Selling books in person is such a crucial part of being an indie author, so I thought I’d do a quick post about what I packed for the mass author signing during Ghoulish Bookfest. They opened up a room for an hour where both vendors and con attendees could set up a table to sell and sign books, which was such a kind thing for them to do.
Driving down with four people, I didn’t want to pack a ton for the event, plus it was a quick one.
I like to bring a small table runner. A full table cloth is great if you’re going to be set up all day and have a long table for it, but this was tiny bar tables and only for an hour. I have two of these over-sized tea towels that are neutral colored and versatile.
Adding swag left over from my launches diversified what was out and even folks who didn’t buy a book walked away with something fun.
Having book stands is really important. They’re easy to pack and make your book visible from across the room. I straight up bough a book because the girl on the cover was staring me down and I have zero regrets about it.
I also improvised and added a little “Okie Cryptid” sign for my demon octopus book since Cryptids were a hot topic at the panel the night before. People definitely had their interest piqued by it and gave a good conversation opener.
In the end, after one hour I’d sold 4 books, and traded with authors for 3 so it was a big success in my opinion! The sales pretty much went directly to buying more books, but breaking relatively even was awesome!
There will be more about Ghoulish Bookfest coming later, because it was amazing, but for now, hopefully some of y’all will find this helpful. I know my first event I had zero idea what to bring with me!