Inside the Author’s Booth

April-May and September-October seem to be the prime months for yard sales and book festivals. Certainly I do my share of both as vendor and buyer. On either side of the table, you can learn, enjoy the experience, and at book festivals, meet authors and publishers at all levels.

Authors like us enjoy telling people about our books, sharing experiences with the people who come by, hearing from those who have read and enjoyed our books, and connecting with other writers and publishers.

Those are the good moments. There are disheartening moments too. Our friendly smiles are ignored as people pass by, afraid to look at our booth for fear of engaging or worse, actually buying a book. My husband watches people fighting and hitting their kids and sneering at the idea of a parenting book. And unless we are actively out there bringing people to our booth, we won’t sell a thing. Most exhibitors are considerate of each other. Rarely does a person at one booth grab someone away from another booth. It happens, though.

My tip to you: Stop by and visit at the booths. Hardly anyone will give you an arm-twisting sales pitch. After all, we’re not selling time shares. Most of us are introverts. Not me, however.

Sometimes the festivals offer amazing programs. We were enthralled one year as kids, eight to ten years old, I think, competed in a story-telling contest. With expressive gestures, emotion, and enunciation, they told their stories perfectly.

Weather is a factor since most festivals are outdoors, rain or shine. Several years ago, the Kensington (MD) Day of the Book valiantly tried to keep going in a deluge. Most of us booksellers gave up early. One year, the sweltering temperature at a book festival sapped all the energy out of everyone. No one could muster much enthusiasm that day. And at another festival, booths were set up on Friday evening, then a windstorm came through and destroyed most of the canopies.

For the exhibitors, it can be a long day, especially if they’ve been shunted to some far-off corner with little traffic or the festival was poorly advertised.