This past weekend, I was at the annual Spring Book Fair at Copperfield’s Books. It’s one of many shows/conventions I’m doing this year (trying to do more!).
The fair was a lot of fun, as usual. (Hanging out with other authors is a blast!) However… it’s Spring. Rain happens. You might remember this happened last year too, but this was on another level. Fortunately, the heavy stuff waited until the very end of the fair on Sunday. Which led to us having to load up like this:
I’ll have a more detailed (and more fun) story in the next newsletter.
This weekend, I was selling at a Spring Book Fair. We were inside an enormous “event tent,” but it was 80 degrees at first. We were all sweating. Around 2:00, a cold front came through. If you’ve never experienced a cold front in the South, you may not understand, so let me explain:
The temperature instantly dropped about 10 degrees. Heavy winds gusted through (the tables nearest the entrance had to weigh down their stuff). And torrential rain poured down, drumming on our tent. THEN the fun began:
We were all, naturally, looking up at the big tent, hoping it wouldn’t leak. Or blow apart. Then the author beside me looked down and said, “Oh. We have water.” Turns out the parking lot was a bit sloped, so water flowed down it at my feet and under my table… where my boxes of books were sitting.
The water flow didn’t cover the entire area, just one swath angled across the fair. The two other tables I saw in the water had their stuff in plastic bins. I had cardboard. So a mad caper ensued in which myself and three other authors were yanking my boxes out and stacking them wherever we could find: on my table, on my stool, on top of some PVC used for banners.
The good news is: no books were harmed. My boxes were very thick cardboard, so the water didn’t get through. The box holding some of my supplies was damaged, but no big deal. The organizer came by after the rain subsided and asked if I wanted some plastic to put on the ground to put my boxes on. I said: “I’m standing in a half inch of water, so I don’t think that would work.” Good thing my shoes were waterproof.
And readers STILL showed up in the middle of all of this! I had to compliment them, even while I explained why I was leaning on an unsightly pile of boxes. In the end, no real harm was done, and I had another story to tell. Adventures in book sales, everyone. You never know what will happen.
For the second year at Comicpalooza, I had a great time. Sales were lower than last year, but still good.
We had a fantastic experience overall. It’s always fun to talk fantasy and writing with other people, and even more fun to talk with them about my books! We gave away around a hundred bookmarks, I believe, with a link to my Amazon page. I’ve already seen a few sales pop up there this morning.
I forgot to have someone take photos of me at the booth, so here’s one of the initial setup. That’s my friend John working on his pop top chain mail (which attracted a lot of attention). Tons of gratitude for his assistance!
I had a fantastic time at Comicpalooza 2022 in Houston this past weekend.
If you’re visiting this website or my Amazon author page as a result of stopping by my booth… Welcome!! It was wonderful to meet you and talk about books (and other pop culture stuff).
Over the two days, I sold dozens of books, gave away many more bookmarks and coins, and almost a hundred people signed up for the newsletter (you should too!).
The excitement never faded, every moment we were there, and long after I made it home. What an experience! I can’t wait to see how future cons shape up!
This weekend, July 16-17, I’ll have a booth at Comicpalooza in Houston. If you’re in the area, come on by and say hi! I’ll be selling autographed books and 3d printed lithophanes of the book covers.
