Let’s talk about selling books. You’ve all been to those events where you’ve spotted an author set up at little table hawking their wares. How do they find out about all those events and are they really worth the time and effort?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhere can you sell your books? Here are some ideas you might not have thought of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Book Fairs (of course)<\/li>
- Gun Shows<\/li>
- Craft Fairs<\/li>
- ComicCons<\/li>
- Renaissance Fairs\/Reenactment Events<\/li>
- Car Shows<\/li>
- Art Shows<\/li>
- Festivals<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Here are some places you can look to find events<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Chamber of Commerce – check online calendar and social media<\/li>
- Library – same<\/li>
- Museum(s) – same<\/li>
- City or County Government websites<\/li>
- Service Clubs<\/li>
- Tourism Organizations<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Once you’ve found a good event, you’ll need to determine whether or not it’s worth your time and effort to sell there. First, how much do they charge for a booth or table? If it’s more than around $100, it’s probably not worth it for you as a small author. If you’ll need to travel far enough to exceed that cost in gas money, it’s probably not worth it either. Nowadays, that’s going to limit you to around a tank of gas round trip, but you must consider costs when selling at events or you’re not going to recoup your money there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Part 2, we’ll talk about the How-To of setting up and running a sales event.<\/p>\n