Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Author Tables: Encourage Your Local Festival

As a writer with a small press title, I look for creative and low-cost possibilites for author sales of my book. I've put up my little "Books For Sale, Signed By Author" poster and stacked up my books and readied my signing pose at flea markets, libraries, and community gatherings. The Lane County Fair has successfully hosted an Author Table for several years, and I believe that they've found that their invitation to the writers has actually added to the artistic offerings of the yearly gathering as well as to the daily fair attendance. This year over 36 writers and novelists -- some "famous" and some debuting writers -- will share the staffing of a popular signing and selling area at the Lane County Fair. Without the fair sponsorship, with booth prices at many of the fairs ranging from $350 to $600, it's almost impossible for many small run local authors to participate.

I'd encourage all of the Northwest fairs and festivals to offer a signing area for local word artists, or a fair-sponsored sign-up sheet for authors and novelists who would like to pay a smaller fee (per hour or per day) and share an area with other writers. Through recent calls to the Douglas County Fair, the Siskiyou Golden Fair, and the Jackson County Fair I found that none had plans to make an author area available.