I’ve been vending at events since 2018 when the owner of A Cappella Books refused to stock my self-published book and instead told me to get my name out there. He explained how hard it would be for me to sell my book in-store when no one knew who I was.
I wasn’t offended but encouraged, and I have since attended many events as a vendor to put myself out there. From his advice, I have also since been stocked in four stores in the Georgia area (Marietta, Morrow, Atlanta).
There is a message in this to revisit later, but for now, let’s talk about author vending.
Atlanta Decatur Book Festival
For independent authors, taking part in an event as a vendor can be lucrative (and I don’t just mean this financially). Utilizing the platform of another person will help you promote your books and business to a wider audience.
However, if we are not careful, it can also be an overly expensive and frustrating experience.
In this series, I share some of my experiences as an author vendor and some things to watch out for. In part one, I want to talk about the importance of the audience.
Audience
Author vending is not just about making money. It is also an opportunity to get in the room and build with others of like mind. But the ability to sell your books or services is still crucial.
You will have a harder time selling books if the event has little to nothing to do with books or your industry.
If you are vending at a conference or organization that is not conducive to people being able to walk around and network, this can also hinder you from making sales.
For example, in 2019, I attended MogulCon as a vendor. The event was nice but not a good place for author vendors. The tables were small, and the space was narrow. It was fitting for a business-type conference but not for my books, author swag, and large banner.
This was awkward. I didn’t know the set-up was going to be this way. I didn’t do my homework.
MogulCon was okay, but from an author vending perspective, it was a waste of money.
If I had known, I could have made it work by leaving the banner at home and bringing a briefcase instead.
Do Your Homework
When deciding to vend, understand what kind of event it is and the audience you will serve. Also, consider what kind of crowd you are looking at. You want to make sure there are enough people to network with and possibly make some money (or at least make your vending fee back.) And because the organization will likely not tell you your business isn’t a good fit, this is homework you will have to do yourself.
Crowd size is included in this. Does the event even have enough attendees for you to make a pitch, or is the host merely looking to maximize their profit from the few vendors they are able to bring in?
This is good practice for speaking engagements as well. Once, I was asked to speak at an event and prepared what I would say. But when I showed up, there were a lot of children. The host had not mentioned it was family-themed, and I had not intended to speak to kids. It could have been better organized, but I could have also done my homework on the host.
Events where you can engage with people are a plus!
So what kind of event is fitting for authors?
It depends on what your goal is for attending said event, but I believe that book festivals and conferences—that focus on books and literature—are the best because you won’t have to compete with the lady over there selling shea butter.
You can also target events that center around the theme of your book. Although many businesses were vending at the poetry life fest, it was appropriate for me to go because I write poetry. And to be true to my brand, I exclusively highlighted my poetry books. I only brought the books that were on topic.
Unlike MogulCon, the Poet Life Fest was best suited for my brand. My girl here is even matching the banner, ha!
Nowadays, there are a lot of requests for vendors because the income from the vending fee helps the organization pay for other expenses. When signing up, be strategic and intentional about who you work with.
It’s about being discerning and allowing that spiritual compass to lead you to the places you are ordained to be.
In part two, we’ll discuss the financial side of author vending and how to decide whether it’s worthwhile because the fees can be very expensive.
I am just getting around to reading Tabitha Brown’s Feeding the Soul, and it is doing just that for me this afternoon.
Lately, I have realized I don’t have much help with all I have going on. People think I have this great big team behind me. Nope. Most of the things I do, I do alone.
This is not a complaint but an assessment of the truth: I need more help but can’t afford to outsource everything.
And if I am being completely honest, I do not always know how to articulate what I need.
This realization had me feeling a bit discouraged.
Queue Tabitha, who may as well be sitting in this office with me. Let’s imagine she’s sitting in the corner chair across from my desk. She’s wearing that pretty blouse from the front cover, with the big Afro and a smile brighter than the sun. She sees my shoulders slump.
T: “Well hello there, you alright?”
E: “Yea, I’m okay,” I respond mentally.
T: “Lean in, baby. Are you leaning?”*
E: (Laughs) “Yes.”
T: “I can sense you not alright, and that’s okay cause that’s your business. But listen real quick, everyone can’t go.”
E: “Huh?”
T: “I said everyone can’t go.”
E: “Okayyy.”
T: “Once you understand that there are some things you’re going to have to do on your own, make peace with that. Don’t allow it to rip you up inside.”*
E: “Aww, thank you. I really needed to hear that!”
T: “Very good. Because if you sit around waiting on somebody to save you, help you, partner with you, walk with you, or hold your hand, you just might miss the blessing that could have only come by the changes and chances that you took while leaping into your destiny.”*
*From Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom by Tabitha Brown, page 37.
Photo by Victor Freitas
I love that this advice forces us to reconsider our previous assumptions. Typically, when we hear “everybody can’t go with you,” we interpret this to mean everyone can’t level up with us.
That may be our ego talking. “Everybody can’t go where I’m going.” Just loud and wrong.
Consider a different point of view: Everybody can’t go can also mean everybody can’t go with you to experience the challenges that come with your calling. Everybody isn’t meant to endure the trials you are taking on because they have a different purpose.
Moral.
Some things are meant for you to complete on your own in order to develop and strengthen something inside of you. Your husband/wife, children, friends, or relatives are unrelated to this. Future you will need to have the strength to handle whatever it is you are intended to do. Yet in order for that to happen, you need to enhance this version of yourself for that task.
Today’s Lesson: This is your soulwork, and no one else’s. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable reality that everyone can’t go.
Now, pardon me while I get back to enjoying my rest day. Did this advice make you feel better too? Very good!
