December Newsletter
Highlights and Lessons Learned at the Mesa Book Festival
We had a blast at the 2024 Mesa Book Festival! We all made sales and got some interest from other local authors about joining the alliance! It was well-attended, but nothing like Tucson Festival of Books—not even close. The whole event was confined to approximately two city blocks set up in a T formation. Like this:
We started with four authors, but one of us had to bow out due to illness. As it turns out, this was a blessing in disguise given the amount of space we had to work with. Our 10 X10 ft. tent was set up between two other tents, giving us one 10 foot side to present our materials. We set up an 8 ft. table across the front side and a 4 ft. table at the back for extra books, etc. Each table was 2 ft. wide. If you do the math, this gives the authors roughly 10 X 6 sq. ft. to share, which was the perfect amount of space for three authors. If we had had a fourth, things would have been pretty tight.
Looking ahead to the Tucson Festival of Books, we will have FIVE authors sharing the same 10 X 10 space. So we spent a lot of time problem-solving this conundrum. Luckily, the booth we snagged for TFOB is a corner booth, which means we’ll have two sides (20 ft.) to present our materials. But that gives us even less space to share—body-wise.
Solution 1: One Point of Sale
Each of us sold our own books, using our own Square readers. And that was fine, except every time one of us left the tent to walk around or use the facilities, sure enough, someone came buy to look at their books while the author was away, potentially costing that author a sale.
Next time, instead of everyone using their own card readers to sell their own books, we’ll use one Tucson Author Alliance POS (Point of Sale) so that we don’t all have to be at the booth at the same time all weekend long. We should all get familiar with each others’ books so that when one or two authors are away, the others present can answer basic questions about their books and still make sales even if that author isn’t there. At the end of the festival, we’ll calculate the total sales for each author (less taxes) and transfer that total at the end of the event.
Solution 2: Signing Shifts
We may need to assign shifts so that there are no more than three authors manning (or woman-ing) the booth at a time. We can come up with a signing schedule, so that customers can purchase a book whenever, but be able to return to have it signed during that author’s signing shift. Trust me, you won’t want to sit there the whole time. Plus, you probably want to enjoy the festival, buy books, and attend author signings yourself, right?
Solution 3: Vertical Displays
Cara had the most books to display and had the most signage—beautiful signage. I had the least. Luckily, there was plenty of room for the books we brought. However, at TFOB, she will have even more books to present and I know others have a similar number of books. Even with that extra side, we will have a limited amount of space to present our books and signage. So to conserve space, we need to figure out a vertical solution, rather than horizontal. This will require some kind of shelving system. If you have more than say, three books, it might be a good idea to start looking into some different options.
Here’s a booth schematic I made for one potential arrangement. Feel free to improve upon it.
All in all, we had an amazing time hanging out and talking with readers. We’re looking forward to doing it again in March. For those of you who couldn’t make it, thanks for supporting us from back home! Here’s some more pics from the day:
