A Few Thoughts about Selling Books at Live Holiday Events

Winterfair in Hartford, Connecticut

The 2022 holiday season was the first year that I made a serious effort to market my books directly to readers at live events. When State v. Claus was published in the fall of 2020, we were still in the throes of the pandemic, and so live events weren’t an option. The following year, when My Brother, Romeo came out, I wasn’t certain how to market it since it’s a novella and only available as an ebook, but I figured there was no point in a live event when people couldn’t buy a signed copy of the book.

I did two live events in 2021. One was a multi-author event held by my local bookstore at the town’s annual arts fair. All I had to do was show up, read, answer a few questions, and sign books after presentation. The bookstore did the rest, including the actual selling of the books and the marketing of the event.

The other event was at a local Christmas tree farm that wanted to create more of a draw for customers. I set up a small table in their greenhouse next to Mrs. Claus and hung out for a few hours, chatting with whoever paused for a candy cane.

Neither event resulted in many sales, but they proved a good way to get my feet wet. More importantly, they impressed on me the importance of handselling a book, i.e., talking to a potential customer about it. This impression was confirmed when I volunteered at the bookstore’s Independent Bookstore Day in April. When a young woman asked me for a recommendation, I inquired about what she liked. She wanted fiction, and she liked romance and fantasy. I really did try to come up with another title, but finally I said, “Maybe you’d be interested in my book.” I told her about it; with great excitement, she not only bought it, but recommended it to a friend who was there—who also bought a copy. Both women were delighted to have met the author and gotten signed books, and I was thrilled to have met such enthusiastic readers.

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Things You Need for Book Events

Santa Dave of #thesantaconnection at Winterfair, Hartford, Connecticut

Before I did my first book event last year, I Googled “what do I need for a book event?” and found a very helpful list. This year, as I participated in quite a few holiday markets and book events, I discovered that the very helpful list was incomplete.

For purposes of this post, I’m assuming that you don’t want to spend a fortune and that you’re going to be singularly responsible for transporting everything to and from the event. (If you have buckets of money to devote to your event and/or a spouse or significant other who’s willing to haul your stuff around, good for you.)

Based on my experience, here’s what you need for a simple event or holiday market, in no particular order:

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The Joy of Deadlines

Photo by LouAnn Clark on Pixabay

The summer is slipping away. In a mere few weeks, students will return to school for the fall semester. Here in the U.S., the arrival of Labor Day (first Monday in September) signals the unofficial end of summer and the official return to the usual hectic pace of the rest of the year.

For me, this summer has felt unusually long. Beginning as it did with my father’s death on the day after Memorial Day—coincidentally, the unofficial start to the summer—June was consumed mainly with the logistics of the memorial service, estate management, and working out a new Mom-care routine. As June slipped into July, my mind turned slowly to other matters, such as my novel-in-progress and my billable workload which, as in the past, lightened in the summer. I discovered the town pools and embarked on a semi-regular routine of swimming a few times a week. I signed up on several occasions to distribute vegetables after church, a simple task that requires nothing more rinsing off what has been harvested from the church garden and spreading the harvest on a table out by Farmington Avenue so anyone who wishes can enjoy garden-fresh produce.

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Three Jobs, Maybe Four

Photo credit: Nathan Dumleo on Unsplash

Several years ago, David Handler gave a talk to aspiring writers at the inaugural Writers Weekend at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut. David is a successful author who has been writing for decades. Inevitably in such a setting, someone asked about his writing life. David replied that he spent the morning writing and the afternoon working on his small business.

“What’s your small business?” someone else asked.

“Being an author,” he replied. He explained that in the afternoon, he routinely dealt with the business end of writing, including communications with his agent and his editor, correspondence with readers, and planning talks just like this one.

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One more day

Tomorrow (December 1, 2021) is the official launch of my new novella, MY BROTHER, ROMEO!

As you can see, the managing editor of Tuxedo Cat Press, Charlotte, is already doing her part to get ready.

Small Business Saturday 2021

Stopped in at River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury, Connecticut, on Small Business Saturday, and look what I saw on the shelf!

Support your local businesses this holiday season. Because they’re the ones who will support your community, your teams, your causes, and your dreams. (See Exhibit A, above.)

Crazy Busy

Ned

Last night, Daylight Saving Time came to an end for 2021, and we turned back the clocks. Many people lament the end of DST, but I love this change. Not because I’m fond of earlier darkness, but because the gift of an extra hour is so delicious.

On the whiteboard calendar over my desk, I mark different obligations in different colors. Appellate deadlines are in red, trial court deadlines are green, research deadlines are blue, and appointments are purple. This week is a sea of purple already: a doctor appointment, a presentation known as the Connecticut Forum, two dress rehearsals for the chorale concert, and the concert itself. Still to be scheduled is the repair of my boiler; the appointment for my vaccine booster needs to be rescheduled to ensure that recovering from it won’t bump up against the dress rehearsals. Three deadlines are in green, plus one in red.

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WTF, Zuck?

Photo credit: Anita S. on Pixabay

The Book of Faces* informed me today that my account is “restricted.”

*Calling it this to avoid tripping any algorithms since I no longer have any idea what is or isn’t permissible on that platform.

The offense (to use the term loosely) which gave rise to this restriction was my response to a commenter who claimed that covid is no big deal and he knows because he just had a couple days of sniffles. Rather than pointing out the 700,000 people who have died from this virus in the past 19 months, I merely responded “So far” and provided a link to an article from the Centers for Disease Control about after-effects of covid a/k/a “long covid” which, according to said article, can surface several months after one has been ill. I didn’t call him an idiot or a fool, nor did I wish anything ill on him. I simply pointed out a resource that disagreed with his blithe view of a deadly virus.

Nonetheless, based on this post, my account has been restricted.

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Guest Post: A Word from Our Managing Editor

The managing editor of Tuxedo Cat Press would like to share a few thoughts.

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Dear Readers,

My name is Charlotte Antoinette Burgh. Once upon a time, I was a pregnant stray. Then, I was a shelter kitty, waiting to be adopted while my adorable little kittens easily found homes.

Today, I am the managing editor of Tuxedo Cat Press.

It wasn’t an easy road. My time on the streets was rocky. In addition to getting knocked up, I got into a few scuffles that left me with a scar on my nose and another on my eye. Not terrible, but enough that some potential adopters didn’t think I was pretty enough.

Screw them. I’m gorgeous.

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Reclaiming Fun

Photo credit: Free-Photos on Pixabay

When I was in high school, I wrote constantly. Stories spilled out of my brain, and my pencil was barely swift enough to catch them all. Sprawled on my bed, upright at my desk, out on the swing (where the stories raced around my mind, here and gone in nearly the same instant). Summer nights while the rest of the family slumbered, the hours ticking away as I reveled in my made-up world.

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