A fun day in MK

If you had asked me a year ago if I've have enjoyed standing in the atrium of a large shopping centre for eight hours trying to flog books I would have laughed at you. If the scenario was tweaked slightly to them being my books I was selling, I would probably have laughed even louder.

Yet thats what happened just a couple of Saturdays ago. Me and my ever supportive wife setup our stall early (around 9:30) and dug in for the long haul.

As this was my second book fair I had a reasonable amount of merch and the table looked pretty good even if I do say so myself.

During the course of the day I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with both my fellow authors (my table neighbours either side in particular) and with the book browsing public. It's such a thrill to be able to bore an entirely new set of people with my stories rather than continually inflicting such agony on my family.

Some people, against all odds, even liked the ideas of my books so much they even paid me for the honour of taking a copy of two off of my hands. Which was lovely!

All in all I think I sold 15 or so books. I gave away a couple as well (we'll get on to that).

I came away from the event tired but also energised and reinvigorated to make a success of my writing and to make it something that I can do as the main thing, rather than a side thing.

So what did I learn?

Buying a barrow to lug heavy books was a very good idea.

Having proper book stands makes the table look more professional.

I needed to have better bookmarks with my contact details on.

My spin to win a signed book idea was a triumph, and something I will improve for my next event. The chance to win prizes really allowed me to draw people in and have good conversations with them.

Next stop is the Oxford Indie Book Fair in November. More on that to come in a future blog.