All the fun of the book fair

With the launch of Blue Tide Rising just a week away, I have a room stacked with of boxes of books, a fridge full of Prosecco and a brain bursting with things I need to do by Friday.

I’ve got the readings selected, the support act sorted and a team of lovely helpers lined up. I’ve also got four media interviews arranged for next week in the run-up. As I write, JP, my other half is practising some tunes for the event. There’ll be live music as people arrive with John on guitar and his brother on drums.

Yesterday I had a dummy run at selling a few pre-launch copies because my publisher, Inspired Quill, had a table at States of Independence, a book-fair in Leicester which showcases small presses and indie publishers.

The event was held at De Montfort University, so a lot of the punters were students doing Creative Writing degrees. While they were keen to talk about writing and to research potential markets for their own work, being students, they had no money to buy books!

I did however sell seven copies, six to people I already know, one to a stranger who started leafing through the pages, getting through a fair few chunks of text before deciding to buy. It felt extra special that someone had bought the book purely on its merits not because they knew the author.

Setting up stall

I was the first IQ author to arrive and my little stack of books looked a bit lost on the table. I realised, looking around at other stalls, that I should have brought other things to put on the table. Other people had merch and branded table cloths and banners. All I turned up with was books.

Once fellow IQ author Anne Goodwin arrived, our table looked less sparse, as she’d brought bookmarks and business cards as well as her own books. She also sported the cover design of her latest title on her t-shirt. A nice touch.

The cover of my book did prove to be a draw. I got several comments about how eye-catching it is. I’ve also had people say they want to read it based purely on the cover. All credit to the very talented Valeria Aguilera who designed it. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but in this instance, I hope people do!

Do’s and don’ts

This was the first book festival I’ve attended as a stall holder, and I picked up some useful tips about what to do and what not to do. Here’s what I learnt:

• Books are heavy! Pack them in something portable and easy to manoeuvre – like a lightweight case on wheels.
• Bring a decent pen – which doesn’t smudge – to sign books with.
• Don’t bring a heavy metal cash box (I did, then realised nobody else had!), a money belt or cross body wallet purse is much more practical, and lighter!
• Look at investing in a card machine too. Lots of people don’t carry cash and you may lose sales if you don’t offer this option.
• Have some flyers or posters to put up on the wall behind the stall and a few takeaway items such as bookmarks or business cards branded with your cover design and with your contact details on.
• Don’t go in with a hard sell ‘buy my book’ approach – they’ll run a mile. Greet people in a friendly, non-intrusive way then get them talking about what they like to read. You can then post out titles on the table that fit their preferred genre.
• Perfect your one-line pitch for when people ask ‘what’s the book about?. Some people are happy to read the blurb but you also need to hook them in with your one-liner.
• If you’re doing a talk or running a workshop at the event, tell people where to find your stall. If they enjoy your talk they will seek you out and, hopefully, buy your book. I noticed that when Anne Goodwin had delivered a talk (plus quiz) in the afternoon, before she’d even got back there were people waiting at the IQ stall for her to sign copies of her book.
• Take some photos of your stall and other authors and tweet that you are there.
• Engage with other writers on other stalls, it makes for a convivial atmosphere.
• And last but not least, have fun!

Blue Tide Rising, will be launched at Waterstones, Nottingham, on Sunday 31st March at 2pm. More info here.

Learn more about the book and read the first few chapters here.