Authors Access - Successfully Sell Your Books at Conferences, Craft Shows, and Fairs

Successfully Sell Your Books at Conferences, Craft Shows, and Fairs

04/16/21 • -1 min

On March 4th, 2010 Irene Watson moderated a roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman on how to successfully sell your books at conferences, craft shows, and regional, seasonal, and special interest fairs. Tyler specializes in working regional craft and seasonal fairs and has achieved some remarkably good results. Victor exhibits at professional conferences for social workers, psychologists, and mental health fairs. Together, they addressed the following issues:

Managing bathroom breaks
Dealing with show management
Supplies You May Want to Buy as an exhibitor: tables, tablecloths, acrylic book stands and signholders, posters, Directors Chair, Tschokte items (pens, post-it notes, to give away),
The Fine Print: watch out for proof-of-insurance, mandatory carpet purchase, furniture rental, and more
Indoor vs. outdoor shows: foot traffic, weather, customers, pros and cons
How to lure people to your booth
Being prepared for any situation
Offering exclusive specials
Which shows work and which ones dont
Determining whether you succeeded

Managing bathroom breaks
Dealing with show management
Supplies You May Want to Buy as an exhibitor: tables, tablecloths, acrylic book stands and signholders, posters, Directors Chair, Tschokte items (pens, post-it notes, to give away),
The Fine Print: watch out for proof-of-insurance, mandatory carpet purchase, furniture rental, and more
Indoor vs. outdoor shows: foot traffic, weather, customers, pros and cons
How to lure people to your booth
Being prepared for any situation
Offering exclusive specials
Which shows work and which ones dont
Determining whether you succeeded

Previous Episode

Walt Shiel - Print Book Design, Typesetting, and eBooks

On March 18th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with veteran author and publisher Walt Shiel about some of the most confusing topics for the self-publishing newcomer: print book design, typesetting, indexing, and even eBook production. Walts publishing company, Slipdown Mountain, has published three novels, two military history titles, two other nonfiction titles, and one short story collection. Its subsidiary Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers was spun off to meet the demand for assistance from self-publishers. Walt addressed some of these key points in todays interview: Book Design & Typesetting

Is there any difference between designing a book and typesetting it?
* What are the key decisions a book designer must make?
* Isnt typesetting just pouring the text into the typesetting software, adding some formatting, and letting the software work its magic?

E-Book Design

Does design and/or typesetting matter at all in creating an e-book?
* Arent there software packages that can create e-books virtually automatically?
* Do readers even care if an e-book is well-designed as long as they get the content one way or another?

Indexing

What is an index and how is it different from a concordance?
* Doesnt the author know better than anyone else what should be indexed?
* What do you need to know to create a useful index

Next Episode

Ernest Dempsey - Earn Extra Income Freelance Writing for the Web

On February 19th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with fulltime freelance writer, proofreader, and editor Ernest Dempsey. He shared encouraging information on how you can get started in the fun and profitable art of freelance writing. In addition to having written 4 books, he is now the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing and also works as the country editor for Pakistan on the celebrated Internet news channel Instablogs.com. He shared with us on the following points:

Where are some places that I can go to look for freelance web writing?
Is it ghost writing or does sometimes my name get shown?
What about being a Foreign Correspondent for a news organization in another country?
How does getting paid work?
How do you manage personal time, schedules, and deadlines?
What types of writing projects are available: interviews, reviews, tutorials and how well does each pay relative to the others
How have you improved your knowledge of English by writing over time?
How does freelancing compare to a regular job? Do you get to travel more?