AJ: Sassy Scribes did our first promotional appearance as a group at the O'Fallon (IL) Strange Folks Festival this weekend. Vendors were mostly selling strange stuff like zombie heads, or recycled stuff like bottle cap pins and vinyl record bowls. We learned a few things too. Like don't order t-shirts the week before an event. My shirt was so tight our Sassy logo became an oddly-stretched oval. However, it wasn't as weird looking as the guy with the backwards Navy hat. But it wasn't as fun as the couple walking their ferrets either.~~

Sloan: It's true that we learned a few things like the shirts, and don't forget money for change, and bring calculator so you don't really short change your boss' father.  And lest we forget, bring a jacket in case it rains and the temperature drops 10 degrees.  Good thing I decided to wear tennis shoes because it was so muddy after the torrential rain that walking was kind of messy.  Oh, and wait my most important learning curve this weekend was don't eat yourself out of the profits by buying all the different kinds of food and drink for the five hours while you're there. ~~

ML: There's something so sad about authors trying to protect their books at an outdoor festival when the bottom decides to drop out. The three scribes sat under a metal awning, new t-shirts straining at the seams, protecting Sloan's books while it poured buckets.

Despite the inhospitable weather, we managed to learn a few things.

Rule #1: When selling your novel at an event, have cash on hand! That one's so easy, it's practically a gimme. Despite all our planning, we had no ability to make change for customers.

Rule #2: Bring a jacket to outdoor events. While the sun shone, we were happy campers. Once the rain moved in, we got miserable fast. An added benefit to having a jacket - if your t-shirt is so small you look like you're promoting a sorority car wash/wet t-shirt contest (AJ!) - you can cover up with it.

I realize this isn't rocket science, but hey, we're new at this. And promoting and marketing is hard work, something you don't realize when you're all starry eyed, dreaming up your next great novel.

Next time you see an author hawking books at an event and he looks like the
loneliest guy in the whole place, you might consider walking up and asking a
few questions. The author will love you for it!

Cheers -- Melanie Carroll