Nora Roberts a part of the Mohegan Sun's 2004 'Winning Authors' promotion

One surprising stop for many writers who are touring to promote their books is the Mohegan Sun, a hotel and casino resort located in Uncasville, Connecticut. These authors come there to participate in the resort's long-running Winning Authors program.

Mohegan Sun casino. Creative Commons Attribution
licensed photo by by thisisbossi

The Mohegan Sun's Winning Authors program puts the resort's guests in touch with many of today's most popular writers. Thriller writers Steve Martini, Kate White and Noah Boyd were there on July 6, 2010 to read from and discuss their most recent works. Karin Slaughter appeared there on June 26th, as did Harlan Coben on April 10th.

Nora Roberts became involved with the Winning Authors program shortly after its inception in 2003. An August 16, 2004 Publishers Weekly article reported that she made an appearance at the Mohegan Sun on August 7th of that year to promote her J.D. Robb novel, Vision in Death, a part of her In Death series.

According to a report by Erica Werner published in The America's Intelligence Wire on March 27, 2006, Roberts had, at that time, been "the most successful author in the program."  Roberts sold nearly 500 copies of Vision in Death during her two-hour signing, stated Suzanne Dorn. Dorn was the senior vice president at the Middleton & Gendron public relations agency, whose client list included the Mohegan Sun.

Werner credited Dorn with originating the Mohegan Sun's Winning Authors program. "This has always been a lifelong dream of mine: to bring the literary world to one of my clients," Dorn remarked.  Dorn added that the authors who participated in the program were  delighted at the change in their usual routine. "Even when it's presented to the authors, they're like: 'A casino?' They normally do this at Borders or Costco, so they're like: 'Wow! I never really thought about it!'"

Motoko Rich, in the June 23, 2006 New York Times article. "Casinos to Book Lovers: Let Us Entertain You, Too," reported on similar programs at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut and at Las Vegas's Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Rich quoted Mitchell Etess, who was the chief executive of Mohegan Sun, as to why his casino decided to promote this new form of entertainment.

"Casinos historically limit themselves to the types of activities that they think their customers will be interested in — boxing, rock concerts or sporting events," he said. "But obviously, many people read books and everybody has got their favorite authors, and it just seemed like it would be a logical extension of our program offering." Since the Winning Authors program has now been a part of the entertainment offered by the Mohegan Sun for nearly seven years, one would have to agree that it has been a successful gamble for the resort.