A couple weeks ago, I participated in an event at my local art gallery. Recently, The Art Garage in Green Bay, WI, has been looking for ways to expand to include the literary arts, which I’m all for. I love this spot (it even makes an appearance in my first book, though I may have relocated it to Chicago, IL). They put on shows and hold classes, and now they are offering writerly things like community gatherings and book fairs.
During one of those community gatherings, they even offered the chance for us to have our books in their gift shop on consignment. How could I say no to that opportunity? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I wrote in a previous post about some of the prep that I did for this event (you can read about it Book Fair + Author Fest: Prep). I will say things went as expected – I caffeinated and spent five hours being outgoing in an effort to intrigue people enough to buy my books – and then I absolutely crashed into a little introvert puddle. I did have a shared table, and I landed next to Bob Seize (who wrote Supermanic, which has a really killer cover), and we had a nice chat (and even swapped books).
Neither of us remembered a table cloth (well, to be fair, I did as I was arriving… but I didn’t want to bother going to find one) – but we were ok with that. The tables were paint-splotched, and we thought it looked cool. (The gallery offered us one, but we opted to keep it uncovered.)
I did managed to successfully accept sales through both Venmo and Square (though I learned it will be handy to have that swipe once it arrives – the chip on the first card a customer tried didn’t work; she said it was an old card, so maybe too worn or too old for the tech – her second worked perfectly. If this happens again, I’ll be able to connect that device and swipe the card instead). I also overdid it on how many singles and fives I brought to make change – not one person used cash to buy (though I did make change for my tablemate at one point). 😛
I think one thing I will do differently (aside from buying a nice tablecloth to have on hand) is not use the foam core displays and blurb cards I made. People still reached for the pile of books I had behind them – they want to feel them in their hands, I guess. Which I get. I think I will just pick a copy of each to use as the display. (My worry had been all the hands touching and finger prints – and what if they bend the cover when they flip through it, etc. – I won’t be able to sell it.)
One other thing is I might put a rainbow sticker on my Goode vs Melville display cover so that people can see from a distance that it has queer representation. I saw some folks who were clearly part of the community, but unless they stopped to talk or read the blurb, they had no idea. In fact, one of my sales came from talking to the mom of a trans teen – soon as she heard the book had queer representation, she called her kid over, and they ended up buying a copy of both books. A little rainbow sticker might draw people to the table who might just walk by otherwise. I might also create smaller foam core displays that say things like “Like Magic Realism?” or “Like stories of found family?” (Clearly those both need some editing and more thought. But you get the idea.) Things that will draw folks to the table to even begin that conversation.
I also need to work on my elevator pitch. GvM is an easy one – but trying to explain Lucy’s story in a sentence or two has proven time and again to be tricky. She’s been in the world two years, and I’m trying struggling to find the right words.
They will be holding another event in November, and thankfully my sales from this first one already covered the initial application fee, as well as the five bucks per event table fee (only five since I’m sharing, which I will do again) and then some. Hopefully, I will have figured out my pitches by then. 🙂
Ami Maxine 