Festivals and Book Fairs

Remember when you were a kid and you and your sister, brother, neighbor, or schoolmate decided to make some money by selling lemonade, cookies, watermelon, or stuff you thought your mother didn’t need? Well, the adult equivalent for a self-published author is a street fair or book festival where you rent booth space or set up your own table and sell a few of those books you have stacked in your garage.

How simple it was to mix up a pitcher of lemonade compared to the effort that went into writing and publishing your own book! However, the selling process is so similar it’s scary. Put product on table, smile at passersby, sit and wait. Rearrange product to make it more visible, wave at passersby, stand up and wait. Put up a sign. Look at your watch. Whine to your partner and wait.

When someone does stop, you explain as quickly as you can why your product is superior to what that person has at home and definitely better than someone else’s product. When you get a smile or polite nod as your potential customer walks away, you absorb the sting of rejection and say, “I understand,” “Maybe next time,” or “Thanks for stopping by.”

Once in a while you actually make a sale, and you gush all over your customer with effusive thank-yous and compliments, assuring this wonderful person he or she will be happy with their decision. Then you try to remember exactly what you said or did to clinch the sale. You use this method several more times, usually to no avail, sigh, and resume wait mode.

I did my third Third Thursday, a Klamath Falls street fair, this past August. Third Thursdays take place between the hours of 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. when Main Street is closed to all but pedestrian traffic.  In 2010 I sold twenty books thanks to getting the word out that Brute Heart was hot off the press that month. I sold most of the books to friends or acquaintances—sort of like selling three glasses of lemonade, one to your Mom and the rest to your next door neighbors. I didn’t do as well in Klamath Falls the next two years. I guess everyone I know in that town has already purchased my novel because at my second Third Thursday, I sold ten books, and this year, seven.

At the Florence Festival of Books this year, an event held in Florence, Oregon the last Saturday in September, I sold five books. This was a well organized book show, lovely venue, but a four-hour drive from Bend. Even if I had sold more books I won’t be going back, simply because of the drive. I still plan to participate in other festivals and fairs as long as they are relatively close by.

I have fun at these events and don’t feel my time is wasted. I get some fresh air, have interesting conversations, hone my “elevator pitch," eat a corn dog or (God forbid) an elephant ear, and since I don't believe my novel is a lemon, I even sell a few books.

How's the Book Doing?

Nearly every day someone asks me, "How's the book doing?" I usually reply "it's a slow process," then tell them about my next plan for selling a few more. Since I published Brute Heart almost one year ago (the official date of publication is actually August 1, 2010), I thought this might be a good time to give everybody a progress report. I plan to cover this information in separate blog posts, concentrating on one marketing strategy at a time.

The 500 books I brought home last August is now down to approximately 120 copies. Of the 380 no longer stacked in my garage, roughly sixty were given to prospective agents, distributors, the media, book stores, libraries or charitable events, and members of my family. Many of the remaining 320 copies were sold to people who knew me or had some connection to my family or my husband's family or people who lived in Klamath Falls or Prineville; although I did sell over forty copies at the Bend Costco.

Based on my own experience, the home town advantage should be the #1 priority when it comes to a self-published author's marketing plans. This is even more important if the book is also set in the author's home town or someplace he or she has lived long enough to have established connections. Many people from Klamath Falls, where I grew up and where the story in Brute Heart takes place, have told me how much they enjoyed reading about places, streets, businesses, etc. they were familiar with or could visualize. I often share this with potential buyers who ask about my book at Third Thursday street fairs or book signings that take place in Klamath Falls.

So, if the home town is that important, other than banking on people from your past or present lives remembering or knowing who you are, how can the self-published author take advantage of this geographical opportunity? Below are the top five strategies I consider to be the most important.
(1) Become involved in your community--join civic groups, writing groups, reading groups, volunteer, write letters to the editor--to allow people to know and appreciate your personality and talent.
(2) Get your book into the hands of people in your community who have large followings, people who you can count on to help you spread the word.
(3) Attend as many social or business-related gatherings as you can fit into your schedule, and don't be shy while you are there. Talk about your work and hand out business cards or book marks that include the title of your book and where it is being sold.
(4) Utilize whatever home town connections your parents or other members of your family may have.
(5) Don't be a stranger to your former classmates. Make the effort to go to your grade school, high school, or college reunions.

If you follow this advice, you will be surprised at how many books you will sell.