A LOOK INSIDE IN-PERSON SELLING

By Bonnie Schroeder.

When I moved from California to Idaho in 2018, I also transitioned to being a self-published author. Until then, I’d had the benefit of a wonderful publisher, Champlain Avenue Books, behind me.

Alas, they closed their doors soon after my relocation, and I went solo. I’d done a handful of in-person selling events in SoCal, but I confess to being a lazy self-marketer. In SoCal my experience with those events mostly took place in libraries, and all I had to do was show up with my books and hope readers would buy them.

In Idaho, however, with three self-published books on my resumé, I realized I needed to be more proactive in getting those books into readers’ hands. One way to sell books in person is through trade shows known variously as craft fairs, book festivals, holiday bazaars, and a few other names (some of which I shall not print here.)

There are many book fairs in libraries here in Idaho, but there are also a lot of general craft fairs, big and small, all over—in parks, high schools, even specialty grocery stores. And many of those events take place outdoors—which, in Idaho, means contending with weather extremes. I’ve done festivals where I had to pull my luggage cart full of books through snow, and others in a field where the daytime temperatures grazed 108 degrees.

Weather conditions are only part of the fun. I also learned that I needed to supply my own “equipment”—i.e. tables, chairs, signs, decorations, and, in summer, canopies, shade walls, and a battery-powered fan. Another essential is a means of transporting my supplies—a sturdy folding hand truck for use on pavement, and a collapsible fabric wagon for other terrain.

I had the good fortune of connecting with two other “local authors,” Laura Jenski and Julie Howard who are pros at this, and they generously let me learn from them and shared tables and chairs with me as I began selling my books in person.

Laura has often recruited her husband to help transport tables and chairs to some events. She and Julie have also provided canopies for many events, and even when I brought the canopy, they assembled it while I parked my car.

I’ve done a few solo events as well, and I finally figured out I needed a checklist of supplies to bring, rather than searching through my memory every time:

• Water (!) and food (!!)
• Credit card reader (e.g., Square)
• A supply of small bills to make change
• Pens to sign books
• Price list
• Bookmarks, postcards, or other promotional material
• The aforementioned decorations and/or a bowl of candy to lure potential buyers to our “booth.”
• And oh yes—in Idaho (as in many states, including California,) one must secure a sellers’ permit to track, report, and pay sales tax to the state. Ironically, I learned that Idaho’s sales tax process is way more complicated than California’s.
• Following Laura’s and Julie’s lead, I also realized I needed a large-ish poster with a picture of me and my books. My website and book designer Paula Johnson created the artwork, and my local Staples made the sign. I confess to feeling a surge of legitimacy at the result.

You know that saying, “It takes a village ….?” It is so true! In addition to help from the folks mentioned above, I send a thank-you to Heather Ames, a powerhouse on the festival circuit in Oregon. She sends me critiques of my table layouts, along with encouragement and examples, and I emulate her as much as I can without committing outright piracy.

This photo shows my comrades Laura and Julie with me at one of our events, and it truly is crucial to have a support network at these things. Some writers, me included, are not especially outgoing, and it’s a challenge to attract and engage with visitors at the festivals.

Some are interested and kind, while others are dismissive—masters at avoiding eye contact. Now and then, however, a visitor will show up who bought one of our books at a previous event and liked it well enough to seek out the author and buy more. This truly makes our day when it happens.

What the photo doesn’t show is all the hours, days, weeks, even months of prep work involved in getting us to this smiling display—things like replenishing our inventory, posting on social media, packing supplies, hauling boxes of those books to the venue, and showing up sometimes before sunrise to set up the tables and arrange the display.

There are still festivals happening in Idaho, but I’m done for the year—saving my energy for the spring. I just registered for a book fair at a nearby library in April. Library events are the best, because you have a built-in audience, and this one is no exception.

So all you authors out there, whether traditionally or indie published, I hope you get a few ideas from this post. Get out and show the world your books, because—especially for indie authors—that’s an important way to grow your readership. Best of luck to you all.