Monday ramblings on Tuesday...

Yes I know it's Tuesday, but Monday was pretty much taken up by 'stuff to do' which included a failed shoe shopping trip resulting in my usual shoe shop problem - me surrounded by shoes that don't fit, shop assistants trying to help, against all the odds, and me reaching for my trusty cowboy boots where my feet can hide away again in comfort. Yes I know it's June - but it was a thunder storm outside - which just goes to show that boots are the ideal foot wear at any time of year, so why fight it...?

So this week's dilemma is whether to carry on with my online campaign, book another craft fair,or work on the next book in the hope that my books will sell themselves... At the same time as all this, I seem to have developed tennis elbow even though I don't even watch tennis, let alone play it, and now everything I do seems to aggravate the condition, yes even typing. Of course I could put myself on sick-leave and read a book until the pain goes away, but I probably should achieve something tangible with my day.

Just putting the kettle on...

...ok now mustn't get carried away or the tea will go cold - yes it happens all too often. So I think my website should maybe be more fun, buzz words like retail theatre spring to mind - but how do I translate that into a website - oops must take the tea bag out - I don't like strong tea... caught in the nick of time.

So retail theatre seems like a dead end - for now, so what can I take from my experiences at book signings? Well people like to talk to a real live author - well they can always message me ...  OK what I actually take from that is that I still need to do book signings, and can't just hide behind a computer.

Apparently people like to rummage - so how can I translate that to an online bookshop, mess up the shop a little maybe...?  hmm any ideas anybody?

Book signings and the randomness of craft fairs

Every so often I venture out from behind my computer screen, out into the world....

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. 

Life is a learning curve... I will overcome my last hurdle eventually - I'll rise above it and fly high - either that or I'll beat it down with a stick...

Why do I like to make life difficult for myself?

When I'm working on a book, my mind is usually racing ahead to the next project, and on this occasion I thought my next book would be straightforward, having already found a UK printer of board books... 

However when I came to put in a quote request, the fee was so high it would be barely viable for personal use, let alone to try and sell on to customers, and even at that price it was only printed on 1mm card which I doubt would be thick enough for a board book for a baby. Oh well.back to the drawing board...

Meanwhile I'm hard at work promoting Outnumbered by Cats... well, that is I've passed it on to my sales team - oh wait, I am my sales team...  and so we come back to my learning curve that I have yet to conquer, that of selling online. But all is not lost - I have a book signing at the weekend! It's so much easier to sell books face to face.

But I will overcome my last hurdle eventually - I'll rise above it and fly high - either that or I'll beat it down with a stick...  

Knitting a cat... how hard can it be?

So... the sheep have gone down so well at book signings, that for my next challenge I'm going to knit Basil from Basil and the Flappy Thing...

I've got the wool, the knitting needles are raring to go, so what's missing? Well a pattern would be nice, and once I've knitted the first one, I'll have a pattern for any future Basils, but for now, I'm doing what I do best... winging it!

I'll be posting the results as Basil emerges in wool - that is if I can keep my cats away from the wool long enough to knit it... nothing like a bit of pressure to get a project started!