Many authors hate marketing their books—and I totally get it. However, there is something really rewarding about introducing your book to someone new and watching their face light up at the idea of reading it. That alone is a huge reason to attend a vendor market as an author. Also, there’s the money you make selling books, which doesn’t hurt!
Not every author needs to participate in vendor markets to build a successful writing career. And not every vendor market an author attends will be a success. That’s why I thought I’d put together this guide filled with information I’ve learned firsthand after participating in countless different types of markets over the past several years.
This guide is for all sorts of writers, whether you’re traditionally published, indie, or hybrid.
Checking Expectations
For many vendors, the dream is to make buckets of money, but there are a lot of non-monetary benefits that make vending at a market worthwhile.
In addition to selling copies of books, you might get exposure, establish valuable connections, or even make lifelong fans. Even if someone doesn’t buy your book the day of the event, they may take a photo of it, share the title with their friends, add it to their wish list, or sign up for your newsletter.
I always bring a clipboard for my newsletter where people can opt in to my monthly emails. Whether they buy a book or don’t have the funds right now, I want to stay in touch because they might be interested in supporting me in the future or buying other books from me down the line.
But at a market, you’ll also meet other people who run their own businesses, do creative work, attend other markets, or write books. These professionals are worth adding to your network and keeping in touch with. They can help you grow as a writer, creative, and entrepreneur, as well as clue you in on what other markets are worth doing and which might be worth passing on.
And if nothing else, you’ll learn a lot about vending and what works for you personally by going out and doing it! The experience of getting out there, learning to set up and break down your table, and talking to people about your books will be invaluable for future markets.
A friend and I selling books and sipping brews!
Types of events worth considering
There are so many choices! Seriously, countless different avenues and events provide the opportunity to sell books, so look into ones that both appeal to you and attract people who might be interested in your work. I try not to write off events that I haven’t tried before because you never know which might be the best fit. I never would have thought to try a brewery market until a friend invited me to join her, and we sold tons of books to patrons sampling the venue’s new line of winter brews.
Here is an overview of different types of markets to consider:
Conventions
These events typically cater to a specific genre, fandom, or group. They can be pretty narrow, like a horror-literature convention, or broad enough to include everything from movies, television, comics, books, and pro wrestling. Although your books don’t have to fit the con's theme perfectly, there should be enough overlap to appeal to attendees: i.e., I do much better at comic cons since comic fans enjoy reading in general, but at a cosplay event, attendees were more interested in sewing content and purchasing accessories.
Generally, conventions are paid events and typically indoors, although climate control in the spaces they use can be iffy. They’ll state in the vendor/artist application form what amenities will be provided; common provisions include a table, chairs, and an extra badge. Attendees are excited to participate, and many budget for purchases. These events can be anywhere from one to several days.
Artist Markets
Many artist markets are hosted outdoors and free to browse, making them excellent at bringing lots of new eyeballs to creators’ work. They attract tourists and locals alike, even people who may not have been aware of the market ahead of time. That said, most attendees will enjoy walking through without making too many purchases—although I have found books to be pretty popular impulse buys for many people.
Generally, artist market organizers view writers under the “artist” umbrella and are happy to invite you to their event. Many are juried to ensure a high quality of offerings for the market. They typically don’t provide any part of your setup, so you’ll need to bring everything, including a canopy for shade, a table, and chairs.
Artist markets can be a single weekend or weekly during a certain time of year. Some may have you commit to the whole market, while others may allow you to sign up for a single week.
Community Events
These are some of my favorites! The table fees are often low, and sometimes they benefit a local cause or charity. Plus, they’re short events that only last a few hours. I’ll bring a minimal setup and a modest amount of inventory. Because of the community aspect, these events bring in a decent number of locals who are happy to support their neighbors’ businesses.
Book Festivals
I love a good book festival! I’ve been to ones that were free to attend and ones with an admission fee. They typically last one to two days and can be held indoors at a convention center or outside. In order to cater to newer authors, some provide packages that include a table, tablecloth, chairs, and even a canopy.
Book festivals are kind of a toss-up for me. The networking is fabulous, and I always make tons of new friends at book fests. However, attendees aren’t going to buy books from every author, so unless the event is super well attended, you may not actually sell that many books.
I think that the learning and connections make book festivals as a whole worthwhile, so I make sure to sign up for at least one every year.
