Convention Recap: Montevallo ArtStalk 2022

So I had the pleasure of being a vendor in the Montevallo ArtStalk. Each spring the city does the ArtWalk, and each spooky season they do the ArtStalk. While I have not yet had the pleasure of attending the ArtWalk, this is my second time being in the ArtStalk, and I have had a great experience both times.

This was my first time as a vendor with my selection of stickers. I have long been aware of the fact that I really needed some sort of cheap little something at my booths. Not everyone has the 15 bucks it takes to get one of my books, but they would like to support in some way. So I sort of fumbled around trying to figure out something that none of my other author friends were doing (in case we ended up being vendors sharing a table), and I finally settled on stickers. I picked up a few packs from Amazon in themes that fit my overall motif, such as possums, goth, witches, and apothecary, scored myself something to put them in from Amazon, and then got them set out on my table.

And it worked out far better than I had hoped! I set them for 1 dollar each, or 7 for 5 bucks. I also had it so that folks got a free sticker with every purchase. And by the end of the day I had sold 135 dollars in stickers! Whaaaat?! The 7 for 5 bundle proved to be pretty popular, and by the end of the day I had sold more of those than any individual stickers.

As an added bonus, the time that folks spent rummaging through my stickers had two effects: first, it drew more people to my booth. Psychology shows that folks are more likely to stop if there is a perceived demand, like folks lingering to flick through stickers. Also, I know for a fact that it contributed to at least one book sale I would not have gotten otherwise. One pair of women stopped so that one of the ladies could rummage up a 7 for 5. She took so long that the second woman ended up taking note of my books, asking me about them, and eventually buying one.

My book sales were also great, and I set my new personal one day record for in person book sales, at 19. Almost all of them were of book one however, which has put me a little light on copies of that book with CONjuration coming up this weekend. I have more on order, but they won’t be delivered in time sadly. Oh well, if my worst problem is selling too many books, I guess I will be ok. ;)

Really the only problem was that I forgot to pack a chair. Being on my feet pretty much from 9-6 was…not great haha.

Here are my notes and observations:

• I really need to get that omnibus put together. I am not in a huge rush, as I have a good number of books 2-4 to sell, but by the time those run low, I want to have my omnibus on hand to sell. Partly because I think it will sell better, but also for space concerns.

• Building on that, I will likely not order many (beyond promo/personal use) copies of books 5 onwards. I will just wait until I make an omnibus of them.

• Next time I will have two sticker displays, so that more people can be looking at the same time. I am pretty sure I lost a few sales because some folks didn’t want to fight the crowd, or wait.

• I thought more kids would be interested in my stickers. Which, to be fair, are a fairly dark assortment of stickers that are really more adult appropriate (like my books, nudge nudge). But far and away the primary purchases of stickers were women ranging from what I would guess are 20-40.

• Building on that I have ordered some more, including some black cat stickers, which were a common request.

• I need to change up how I am displaying my postcards. I only sold one, and I think that’s partly because they got lost in the mix of my table.

• I won’t be bringing shirts/shot glasses to vend anymore. I sold one shirt and no glasses. Honestly, they are of more, better use as raffle prizes and the like, so I will be saving them for those purposes. Plus it will make it easier to transport my vendor stuff, saving me a couple of boxes. And it will allow me to better highlight things like my email list/postcards, since there will be more space.

• A number of folks complimented me on my overall set up and branding. That felt good to hear, because it has certainly been an iterative process. But perhaps more importantly I think it does a pretty good job of drawing in folks who would enjoy my books, and driving away folks who wouldn’t be. My booth has a definite vibe about it, and very rarely anymore do I have people stop that when I tell them my pitch line (I write about a redneck wizard with a crippling meth addiction), does anyone balk even a little bit (most just laugh, or say some variation of ‘hell yeah!’).

• I would like a bit more striking of a banner. Currently I bring my rack so I can hold my banners for TBB and BBB, but really, I could get some sort of stand to hold those and save myself a lot of lugging. I’d like some sort of free-standing banner, perhaps a little more striking than my current ones.

• These stickers are cheap to the point that I have no qualms about giving them away for all sorts of reasons. I gave one to a woman for letting me pet her basset hound. Another person I like have a sticker for bringing her friend over to the table. They are a super cheap and easy way to generate some good will, and I think long term that might really pay off.

So yeah! ArtStalk was a rousing success in my eyes, and I can’t wait for the next one! If you want to see my stickers, or buy my books from me in person, come on out to CONjuration in Atlanta this weekend, or on December 3rd come see me at Christmas on Madison, I will be set up in front of Southern Art and Makers!