One of the questions I often ask fellow indie authors is how much they sold at a particular event.
It's less about being snoopy and more to assess our overall expectations, marketing efforts, and areas of improvement.
I had very little idea how most of this worked when I began publishing eight years ago, and many of the rules have changed since that time.
I'm certain every artist hopes, deep down, that they'll knock sales and customer response out of the park.
Last night on Twitter, I saw in my feed a rather "lean and blunt" company that has one purpose: to pay writers $200 to $2,000 for all the rights to manuscripts (in certain genres) they can't sell. I'm not certain how legitimate this company is, but I'm sure it gets plenty of inquiries. And I was curious enough to briefly consider writing slush in those genres and pitching it.
The struggle to sell art is nothing new. Now that I can look up this knowledge online, I've found a number of my favorite authors (literature that's now considered classic, authors now deceased who were favorites in my childhood) either didn't sell in their lifetime or worked hard at it during their lifetime, with some books selling better than others.
Even Eoin Colfer, the author of Artemis Fowl, when I interviewed him a few months ago for The Herald-News, had this to say, "I've written over 40 books. Sometimes you
have success with that and sometimes you don't."
I'm not gong to stretch this post out like social media click bait, But I did want to give Saturday some context and provide some information that might be useful to other indies like me.
I sold just over $75 worth of books and just under $50 worth of candles in three hours. For a small event at a small venue on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I feel I sold surprisingly well.
Most of the people who bought are people I know in some way, and those people came to The Book Market on purpose to buy one or more books and/or some candles (my candlemaker has lung cancer, and our goal is to sell the entire stock).
But I did receive some interest from people who stopped by the table, and one never knows where that will go.
I'm not certain how other authors might rate the outcome, but I consider the day a success (despite the photo of my kids playing on their phones) and here's why.
1) I am gradually reducing the candle volume, bringing me closer to the goal. And I actually sold far more candles that I thought I would, so that was an unexpected bonus.
2) The people who bought books on purpose, since they bought on purpose, may actually read them. If they enjoy them, they may recommend them, to a friend, which furthers the reach. If they don't, that's OK, too, It's part of effort of finding the readership. And their support, with their time and their money, is worth far more to me than words can fully express.
3) Some of the books were gifts. See number two.
4) Just hosting the event brought about awareness through flyers, news releases, and a little media exposure, for me and the store.
5) The Book Market made a percentage from the sales of my books. Not enough to close up shop and retire, but hey, sales are sales.
6) The owner always seem happy to see me and didn't seem happier to see me go. ;)
As authors and artists, we struggle to find our foothold, and sometimes we don't find it at all. But somewhere between obscurity and world renown are places we can set realistic goals and then take small doable steps to attain them.
Last Saturday, I felt, hit the right spots.
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