Thanks for listening, and remember, every great conversation starts with someone willing to listen, and someone willing to share. Now it's your turn. Join the conversation by sharing this episode, leave in a comment, or reaching out to me directly. Take care! Be kind to one another, and I'll talk with you again soon.