Vendor and Craft Fairs
I’m grouping these two types of fairs together since they’re often smaller, single-day events, and both accept writers. I particularly enjoy fairs leading up to the holidays, because attendees go specifically to stock up on handmade, local, or unique gifts.
That leads to a factor I always investigate: who is actually promoting the event? Unfortunately, these events are very reliant on the organizers adequately advertising the fair since they tend to be indoors or, if outdoors, tucked aside on a business’s property. Some organizers do a great job spreading the word, but I’ve also been to markets that were total busts because no one knew something was being held that day.
…so which do you choose?
There are so many different types of events and ways to find them, so once you learn about an event, how do you determine whether that particular one is worth your time and money?
I’m not going to choose events for you, but here are some factors I consider when deciding whether or not to sign up for an event:
Location Location Location
I made a rule for myself earlier this year [read the post where I explain why] that I will no longer attend any event held at a fairground. The TL;DR is simple: attend events in locations that make sense for you and your comfort.
Although indoor events sound like the absolute best as far as comfort, I’ve been to enough events with either no AC or broken HVAC to decide that indoor doesn’t always mean better. Even something like a craft fair at a high school in the dead of winter can go awry if the organizers request heat, and then the mix of unseasonably warm weather and lots of bodies turns the school gym into a sauna.
Huge convention centers will have climate control on lock. Mid-size venues like hotels, schools, and commercial centers may prove to be more variable. Small businesses, including bookstores, restaurants, and breweries, may be better at adapting to changing temperatures. Sometimes older buildings have unique challenges like inadequate accessibility, bad plumbing, drafty windows, and aging systems that might break.
On the other hand, outdoor events are reliant on the weather—and we all know that books don’t fare well in rainy conditions. There will be times when outdoor events have to cancel last minute, and you may not be able to get your table fee back in these instances. But if the weather smiles on you, you better believe that happy strollers will be in the mood to buy lots of books!
For any event that requires admission, pre-purchased ticket sales can help the event and vendors predict attendance. However, if a venue is particularly hard to find or out in the boonies, there will naturally be some attrition from people who planned to go and those who actually make it there.
Similarly, for free events over-relying on natural foot traffic, it can be hard to get potential readers’ attention if there are other things going on that day or your table is hard to find.
Different locations and facilities will also provide certain equipment for their vendors. They’ll also have different requirements for what you need to provide. It may be harder to do outdoor events if you don’t have a canopy. On the flip side, some events will provide signage for all the vendors, which is a huge bonus.
Cost
Very few markets are free to sell at. And even if they are, you may have other costs including gas, lodging, parking, and food. There are other one-time costs—like finally purchasing a canopy—that are a bit steep if you only plan to use that item for a single event. For your first market, you’ll need to purchase at the very least a tablecloth, books to sell, and some swag like bookmarks.
If you choose to expand into outdoor markets and craft fairs or plan to do several events, you may want to invest in a canopy, folding table, high-quality signs, and more.
But the main cost I want to focus on is the table fees for each of these vendor fairs. It’s worthwhile to calculate the sales required to offset your table fees ahead of time (I’ll get more into this later). You’ll need to sell significantly more books to break even for an expensive table.
Something that I have found with multi-day events is that they don’t necessarily multiply my book sales. Most of the people who come by my table have multi-day passes and won’t buy 2 or 3 times as many books. Just because an event spans three days doesn’t mean I’ll get three times the sales. In my experience, it will go up a little over a single-day event, but not by much. Ultimately, I won't pay much more for multi-day events; I just don’t see the value.
I really wish that the cost of a market were tied to how well the vendors will sell. Sometimes organizers spend too much on extras, overextend, or set fees significantly higher than expected sales can justify. Other events may have a lot of overhead, and that’s totally fine, but I’m not going to make a profit at the table price point, so I choose to opt out.
Logistics
I sometimes wish I could bring a formal OSHA complaint against every comic con that expected me to man my table for 10+ hours in a single day with no breaks.
There are a number of logistics that go into each event that are worth considering before signing up. First, look at the number of days and hours per day for the event. In the case of a longer event, it may be worthwhile to bring a person to help, which you’ll want to arrange ahead of time.
