Author's Fair - first impressions

I'll have a lot to say about this, but this is the site where I put my innermost feelings about being a writer, so I feel that I can unload it all here without worrying too much about how it is "presented" to the "public."

I just spent four hours at the Galesburg Public Library hawking my wares. I put about 24 of my 27 books on the market, all out on the table, and sat at the table for most of the four hours. I sold nothing until the last five minutes, when I sold two (both A Dozen Crime Stories). Also in those last minutes, I made a couple of trades, thus unloading a few more books, or, to be more precise, getting them out there in front of people. To me it's a big win, getting books out there in front of people, and an even bigger one getting to know local authors and really getting to talk to them. So, though the place was not packed with eager customers, the ones who were there were nice, and I came home knowing a lot more about the area and its people.

I was lucky in the sense that the people directly around me were also Salukis, namely familiar with southern Illinois. I left a significant part of my heart there so it was good to trade books with Salukis and stir up memories and knowledge of the place.

The first thing that struck me was that there were several things it didn't occur to me to bring or even to have. One was little giveaways. The best little giveaways were cards and postcards, but there were also bookmarks and stickers. I thought this was very clever. One person actually asked me for a card and I didn't have one.

Another was the hand-held apps, ~%50, that allowed people to take credit cards as payment. Not everyone had one. But those who did, I thought that was clever. It made their lives easier. For the people who didn't carry cash, they could still have a successful transaction. It may sound obvious, but I decided that the best way to come into the modern world, if I were to keep doing such things as this, would be to buy one of these.

I contributed two books to the library: one to their general collection, and one to a special gift basket they're making for someone who wins it. This has to do with some library promotion; they are working on a brand new library which is a huge deal, but I figured that anything I could do for the local library would be a good thing and since they made that room available to me for an entire morning, it was the least I could do.

There were very interesting authors there - more about that later. I will take out my books and explore what else I learned, as time goes on. Western Illinois is a place where at least the writers are aware of who they are and what they are doing. In New Mexico, I'm sure this was true as well, but it was much harder for me to get involved when the closest town was 40 miles away.

Pix coming. I've just started mulling it over.