The West Virginia State Fair Craft Show is over, and thanks for all the well wishes and prayers and even the couple who came to visit!
It was a lovely success as far as I was concerned. We armed the children with toy swords and shields so they could settle disputes in the old Viking way. We sold a nice amount of soap to keep them clean. Had a blast teaching people how to play Morris and discovering how challenging the game truly is!
And, of course, we sold lots of books!
Some of the best sales since my first launch.
That means we’re going to be doing more of these going forward.
We had wonderful “table neighbors” with a jewelry seller on one side. I had a blast talking with him and looking at all the wonderful pieces his daughter crafted. On the other, we had a young woman who made laser burned wooden crafts whose family we’re kinda close to. That was a real pleasant surprise. Got the wheels a-turning for future products to sell at these shows.
And of course, across the way, was Cooter’s Crafts… aka my mother and father in law’s booth. They make wooden toys and some furniture. Really slick stuff. The kids were just crawling all over their booth and was adorable to watch.
It was clear that my books were very atypical for the show, sitting among the Christmas ornaments, home-made Applebutter and other handicrafts. I’d see the eyes drift up to the banners with scary Draugr and fighting vikings and get a confused look on their face. I’d shout “Epic Christian Fantasy to keep you up all night!” And either curiosity would get them or the moms and grandmothers would hustle away. But sometimes I’d get an “Oh? They do that?” and we’d get to have a little conversation.
But if they got it, boy they got it well. We handed out almost our entire supply of brochures, because I had so many who were like “My (friend/relative/coworker) would love this!” And yes, a few people bought the book for their pastors.
This taught me a lot of what to expect at these types of shows. It taught me how much I enjoy engaging with and finding new readers in person.
So going forward, we’re going to plan for more shows, expand our product line of handicrafts and pre-printed stuff. When our online store goes live, we’ll have a lovely line of items available for you. Mind you, the handcrafts will always be in limited supply because they are done by hand and in small batches at best. Special order would have to be in full batch size (thinking of soaps and some other upcoming products we have planned. More on that in the future).
I should also mention, I am open to invitations to cons or festivals depending on the range. In a few months I would also have some lectures completed for conferences on various subjects. We’re going to be giving a few of them coming up here.
Speaking of which, my next author’s event is going to be November 5th From about at the Dragon’s Den in Beckley, WV. We’ll have our crafts there as well as my books for sale and some interesting extras. I’ll be giving a talk tentatively called “From RPG to Novels and back to RPGs”. We’d love to have you there.
Till next time!
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