My first book fair!

I was so thrilled and excited to be asked to attend the local authors book fair at my local library in Thurrock. The event was part of the Essex Book Festival which holds events across the county.

I was a little nervous about attending, it still doesn’t feel super comfortable referring to myself as an author and imposter syndrome was ramped up to 11 prior to the event. I may have over compensated by going hard on my swag game! I bought branded bookmarks, stickers and badges. As well as paying quite a lot to get 20 copied each of War Inc. and Ten Pound Note printed. 

In the end I only sold one book, a copy of War Inc., but I did do a book swap of Ten Pound Note with one of the other authors books. But 20 of each was a bit of an over estimate!

The event it self was small, and there weren’t many visitors in the end. A handful of people came into the library and it was nice to have a chat with the ones that stopped at my table.

Chatting with the other authors was the real high light for me. Hearing the struggles and stories of each of them and how they are trying to persevere to get their books noticed was really inspirational for me. 

Many of them are in the same boat as me, looking for publishers and doing what they can to try to promote their books through social media or KDP or by attending book fairs. It was good to learn that I am not the only one who to be finding the process tough and feeling like its an uphill battle. 

Yet even though it’s tough, almost everyone I spoke to was still full of energy and determination and, more importantly, were still writing new stories. The process hadn’t beaten them and I felt renewed determination as a result. 

Since the event I have continued conversations with some of the authors and I am looking forward to continuing to support them in any way I can, and I am sure they will be supportive of me in my continued endeavours!