Last fall, I was sitting on my back deck hammering through another round of edits on Not so much when an email came through my inbox. The subject: BOOKISH BALL flashed at the top right corner of my screen. Instantly intrigued, I stopped what I was doing to open the email.
I don’t think I’ve ever agreed to something so quickly. I’m pretty sure before I’d finished reading the entire email, I’d submitted the form and payment reserving my spot. I. Was. Jazzed.
That’s the glory of pre-planning, right? It was easy for me to say yes to something in September that wasn’t happening until May of the next year.
I won’t get into here, but I shared some of the pesky self-limiting thoughts that I suffered leading up to the event that had me pretty well convinced I was going to bail in this vlog. Spoiler alert: I didn’t bail. I don’t know how I didn’t bail, because I was going to bail. But alas, the sentiment still rings true: If it’s meant for you, it will not pass you by.
The event did not pass me by. And it was possibly one of the most important experiences of my author career thus far.
How I prepared for my first author signing event
I might have published my first book in 2013, but I’d never even considered doing an author event before. Even with everything that happened early in 2023, it still never really occurred to me that author events could possibly be in my future. Those are for real authors. (Ah, gotta love those limiting beliefs, eh?) So of course I proceeded forward with my head in the sand until it was like oh crap, go time.
What I did to prepare for my first author signing event:
- Purchased inventory — for this particular event, I bought author copies from Amazon and had them shipped to my house. I was traveling via plane which wasn’t necessarily ideal, but it worked just fine. I filled a suitcase with the books and used it as my carryon (no weight limit). It worked, but my back did not love putting it in and pulling it down from the overhead storage bin.
- Ordered a retractable sign — I designed it in Canva and ordered the 78×33″ sign through Build A Sign. They provide all of the specifications, and it arrived so quickly. I checked the sign for the airplane since it didn’t fit the parameters to be my carryon (my initial plan).
- Ordered stickers — For this event, I simply ordered existing stickers that I thought my readers might like. (My theory: Everyone loves stickers — and I wanted to have something for free at my table that could draw people in since I’m a relatively unknown author.) For the big event I’m attending in Texas in October, I plan to order custom stickers.
- Ordered custom bookmarks — I didn’t want business cards. But I did want something that had my information on it in some way. So I created adorable bookmarks using canva (again) that people would actually want to use and just added a very small QR code on the back where people would find my website & socials. I also included my website at the very bottom of the bookmark. I used VistaPrint. These went QUICK at the event, and I’ll definitely be keeping them in stock for future events.
- Created marketing posters — I used Canva to create a few “posters” for my table and then I printed them at the Walgreens photo center for next to nothing. (Walgreens is always running some type of photo special.) I bought the frames from Michaels.
- Bought book easels — I grabbed some from Walmart for like $3. Are they the fanciest things? No. But they worked just fine and I wasn’t worried about them getting damaged in transit.
My table was relatively simple, but it didn’t look out of place amongst the other authors in attendance even though their displays were more elaborate.
What I learned doing my first author signing event
Readers are super amazing humans. This isn’t necessarily surprising information, but it was really comforting to reconfirm. It’s likely that as a reader/writer, you grew up feeling like you didn’t necessarily belong in most rooms. That feeling fully evaporates with stuff like this because you’re in a room full of your people. Readers. Writers. These are our people. I was showing up to an event alone where I knew pretty much no one. (I kind of “knew” the host but only from social media and very limited interactions.) These people welcomed me in immediately. And it was just such an awesome experience to meet and connect with everyone.
Connecting with other authors was necessary for my soul. I won’t lie, this was the piece I was most nervous about. Writing is a very isolating career. We interact with designers and editors, but unless we make an effort, we don’t usually connect with other writers. And frankly, I didn’t feel like I belonged in their space. I don’t know where that feeling comes from — but I did learn that I wasn’t alone in that feeling by doing this event. Everything I feel? They feel. Everything I fear? They fear. We spread across genres, and that didn’t matter. At our core, we’re all stitched with the same thread. And that was the most important part of this experience for me — getting the opportunity to connect with other writers.
It’s not as scary as you think it’s going to be. This point kind of piggy backs off the others, but it really wasn’t scary at all. The fears we have only live in our heads. People are lovely. The event was so well organized that I knew where to be and what to do at all times. There were even little fears I had since I was doing the event all alone like “what if I need a drink, what will I eat? etc” Nope. Taken care of. All of it. You guys, I forgot my signing pens up in my hotel room. HOW DID I FORGET MY SIGNING PENS? That’s literally MY ONLY JOB: TO SIGN BOOKS. Was it a problem? No. Because the lovely D.K. Marie (a fellow author) was next to me, and she kindly lent me a pen for the event.
You can absolutely do it alone (even if you don’t want to). I was scared to go alone. I was even more scared to do my first ever event alone. I was especially terrified to have to travel via airplane complicating the entire process alone. But honestly? I’m so thankful this was my first event. That I did it alone. That I had to get there on an airplane alone. Why? Because now I know. Now I know I can do it. Whatever it is, I can do it. And so can you.
The devil will try to stop you. Shortly after I returned home, I saw a TikTok of a girl sharing about ignoring that overwhelming dread that creeps in as an event you previously agreed to approaches. In her story, she explained that there was something so amazing for her at the event she was dreading that the truth was revealed. That dread is the devil trying to thwart what is meant for you. My whole body went still and ice ran through my veins when I watched her video. Because yes. YES! I can’t explain how dang close I came to bailing on this event. I could find so many “reasons” not to go. And I still don’t really know how or why I went. But the event revealed so much to me about my future in this career. It was necessary to attend. And I almost missed it.
Events are the answer to the number one issue I couldn’t seem to solve. I feel a little out of place in the online space as far as my author career goes. I know I should market my books online. I know authors have a lot of success promoting their books on all of their SM platforms over and over. But I just don’t…want to. I want to share real life. I want to connect and share like…what I’m eating, parenting adventures, random tidbits of life others like me can relate to. I want to simply find my people online. I don’t want to be churning out one promotional post after another. But how, then? How does any of this work? Events. Events were the missing piece of my puzzle. I never would have figured this out without having attending the Bookish Ball. 1) I wouldn’t have realized it just in general even though it seems so obvious to me now and 2) Events seemed so far outside of my comfort zone. I never would have guessed how much I loved it. And now, I’ve got the bug. Sign me up for every single possible event. I’m so down.
UPCOMING EVENT:
I have an event coming up on July 7th; Shop Local at the Tap Yard in Raleigh 2-6pm if you’d like to come see me! I’ll have some inventory with me for sale! If you already have a copy of my book(s), feel free to bring them with you to be signed! I’d love to connect! Want to come say hi but can’t buy a book right now? PLEASE SAY HI ANYWAY! I’d still love to meet you!
0 Comments