Book signings in bookshops are good because people are already there looking for books, but you can't beat the randomness of a craft fair...
I'm usually the last to arrive at these events, because I know I can set up in less than 10 minutes. It's become like a well oiled machine - the tablecloth, the book stands, the books of course - some on stands and some laid flat on the table. Most people like to pick up the ones from the table rather than the stands, who know why... maybe they don't want to risk upsetting the stands. But really not much upsets the stands, they're a tough lot, my display team, valiantly holding up books for hours on end with never a complaint... (oops, letting my visual imagination run away with me again).
The newest addition to the display is a little flock of sheep, that go with my bestseller But I'm Not Sleepy. I have fairy lights and bookmarks, and the sometimes forgotten notice that says I'm a local author doing a book signing - strangely that's the thing that mot people don't notice...
Although the characters of my latest book Outnumbered by Cats, try to stow away in the boxes as I pack them, I don't think half a dozen cats running round a craft fair would be very practical, especially as the occasional dog comes in...
The other traders are usually a friendly bunch, which helps the day go by, through the quiet times. And there's nothing like eating a sandwich to bring out the customers, it's as if they just wait for you to fill your mouth with food to come over and ask a question, so lunch can take a while to eat. My record for longest lasting sandwich was a couple of hours - if only I could remember the filling for that magic sandwich that brought the customers flooding in...
And there's nothing more random than the customers...
- There's the obvious book lovers, who spot the books from the other side of the room and come over with that glint in their eye.
- There's the ones who look totally uninterested, but get drawn in and often buy one.
- There's the collectors who buy a signed book to put away and see if it becomes valuable - while quite possibly missing the true value of a book, which needs to be read to be revealed...
- Best of all is when a book is bought for a small child and placed in their hands to hold and enjoy. Books are precious, but not the sort of precious to be placed on a shelf like fine china. The sort of precious to hold, to read, and to look at the pictures, and to get a little shabby like a favorite teddy...
- Lastly there's the difficult ones, who'll pick fault with everything, but stay to talk anyway, they've no intention of buying, and the books are probably shying away from them in terror in case they get picked... (oops that imagination again...)
Craft fairs can be fun, and a great way of meeting customers and getting your book out there.
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