I’d been out of the groove of the book thang for several years, and so decided (with a new book coming out this year) that I needed to get familiar again with marketing my works (and myself) at book fairs.
I’m scheduled for several events throughout 2017, but my first was the Sistahs On Lit Book Festival this past April. I’d forgotten what was really involved with things like setting up the table or coordinating sales with my helpers, but I got the hang of it after a little bit.
I enjoyed myself, but came away with a few lessons learned.
- Bring the kitchen sink, but leave everything else. Overly excited, I had more than my share of props for my table. Next event: sticking to a few just to generate interest.
- Organize the organization. I consider myself a fairly-organized person, but when multiple things are happening, the organization takes a quick backseat. Next event: using small containers with the essentials for quick retrieval.
- Curiosity doesn’t have to kill the cat. Sitting at my table, I was curious about the other authors’ works, but was hesitant to go over to any of them and strike up a conversation. Let’s be real: sometimes folk can be rude or disingenuous and no one wants to be bothered with that. I took a chance though, and made a new author-friend or two. Next event: get to know a few more of my fellow vendors as we do our book thang.
I have another book event in a few days. Am I ready? Here’s hoping …
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