Tip #24: What you need for a successful book fair.

In 2011, for the first time ever, I attended two local book fairs. Well, one was local in Charleston and one was in Savannah. It was only about a two hour drive so I still consider it local. Every book fair is different. Even those two were completely different. The one in Charleston was more centered on older Young Adult and the one in Savannah was more for Children’s books. Do research on the book fair you choose to attend so that you have an idea of what to expect. Don’t expect them to be great money makers. I barely broke even if at all. The greatest benefit I found to these fairs was meeting the other authors and getting good tips for the future. When I went to both of these book fairs, I brought lots of swag that I got for free from Vistaprint:

Banners

Notepads

Pens

Tshirts

Hats

Postcards

Sticky notes

I also went to the dollar store and bought bags to put purchases in. And as with any event, don’t forget to take a signup sheet for your newsletter.

If you're working the event alone, try packing your books and your swag in a rolling suitcase to make things easier to carry.

For children's books, it was also useful to have candy to give out at my table.