How did I survive the Ren Faire?

Where this began- https://curiousreadings.com/2019/04/16/so-yeah-a-little-wigged-out-about-this

So how’d it go?

Really well, actually.

I’ve written before about how hard it is for me to self promote, how it feels basically gross and icky and intimidating. So it kind of occurred to me that I ought to follow up and talk about how it went.

And when I say ‘it’, I do mean selling my books in public myself for the first time.

Me being me, of course there was preparation, plotting, and planning.

 

1. Creation of humorous take away cards, cause deflection totally works! – No kidding, I made a bunch of takeaway cards with memes on them about the joys and terrors of the writing life, figuring if I couldn’t get a sale, I could at least give a laugh.
2. Dragon costume, cause deflection totally works! – Kind of less successful, but fun nonetheless… every time someone wanted to know what the big long bags on the rack were all about (they were our costume dragon tails), I was inevitably asked to turn around the model the one I was wearing. I’m not even kidding, that day there was more overt interest in my ass than there has been in years.
3. Really wonderful supportive people to talk me through the fidgets… cause that actually does work. – Moral support got me through this… and now I know the thing I really needed to know. I can stand up there and say, yes, I am the author, and I can sign books like I’ve done it a million times before. Because some fantastic folks helped me believe I could.

 

And, you know, cause memes are awesome, here’s some of the ones I picked to go on my cards:

I had my 3 book series as well as my standalone book of fairy tales up on the table… in the first hour, a lady came by and bought the whole series. By the second hour, the first book of the series was sold out. It was the perfect start to what turned out to be an all around amazing day- and the best part? Now that I’ve done it, I know I can keep on doing it, and accept bumps in the road as just being that.

If you found this spot because you took one of those cards, welcome and thank you- you literally made my day! I hope you’re enjoying the reading so far… there’s certainly lots I still have yet to say.