Convention Recap: Sumiton Book Festival 2024
TRANSPARENCYEVENT RECAP
My second year at the Sumiton Book Festival, and it was another fantastic year! Let's dive in!
General Thoughts
I love this event.
In their second year now, it was moved from the grass to the street, and that made for a better set up I think. It is hard for me to judge if attendance was up or down, but I do know that I sold less than last year. To be fair, I went into this event expecting that. This event is in a small town, and honestly, I sold a ton of books last year, largely to locals. So without having much new, there was a ceiling on my potential success put in place by my previous success. Good problem to have.
Folks who pay close attention will see that I have changed things up a bit with my setup. First, I got a bigger book rack. I have a number of books coming out next year, and with all my zines now, I'd been mulling how I was going to make that work. So I picked up this wider rack, and I am very happy that I did. Long term the zines will become less spread out as I add a third vertical row of books for my horror novels. But for now I have room to show off the covers of the zines, which I like.
I also made some quick and dirty bootleg book signs. Tucked into each book and zine I have some sort of catchy phrase or short description for each book. This allows me to 'pitch' when I am not actually standing at my booth, but also allows folks who are more quiet lookers to browse without me having to pitch every item. They can peruse at their leisure. I used to do this with note cards. They worked, but looked unprofessional I thought. So then I swapped to my little signs on top of hat stands. Those worked well, but they take up a lot of space in my totes. Space I will soonish be needing to hold more books. These I think are the perfect medium. Or, they will be once I reprint them, cut them out much more neatly, and then laminate them. I'll be honest, I don't have a clue how you laminate things. I'm not crafty. But I'll figure it out. But in the short term, these worked great.
I sold a much higher number of zines (proportionally) than usual, which I think is because of the new layout. As I have been engaging with folks in that space, it's giving me a general feel for what is catching folks interest the most, so that will likely guide which zines I focus on getting out next.
Small Thoughts
I have lots of small thoughts.
The only quibble I had on the day was my placement. I was at the very end. When I saw that I cringed. You almost never want to be first or last. But hey, someone has to be, so I don't hold it against Sumiton Book Festival. But yeah, it did hurt me a little. A few reasons:
You will be surprised at the number of people who just never make it to the end of a row. It honestly baffles me, as a guy who (especially at an event of this size) makes a point to walk the entire event. But yeah, some folks they only end up walking 80-90% of a row. Or, even more bafflingly, only walk one side of the event and not the other. So then they end up missing me.
Being on the end, some folks (a minority) entered the event from my end. And very, very few people want to spend their money at the first booth they see. They want to get a feel for things before they start spending. So by the time they are ready to start spending, they are far away from you and you are left hoping they come back. If you do a really good job pitching, sometimes they will (happened a few times for me). But if you don't hook them and leave a strong impression, you aint gettin' those dollars.
I was on the end, but there was also not someone directly across from me (an odd number of vendors I am guessing). I know how crowds work, and yeah, I knew there would be folks who got to the end of my opposing row, and then just walk straight across skipping me. So to mitigate that as best I could I sort of kicked my booth out, and angled it (pictured below). It helped I think. It also allowed me to see folks coming up my row a little better, so I could judge when it was safe to go get food and such.
I need to start packing some zip ties in my tool box.
For the second event in a row I have had someone I taught in a workshop come up and talk to me. I love it when anyone takes time out to come say hi. But I don't know why, but I especially love it when 'students' do it. Maybe because that's my newer 'skillset' and I am less confident in it? Not sure, I just know that it really made my day.
This is more of a thought for me as a potential show runner: I think if I was laying this out, I would have had the two rows of vendors be closer together. Peoples minds work in weird ways, and 'crossing a street' (even a closed one) means crossing a natural barrier. That is likely why some folks only end up doing one side or another, subconsciously they don't want to cross. If the rows are closer together, that feeling would be lessened I think. I would also have considered having it be more of a super long U than two rows. Basically have the last two vendors on my end 90 out from the row and 'close' off that end (leaving a gap between the two centermost for folks to enter through. This would have made it more of a continuous loop I think. But then you have to weigh quick loading out against that...so I don't know. I'll have to ponder it.
I had a great chat with a guy involved with Magic City Con. I'm def hoping schedules align for me to get to take part in that one next year. He was also 'That one guy I run in to at each con who actually knows what I am talking about when I say Mork Borg' for this event. It was great getting to talk about stuff like Forbidden Psalm and the like with someone.
What...?
This section is where I relay the occasional WTF conversational moment(s) we get into at booths sometimes:
I didn't have any WTF conversational moments, but I did marvel at this man, in an absolute boss move, use his riding mower to cruise through the event. He made a few passes, and I don't know if he ever actually stopped to shop. But damn, I'm here for it. It gave me some great True Detective vibes (iykyk).
Panels
There were no panels, so I just had to sit at my booth and sell. Ugh.
Sales
This was a one day event. I was able to stay at my rad SIL/BIL house for free. And the table fee was only 25 bucks! Low cost + good sales = good profit.
Daily Sales Numbers:
Saturday - 560.00
Total Sales Numbers By Item:
5 Bringing Home The Rain
0 Books 2 or 3
7 Omnibus 1
2 Omnibus 2
1 Omnibus Bundles
4 Southern Saudade
1 Dice
1 Dice Bundles
5 Zines
1 Zine Bundle
0 Ultimate Bundle
Total: 560.00
Fixed Expenses:
Badge: 0.00 (included in booth fee)
Booth Fee - 25.00
Hotel - 0.00
Total - 25.00
Grand Total Profit - 535.00
