Over the last ten days, Rebekah and I have brought BryonySeries books and edible vampire slaying kits to three events.
You might be curious how well we sold.
And you might be curious how many edible vampire slaying kits we gave away.
Well, I'm happy to share.
1) WriteOn Joliet's anthology release party on Dec. 8 at the Joliet Public Library: Eleven BryonySeries books sold, eleven anthologies sold, six edible vampire slaying kits given away
2) The Book Market on Dec. 13 in Crest Hill: Five BryonySeries books: three edible vampire slaying kits given away
3) Elder Brewing Co.: Ten books sold, seven edible vampire slaying kits given away.
And two books sold online on Saturday. And one on Dec. 2 in advance of the anthology release party.
I'm sure other authors boast far more impressive numbers. I'm just not other authors.
However, everyone who bought books (and those who took home edible vampire slaying kits) seemed very happy to take them home.
For instance:
1) One repeat customer really wanted a copy of holiday Visage (which is out of print, only the official version is available) and will be very happy to know he won a copy (the odds are in your favor when few people enter to win).
2) One customer has a tween granddaughter that writes and bought all three Girls of the BryonySeries books.
3) One repeat customer really wanted a book in the Girls of the BryonySeries only to find out that one isn't written yet (this subseries will have eight books total).
4) One customer came back to my table where a potential customer and his daughter were looking at books. The customer was munching a cookie from an edible vampire slaying kit and said, "The cookies are soo good!" He proceeded to tear into a second cookie. The people at the table bought a book and took home an edible vampire slaying kit, to.
5) One customer was looking for something dark and happily bought a book. Another customer at the same venue wanted nothing to do with the supernatural and happily took home two books for her children. By the time I had arrived home, she had sent a photo through one of the BryonySeries social media accounts of her youngest children looking at a Bertrand the Mouse book and thanked me for introducing her to the series.
As a local author, I'm more interested in fostering happiness and enjoyment than I am in making money.
For many happy hours are to be had between the pages of a good book.
Now I have nothing against making money, especially since money is needed to make more books. And I also didn't say I'm not interested in making money, either.
But artists must be realistic when selling their art. Many artists, perhaps most of them, will not make any significant amount of money selling art, whether the art is a painting or a book.
If you don't want a book, I'm not too eager to sell one to you either.
But if you might want a book, you should know where to find them.
And this is why I market them. And why I show up at venues and events.
I'm actually hoping sneak back into The Book Market this week.
I have just six edible vampire slaying kits left.
And for the sake of the their creators, I'm hoping to find good homes for them.
Just like the the books and kits that found good homes over the last ten days.
Illustration by Sue Midlock for "Cornell Dyer and the Calcium Deficient Bones"
