Today, I caught some R & R after being out in the Great Outdoors all day yesterday at the Flea Market and Craft Fair.
Although a steady stream of potential customers went by, not many seemed interested in free bookmarks much less books. We did sell a few books, but not as many as we would have liked. I noticed not many people walked around with multiple bags. Apparently pinching pennies is still the norm for a while, with customers trying to decide what they can afford to purchase and what to do without.
I spoke to the vendors on each side of us and they were disappointed in their sales as well. One lady said she'd sold three times as much the year before. I know this year at the Arlington Heights Frontier Days Marketplace sales were down from the year before, but they were better than at yesterday's event. Also, rain dogged us the first day at Marketplace, plus Killer Career was not out yet. Many customers recognized me and mentioned they already had my backlist books from the year before.
Since we never had a booth at this one before, we have no basis of comparison., but the consensus was it may not be the correct venue for selling our books. We'll skip it next year and try another method.
Today, I'm spending time experimenting with ideas for spiffing up my website's main page at http://www.morganmandel.com. It's a fun kind of project.
What about you? Do you have lots of bookselling success at flea markets and craft fairs?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, ya know. You learn, I suppose, where your best markets are by trying different ones and then later, doing a comparison. Keep plugging away.
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