San Antonio Book Fest Recap

The crowd in our general area with the SATX library behind it.

It’s been a minute since I’ve blogged which is entirely on me. Life, day-job, writing my sophomore novel and other things has absorbed so much of my time. I hope to pre-plan some things I would like to write about or upcoming events and then once they happen or I have more details they can be flushed out. Hopefully that will create a better flow.

Anyway, the 11th I was at the San Antonio Book Fest. I was a guest author with the Writer’s League of Texas and was provided a 45 minute time slot to sign and sell my books. I’ve never been to SATX Book Fest and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I’d be lying if I said the time limit of 45 minutes was daunting, especially considering I was driving an hour and a half each way. Maybe it’s fair to say I had high hopes and mid expectations but exposure is always good so why not give it a try. This is year one as a published author and that is a lot of exploration and experimentation.

Upon arriving I really wasn’t sure. We were outdoors and I was praying to any-gods/old-gods/new-gods/no-gods that the weather would hold out (it did). There were food stalls and book-ish related things nearby but since we weren’t officially in the book fest book store the amount of actual authors in our section was 50% or less. Would this help us stand out or would people bypass? I wasn’t sure.

Sculpture inside the library.

I arrive early, dropped off my items and took a lap before my allotted time to set up. Everything was enjoyable and easily organized. I was not here to shop though, I was here to meet people, sell and scout. So I observed people and yes there were eager buyers but I definitely saw a lot of “shy” buyers. The ones who lurk from the center aisle and I knew I would need to turn on the extroverted side of my personality.

Set up was quick and easy. I’m so glad I brought my little picture frame with bullet point themes/tropes/features because not only is it a quick way for the shy buyers to look at what I have but the frame has a piece of gnarly wood morphing out of it. It’s a vibe and that vibe puts you into the setting and energy of In Stasis. My bookshelf with a similar vibe did not come along because it’s heavy and I didn’t want to lug it in but the little frame did it’s job.

So was it successful? YES! I sold 6 books in 45 minutes which beats my previous rate of 6 books per hour. They were all paperback whereas other events have been more of a 60/40 split (pb vs hc) but I won’t complain. I was there to get my book in hands. I stood, I chatted, I offered free bookmarks and stickers. It wasn’t the time to sit or be quite and it showed. I say this without any sort of shade but the other authors I could see nearby were struggling with sales, but they were not engaging. Sitting, on their phones, no free-bies ad no ads or descriptors besides the back of their books.

I had heard about these “must dos” at events before (stand, chat etc) and yes it made sense but this was the first time I saw it action and the quantifiable difference in real time. So if you’re an author reading this … I think you know what you need to do. If you’re a reader, thank you for coming to events like this and chatting with authors like me. I am always forever grateful!