Sunday, October 23, 2011

Craft Fairs, love 'em

As the only author at a local craft fair yesterday, I was surprised at how many books I sold, but the biggest surprise was how many people said they had Kindles, Nooks, and Sonys. And they were surprised and delighted when I told them they could buy my books for .99 for each download. I gave each a card with my website address and a note on the back reading: .99 Kindle/Sony/Nook. I gave out at least 75 cards and noticed a significant jump in Kindle sales this morning.

Having a book signing at a craft fair is, to me, far more fun and relaxing than a book fair. Okay, so people are not expecting to find me there, nestled in between hand-carved kaleidoscopes (beautiful) and doggie tutus (darling), but in a way I think they feel less threatened, more likely to feel free to chat. They did not come to buy a book, but many do.

The biggest problem with a craft fare is how to keep from spending any profits on all those goodies. Now I just have to figure out what to put that homemade Jalapeno relish on. Yum.

6 comments:

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

I love craft fairs--people are delighted to meet a "real" author.
Yep, handing cards out to people who have reading devices works.

Marilyn

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip, jinx. I'll be adding the direct link to my Kindle, Smashwords and Nook sites to back of my business cards.
Carol
Two Feet Below

Marilyn Levinson said...

Jinx,
I'm glad you had a successful day at the crafts fair. How many months before the fair did you contact them?

Jenny Milchman said...

Glad it went so well, Jinx!

Cindy Sample said...

I enjoy craft fairs as well and always come home with way too many goodies and crafts. I also like Girls Night Out events. Those gals like to party which makes for great book sales. Congratulations on all of the e-book sales. That's tremendous.

Unknown said...

I was invited to the Craft Fair last winter. It is a local yearly affair, and I always do well.

And I think C.K., that adding your direct link to Kindle and Smashwords, etc. is a great idea. I just wrote mine on.

Girls Night Out sounds grand...just that "my" girls are in bed by 8:-)