Books. Wonderful things, they are! Most people seem to like books. Some people are happy now that they can carry thousands of books around in a single electronic device – or even read on their phones (which isn’t so bad at all – I have read books on my phone). Other people just like the feel and smell of a real book with pages that turn. Some people like to collect them and show them on walls full of shelves.
Some people gravitate toward bestsellers. Others like classics, and others like collecting rare books and first editions. Books are great because there are books for every age and interest: how-to, history, science, mystery, thriller, romance, fantasy (and grammar, of course!) . . .
And now that publishing one’s own book is easy, there are so many books and so many authors to choose from! Now, local, unknown, self-published authors put out fabulous books – just like more famous authors.
Although the number of big New York publishers has dwindled, self-publishing (with the help of Amazon) is flourishing, so publishing has changed, but is still big business.
Book events of various types abound. There are big publishing shows like Book Expo in New York City, and the huge annual show in Frankfurt, Germany. These are trade shows for publishers (and authors), where it is expensive to set up a booth and expensive to attend.
Then, we have writer’s conferences, different from book trade shows. Every year San Francisco has a big one. Although there are some vendors (I was one once), writer’s conferences generally invite authors of various genres – as well as people in various aspects of publishing – to speak. So these conferences are more about craft than a book expo, which is more of a publishing trade show.
Author events are popping up everywhere, mostly at bookstores, where both famous and not-so-well-known authors appear to sell and sign their books, and often to speak. Often these are book “launches,” meaning the rollout of a new book. I have done several of these at my favorite local bookstore. Famous authors can draw hundreds of people, sometimes requiring a larger venue to be found by the bookstore. On the other hand, local and unknown authors can sometimes stand behind a table at a signing and – sit there alone. It has happened to lots of authors!
Another type of book event is the book festival or book fair. These are really like street fairs and are generally held outside – sometimes downtown somewhere, sometimes at a shopping mall. My home, Sonoma County, used to have one, but it has gone away; no one wanted to run it any longer. And authors often complained they didn’t sell any, or many books, at this type of event.
I was invited to the Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca (CA) last weekend. Despite the two-hour drive each way, it was fun. It was well-run; there were lots of authors selling books, many of whom also made presentations; there was food; and it was held at a mall right next door to the Spirit of Halloween store.
There was plenty of foot traffic at the Bookfest. And it appeared that there were books being sold. I sold a decent number of books, although of course I wish I had sold a whole lot more! Who wants to carry the books back home again!
Who goes to an event like this? Well, it was a hot, sunny Saturday morning and afternoon, a good day to get out. Were people there because they wanted to go to a book festival or because they were going to the mall anyway – maybe to buy a Halloween costume? The event was well- enough publicized so that people heard about the festival, so I think many people were drawn to come out for the books. People like to look at books and chat with authors. Some even like to buy a book that is signed by the author. Then there were the used books for sale by the library – and free at the end of the day.
But I always wonder: Sure, people might buy a fantasy book, or a kid’s book, or a cookbook at a book festival. But who is going to buy a grammar book at a book festival? Many of the people who stopped by my table were teachers or ex-teachers, quite understandably. I don’t know if this is true, but I think if people want a grammar book, they will buy it on Amazon where no one can see what they are buying. Grammar books just don’t seem like an exciting thing to buy at a book festival — where you are admitting perhaps that you need it. But maybe that is just my assumption – and possibly quite an incorrect one, since I think I sell pretty well at these things compared to other authors. And do people want to buy a book by an unknown author? Is it a gamble? The books by us “unknowns” are no less expensive, nor should they be, unless they are of a lesser quality – which most of them are not. Yes, sometimes there are some name authors at these events, but mostly not.
The most disappointing part of the day was my presentation. There were lots of 30-minute presentations, several going on at once. I thought a lot about what I would talk about. And then, no audience! OK, a couple of the festival volunteers managed to drag a couple of people over to hear me. Grammar is often not a real crowd attraction. If only they knew how funny and entertaining it can be . . .
So, I don’t know who goes to book festivals. I would think it’s a little bit of everyone: book lovers, book collectors, people who happen to be wherever it is being held anyway, people who like to stroll around street fairs, and parents looking for books for their children.
In any case, I had fun and met some nice people.
Next up – Arlene Miller doing stand up comedy on grammar. Have you hear the one about the book lover? Sounds like an intriguing new side career! If only Leno was still around! 😉
If only! I really think it is a great idea – or at least to write songs or poems about grammar issues (I have written both songs and poems, but not about grammar). The closest thing I am planning is to do an audio book of my 50 Shades of Grammar book, which is part instructional, part education, and part humor — reading it myself. I plan to call it 50 Shades of Grammar Live! What do you think??
Thanks for sharing your book festival experience, Arlene. It sounds like it was a lot of fun and worth it for you to make the trip. Even though you had a tiny audience for your presentation, you never know how much your words may have impacted someone listening to all or even a passerby hearing a small part of it. I love your attitude. It demonstrates that you love what you do and are grateful for the opportunities you are getting. You never know where they can lead. I think your work is wonderful and interesting. I love your books!
