Convention Recap: Capital City Author Event 2024

The Capital City Author Event is behind me now, so you know what that means: time for a recap! This was a wild one, so let's dive right in!

First things first, understand that this was a romance author event. While there were maybe three of us who weren't romance authors, so it wasn't all romance all the time, it was absolutely a romance centered event. Spoiler: I don't write romance. At all. I'd had no idea these types of events even exist until two years ago when I attended this event as a guest (it occurs ever two years). So understand: these are a totally different sort of animal when it comes to book events. Why is that?

Because Romance is the biggest genre, with the most fanatical readers, and it's where the big money is.

So they do things very differently from pretty much every other book slinging event I have been apart of. How so?

Before the Event

The folks running this event did a fantastic job of building engagement in the event beforehand. They coordinated pre-orders, had a pretty active reader group, all sorts of good stuff. They sold out of their VIP tickets, which granted folks access to a pre-event party and early access to the signing event. It was all really, really well done I thought.

Friday

I showed up around 5ish and set up my table (pictured below). I got to use my new bookcases for the first time, and I am happy with how they worked. I got the tip from Richard Fierce, and I am glad I followed up on that. They are sturdy, and I think do a good job of drawing the eye.

At 7 the pre-event party started. Seven different authors were sponsors, and each sponsor had games and prizes for folks to partake in. It also included food and there was a DJ. It was a fun atmosphere for sure, but I am as awkward as a soup sandwich sometimes, so I ended up leaving after an hour. I had ended up mostly just talking with other author friends, but that wasn't really fair to the attendees: they paid so they could spend time with the authors. And lets be real: ain't a soul at this event that was paying extra to hang out with me haha. Again, really well run, and everyone I saw seemed to be having a great time. Had the LadyWife been in attendance, I'd have probably danced, so it's a good thing she wasn't, because I'd like to be invited back lol.

Saturday Signing

Breakfast was included in my booth fee, and it was a really good breakfast buffet from the host hotel. Properly carbed up, I went and hung out in the author room, chatting with folks and puttering around until noon, when the VIPs got their early entry. They proceeded to run around and get all their pre-orders, meet up with their top wish list authors, all that cool stuff. Again, I was not the target market for these folks, at all.

And these folks come to SPEND yall. They pretty much all have carts they pull around and fill with books, raffle prizes, and swag. They are the 'whales' to use an gaming term, dropping huge amounts of money. And yall they travel. There were folks from all over, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, you name it. PASSIONATE. It's a wonder to behold.

They also, besides having authors, have a lot of the cover models for the books on site. You can have your picture taken with Hunk X or Babe Z from your favorite cover, which I think is pretty neat. It also shares around the love to more than just authors, which I am all about.

At one the doors were opened to non-VIP's. I'm guessing there were around 300ish folks? 350? (I'm shit at guessing numbers) that attended including the VIPS. These were the folks that I got my sales from for the most part I think. That, and a few assistants from other booths (that's another thing, lots of these authors have assistants, talk about goals).

Starting around 3 was when the raffles prizes were drawn, and selling pretty much wrapped up as the heavy hitters all stopped to see if they won anything (folks were buying hundreds of raffle tickets, it was wild!). There were over 50 really nice raffle baskets up for grabs, which they did in batches of ten or so for the next 45 minutes I'd guess. Then at 4 it was over.

Sales

Yeah...yall know I am always transparent about how sales went, and even though I lost money, that is still the case. No sugar coating or obfuscation here! The booth was 250 bucks, which honestly was pretty reasonable I thought. I mean, it included two meals, plus the usual table type stuff. So it wasn't a high bar for me to hurdle, but I just didn't make it. Didn't even really come all that close. By the time the day was done I'd sold 115. 4 book 1's, 1 omnibus 1, 1 Southern Saudade, and a sticker bundle.

• Sales: 115

• Costs: 250

• Loss: -135

What Went 'Wrong'?

Demographics and Genre. The bulk of folks who buy my books in person are younger women and men. Which only made up at most a quarter of the crowd I would guess. Which wasn't a huge crowd to begin with (I gather it was a normal crowd for an event like this from talking with my neighbors). And none of my books count as romance.

I had hopes that Southern Saudade might actually sell decently, but let's be real: Romance readers typically want happy endings, and that book...does not. My pitch of "A Breakup Playlist in Book Form" went over like a led balloon. And with only two prime selling hours, I didn't really have time/sample size to properly adjust my pitch. I also thought there was a decent chance I might sell an ultimate bundle, to some mega collector type haha. But again...I was not the droids they were looking for.

I'm not going to say anything actually went 'wrong' though. This is just not the type of event for which my books are a good fit. That happens! And in two years when it comes around again, I will probably see about doing it. Only this time I will look at splitting a table haha.

Small things of note:

• Some of these folks are so into these events that they have had stamps made of their name/email/phone number so that they can quickly fill out their raffle tickets, and sign up for email lists. First time I had seen that, and it was rad.

• The Bibliophiles' Audiophiles Podcast was in attendance (no doubt scoping out authors to review/interview). I had the pleasure to be interviewed and reviewed by them! Check it them out HERE.

• Its very common to have a TON of folks to come by to get your initials. This happened pretty non-stop all day. So much so that I ended up rearranging my table a bit to have a dedicated signing spot to speed the process up.

Things I need to do/lessons learned:

• This was my first event with multiple zines, and I now realize I need to get some heavy book ends. Unlike a stack of books, a stack of zines absolutely will not lay flat. So to keep things tidy, I need to get some book ends.

• I saw someone who had a pair of weighted hooks that they used to hang a banner off the front of their booth, instead of a table runner. I liked how it looked, so I may look into that.

• I need to have some more dedicated free swag at any events like this I do in the future. There is a very clear expectation of nice swag, more than my 'Read Redneck Meth Wizard Books' stickers I give away.

• I need to have more eye catching stuff to top my book stands with. Maybe even make tiny banners to hang down the side of them.

• I should do a joke 'have your picture taken with the cover model' and let folks take a picture with my painted up deer skull.

Summary

This was probably the best run event I have been apart of. I mean seriously, the team in charge knocked it out of the park. If I wrote romance, I would for sure start trying to do every event of this kind I could find (there are a lot of them it turns out, they just don't really advertise all that much outside of romance circles). As it is, I will do more events like this in the future, but I will be very selective in which ones I choose to take part in, and make sure I am being smart with table shares/keeping costs down. Because yall, it's a whole different reader ecosystem out there, and yall know me, I'm always trying to find those lovers of niche, no matter where they are!