Book fair Fantasy almost Fizzles

From:
Valerie’s Desk…

I just wanted to thank Dahris Clair, president of Florida Writer’s Association-New Port Richey Chapter, and Author of “The House on Slocum Road,” for organizing the Book Fair at New Port Richey Library, yesterday.

Arriving:
When I signed up to attend the Book Fair I considered things like, how many books should I bring? Then, I thought about how many books I might sell? Considering the cost of books, shipping, and my time, umm, I'd better take and hope for about twenty. Yes… that would be a good day!

So Bill and I, (the guy I hang out with all the time, you know my best friend, my publisher, and hubby) gather posters, sales slips, and business cards etc. and make our entrance at 10:30 A.M., ready to set the world on fire. A girl can dream, right?

We lugged all our goodies (I should have left some of the books in the jeep) to the second floor wondering half way up the stairs, if there was an elevator. Breathless, we see signs: Book Fair-this-way, conference room ahead.

We enter the room-amazed, authors were already set up. God, help me… I thought it started at 11:00. Luckily we found the last available spot; in a far off corner- at least it wasn’t the hallway, to set up shop.

Trying not to crowd out our table companion, we set up our display. With an imaginary ‘neutral zone’ we attempted to stay on our side. Well, sort of. With the lap-top set up, we could even take credit cards!

Let the games begin! We were ready. My silly ‘ego’ occasionally distorts my thinking and quietly announces to my brain: Valerie Anne Faulkner is here!

Afternoon:
As the morning turned to afternoon I began rethinking this and realized I was not the only author that had spent time and effort preparing for the fest. Seemed all of us shared something in common and now we were wondering, where’s our customers! Had they not wanted to be bothered venturing upstairs? It was a Library… books were free for the taking, downstairs. But, we were offering new books, autographed books, and a chance to meet authors. By mid afternoon a few faces managed to arrive on the scene, giving hope to all… but sales remained few and far between.

Having eaten lunch and too many bite size candies, (the ones I brought to lure customers), I thought about ‘road shows’ and ‘carnivals’, and the ‘traveling salesman.’ What’s a nice girl like me involved in this for...? I don’t think I could make a living doing this! After all I only have one book! I suppose I could write another book… possibly I‘d have a better chance if I had five or six, or ten. Would I need more?

Well I’ll consider that tomorrow, I thought to myself. Yes… I’ll figure this all out tomorrow!

Last hour:
It was nearing 2:30 or so, and the clock had spun even though most of us suffered ‘empty pocket syndrome’. By now Bill and I knew this fair, on a scale of one to ten was indeed ‘fair’, not great, not bad. Comparing to our expectations- it was definitely- ‘just okay’.

I decided I couldn’t stand to sit there much longer, and got up to walk around. I’d practice some pitches on our fellow authors. Bill and I had already exchanged as much helpful information as we could with our neighboring table sitters, on writing, publishing, authoring of a book. Which by the way… we found very interesting and enjoyable! But, I couldn’t sit still a minute longer.

So meandering over to the other side of the big room Bill and I met, and spoke to almost every author in the house. We weren’t trying to sell books, instead we had a chance to share some of our ideas… as well as listen to a variety of interesting people and their approach to ‘selling books’. Stories, lessons, talking one-on-one with some of the best authors in this area… was an invaluable experience. We found Radio interviewers and multi-book authors. Exchanging ideas, and networking. Camaraderie at it’s best!

At 5:00 P.M. the Book Fair had been over since 4:00, we just couldn’t leave! We and the others were having the best day…

Moral:
Bill and I carried all of our books down the stairs. Didn’t sell a one! Monetarily cost us more to go, then what we made…

But it’s not what we had in our pockets that mattered after a day at the book fair, it’s what we brought home… priceless!!!