Thanks so much for the nice comment, Sharon! It was fun and a great experience. The woman at the next table wroe a book about being a woman hot air balloon pilot and we traded books…so I got a nice review on Amazon from her, a new Facebook friend, and I am reading her book and really enjoying it…talked to other lovely people too. I am ver grateful for the opportunities that come along. I think that is how we both feel – you and me both – doing what we love!
Arlene, I like all your posts, but this one is one of my favorites. It’s so informative, and it really made me feel like I was there at the Festival. Just a beautiful piece combining informative and narrative writing.
I loved the idea that people might buy grammar books “on Amazon where no one can see what they are buying.” That is such a funny speculation.
I do have a question: Why do you think people like to get signed books. I’ve signed a few myself, but I don’t understand it. Sure, I’d like a folio with Shakespeare’s signature or one of Paul’s letters signed by the apostle himself. I can see the value there. But a signature of an unknown author…or even a best selling author? While it seems silly to me, I am wide open to your view.
Your comment is greatly appreciated, but really struck me. I wanted to write the post about my experience at the book festival,but I really didn’t think it would interest anyone, and I thought I might lose subscribers because I wasn’t writing about grammar rules, which people do seem to like. So, I am very glad you liked the post! And thank you for the compliment on my writing. That strikes me too!! Good question about signed books. I guess we all know why we would like boos signed by a famous author. I guess having a book signed by an unknown author makes it worth a little more to people? And if you ask the buyer if they want it signed, they can’t very well say NO! How insulting that would be!! Also, many of the signed books I buy are written by people I know, so I like them signed. One thing about signed books, though – when you are trying to cut down your book collection, you have to keep the signed books!
I think it also provides some type of intimacy with the author.
So they can resell it as a “collector’s item.”
That is true — but who wants a book signed by an unknown!
Hint: If you really don’t want to take books home after an event … wait until the last 30 minutes of the day, then discount HEAVILY…. For example, my book had a $29.95 list price. I often sold it at personal events for $20.00 (including tax to avoid having to make change). Note that Amazon also sold my book for around $20 per copy, though that varied from time to time.
The out of pocket cost of each book (printing+inbound shipping cost) was about $3.50. (This does NOT cover overhead.) Where an event had no cost to me, if I had too many books to take home, I’d offer an “end of day” sale at $5.00 each. Often, that would clean out the bulk of any left over inventory.
I didn’t do this at “normal” events (where my car was parked nearby) but only on “distant” events, where carrying home a lot of books would be a problem and expense. I learned this lesson when returning from BookExpo (held in Washington DC) and the pre-show IBPA (Formerly PMA) “Book University” where I was a speaker and had books for sale, I ended up with a 1/2 carton of books (about 12 copies) … that cost me $70 to bring home on the airplane. Initially, I’d shipped them to the hotel I was staying at via FedEx Ground … for less than $20 for the full carton of 24 books. l had not realized I’d go overweight on my luggage, when adding the excess books. I’d have been MUCH BETTER OFF to have sold those books — or even given them away — than to pay that “extra baggage” charge! Indeed, had it occurred to me at the time, I might as well have just dumped them in the trash rather than pay nearly $6 per copy to carry them home!
Over time, I reduced the offer-price of the books, eventually selling them for $10 each (including tax) at personal appearance events. By that time, my retail sales had absorbed a couple thousand copies, and I was well past the “breakeven” point. Once the out of pocket expenses had been recovered, anything I got for a book was “profit.”
Today, more self-published books are produced by digital printing (mostly one copy per sale), so the economics are a bit different than they were a few years ago. Still, paying a small fortune to bring books “home” is rarely worth the cost.
Thanks for the comment. I have thought many times of doing what you advised….but it didn’t cost me anything to bring books home at this event. It simply meant packing them back up in the suitcase and rolling them back to the car.By the time the event was ending, I am not sure there were enough people wandering around to even sell a lot of inexpensive books to. For one thing, the Friends of the Library were selling used books very cheaply – and for the last hour of the festival, they were giving them away! It is a good idea, and a common one, to discount books more at the end of an event. I do always pay the sales tax myself – I try to make my prices very round numbers now – like $20 – and that includes tax, so I pay out of my pocket, as it were, every year when I pay the sales tax.
Hi Arlene, I remember when i started teaching how I went to every book festival to get the most grammar books and resources I could use in class. I did not pick up any “fun” books, because I knew those I could always find those in the library. And you cannot imagine how much the grammar books have helped me as I used the material to suit the needs of the curriculum and also of the students. In this way, i put together a lot of material from different books. I love my books, and I have a huge collection of them. I still buy grammar books, they are the most treasured resources on hand. So please don’t get disheartened. It doesn’t matter if anyone is known or unknown when it comes to grammar. It just needs to be creative, innovative and cover more than the usual grammar books, it should be fun , like yours !
Thank you so much for your comment! You have made my day!
People must have bought your book instead of coming to your presentation! Love this post … sounds like a fun event. (I LOVE book festivals — lots of discoveries to be made.)
It was fun! Nice people, nice weather – although a little warm!