There are also distance and travel considerations. Events are always a little more hectic when you’re also driving several hours, checking into a hotel, and making arrangements for your pets, plants, and/or kids while you’re away. I’ve found flying for an event completely unfeasible, but some people may be more comfortable with this.
Load-in and load-out are hectic times for an event. For outdoor events, it’s a lot harder to set up a table and canopy solo. Plus, books are heavy, and lugging boxes and boxes of books to and from your car is a lot of work. Some events will only have load-in the day before or super early in the morning. These details are definitely worth considering since they add considerably to the time and work involved for you.
I brought... TWELVE boxes of books to a recent event.
Books are
heavy!
During the event, there are other considerations, including restrooms and food. I don’t mind a temporary toilet, but I get that those are a hard pass for many people. On the other hand, I have some pretty severe food allergies, so I never rely on food provided at an event or purchased from convention center cafeterias.
Organizers
The people who put on an event are just as important as all the other considerations and something you’ll get a feel for as you start doing markets.
The best organizers run a well-oiled machine. They communicate clearly and respond to inquiries quickly, provide load-in information and table assignments well in advance, choose high-quality vendors and providers, promote their events, get good audience turnout, have contingency plans in case something goes awry, and are generally great to work with. I’ve absolutely chosen events purely because of the team organizing them.
Great organization doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have great book sales, but it does make the whole experience much smoother. First-time events can be a toss-up. People aren’t always aware of all the work that goes into them, and certain aspects—typically promotion and marketing—get overlooked.
I have gone to first-time events and given organizers a chance, especially if they have a day job that’s similar to event planning and they’re truly passionate about the event they're hosting.
Decision Time
With all the above-mentioned considerations, how do you decide whether or not a market is worth your time, money, and book stock?
For markets, I recommend starting small and local to give yourself a feel for how well you sell books in person before diving into a larger commitment. Look at the vendor, table, or booth fee for that particular event and calculate how many books you would need to sell in order to make back that investment.
For example, let’s say the library is hosting a charity market and is selling tables for $40 for a four-hour event. You plan to sell books for $14 each, and it costs you $6 for printing, shipping, and transaction fees. That’s an $8 margin made per book sale, which means you would need to sell 5 books to make back the table fee.
Next, look at the potential audience and attendance. Selling about a book an hour might be achievable for a well-attended library event. An event more tailored to your audience (i.e., space opera books at a sci-fi convention) may lead to better sales, although if the interest is too narrow (a romantasy book fest), you may face pretty fierce competition.
Some authors have multiple talents and businesses and may find that they can sell something in addition to their books at specific markets. For example, a writer who crochets and writes cozy stories may do exceptionally well at craft festivals selling both.
As you gain experience, you’ll be ready to move onto bigger events. Sometimes, it's worth joining a large event with a few fellow authors and sharing a table. Certain events, like conventions, may comp tables for creators who add to the event programming by talking on or hosting panels, giving workshops, or hosting activities. Check with a specific event to see how they handle complimentary tables, guests, and panelists, because they all handle these things differently.
Worth it?
Before deciding whether an event was worth it, take time to collect a little data.
- How much money did you take in?
- What were the printing costs for the books/items you sold?
- How much was the table fee?
- What other expenses did you incur?
- How many hours was the event, including load-in and out?
Doing a little math will show how much money you made and your net hourly rate, but we’re not going to stop there. Also look at:
- Number of newsletter sign-ups
-
New contacts you made, including
- Fellow writers
- Businesses and creatives you could work with in the future
- Professionals further in their career who could offer mentorships
- Cool new friends!
-
Information you gathered, including
- Other market opportunities
- Groups, clubs, and professional organizations
- Publishing opportunities, calls for submissions, and other creative opportunities
Also, did you have fun? What was your overall experience?
I’ve found several events that were worthwhile just from the networking. Others were a bust for sales, but I still had a blast and want to go in the future just as an attendee. Others were pure torture and earned a spot on my blacklist. That’s okay! I still learned something by going!
I hope this guide has given you the confidence to try your first market—or be more selective about your next one. If you’re still unsure and need a little convincing, then keep reading about why I love fan conventions. And if you’re ready to take the plunge, I’ve got a great list of everything I bring to markets (I actually reference this post before every event—it’s that useful).
If you want to see me at an upcoming event, I’d love to say hi! I keep an updated list of future appearances on my events page.
No comments:
Post a Comment