I cannot believe we’ve been doing this for six years. If it weren’t for Covid, it would be year seven!
We are excited to gear up for year six of the contest. But we need your help to make this year a success.
I am looking for the following:
Sponsors: No books please. Contribution must either be a service our poets can benefit from or a financial investment toward the cash prize. There are four cash prizes worth between $25 and $100 up for grabs. You can donate whatever you like to put toward it, or you can donate toward one of the tiers (for example, first place is $100).
Judges: The last seven poems will be judged by additional authors, poets, editors, or literary experts who will also help select the top four winners. This is the perfect opportunity for those who are versed in poetry.
Before you put your hand in, remember: Previous winners cannot volunteer as judges, and persons wishing to participate in the contest cannot be team members in the background.
Poems will be judged in the following categories:
POWER
BEAUTY
EDUCATION / MESSAGE
ENTERTAINMENT
GRAMMATICAL / TECHNICAL
RHYME
ORIGINALITY
OVERALL IMPACT
Social Media Marketers/Promoters: Bloggers, businesses, and professionals willing to use their platform to help promote the contest from the start of the submissions until close.
If you are on board to help with year six, please email the following to yecheilyah@yecheilyahysrayl.com as soon as possible.
Your name/title as you want it to appear online
A professional photo/headshot
Your company logo (if available)
Social media handle
The area you are applying to help with. Sponsor, Judge, or SM Promo
If you know someone who could help, do feel free to share this post with them!
I am proud of myself for making it through this week. Since returning from Chicago, I have felt jet lagged because of the time change and have experienced some pain.
For those who don’t know, I live with a steel plate in my right thigh from being hit by a car when I was ten. Occasionally, it causes pain with the weather changes. No worries. It’s not as intense as it used to be. At least now I can predict when it will rain—little ole me, a superhero this whole time.
But as much as I wanted to stay in bed all yesterday, I got my butt up, put something on my stomach, and took my vitamins. I didn’t have it to do my walk so I finished reading a book.
Not only did I finish the book, but I wrote and drafted the review that I am scheduling for next week. (Ya’ll are gonna like this one!)
Next, I edited a video of a podcast I did weeks ago and posted a reel to one of my Instagram pages. I also drafted a post for my second page and drafted this blog post.
After responding to some emails and checking on some clients I closed my laptop, showered, and snuggled up with hubby for a movie.
Moral.
Just because you didn’t do everything on your to-do list or work yourself into an early grave does not mean you are not being productive. All those little things add up.
I fully intended on taking the day off. Instead, I just took baby steps.
There is a reason why you cannot edit your own book, even if you are an editor. This is because quality editing involves more than fixing spelling and grammar mistakes.
These days, there’s an AI for that.
Professional editors also help you to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism – to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
Most people don’t purposefully copy others works. They do not intend to use another person’s ideas or words as their own.
But this is exactly what occurs without mentioning the source of your material.
You are in danger of plagiarism anytime you present an idea, words, or quotes you got from someone else without citing them.
Suppose your work becomes popular—what we all hope for—and someone discovers that you have purposefully or carelessly used their words without their consent or crediting them. In that case, you could be subject to legal action, ruining your image as a writer.
A professional editor protects against this by noting where a citation is needed in your work.
On social media, this frequently occurs and without repercussion. However, if you do this in your book and then publish it, you can suffer grave consequences.
Solutions
Use end notes or footnotes to guide the reader to the back of the book, where you would have a notes section. In this notes section are your sources.
Remember that some sources require you to get permission before you print them. If you cannot get permission, consider removing the source altogether.
Also remember that nonfiction books intended to teach are not about personal opinion. It is about facts, proving and supporting those facts.
Just because self-publishing makes book publication quicker than traditional publishing, it does not absolve the self-publisher from the penalties associated with committing such literary violations.
Be sure to employ a qualified editor to prevent you from publishing a work rife with typographical, grammatical, and plagiarism errors.
Novella Tolbert, my late Dad’s mom, aka my 100-year-old Granny!
Last week, I went home to Chicago and saw my dad’s side of the family for the first time in fifteen years. We extravagantly celebrated my grandmother’s 100th birthday in classic Tolbert fashion. I planned to bring my laptop but left it at home. Instead of squeezing in work, I played with babies and reminisced on memories.
Successful entrepreneurs travel a lot, but that travel is usually associated with the business. There is even a thing called work-cation, where you work while on vacation.
That’s all fine and dandy, but it is also not real rest.
Photo by Ihsan Adityawarman
It has been proven that taking frequent short breaks throughout the day improves productivity – but they need to be real breaks.
For example, not posting to social media while taking a social media break also includes not mindlessly scrolling or opening apps.
You must entirely disengage from whatever you are doing for a break to be truly rejuvenating.
Creative moments occur when the mind is relaxed rather than actively working since this is when the brain’s creative centers are most active.
Much of that has to do with a promise I made to myself at the end of 2022 that 2023 wouldn’t be a year of fatigue and exhaustion. I vowed not to rush the process or take on too much.
Rather than take my laptop and edit, I spent most of the time eating, laughing, sleeping, and basking in my family’s love.
Janiyah (12), and Jamie (4)
I learned that my 12-year-old niece didn’t know who Emmett Till was, so we took her and baby girl with us to the DuSable Museum.
Things are coming to me effortlessly as a result of letting things be. Yesterday, I found out that I am Soul (which is now at 71 reviews on Amazon!) and TWWBE are nearly sold out at Medu (again), identified a location for a future project, and established the groundwork for an event to celebrate National Poetry Month in April.
Have a restful weekend good people!
As the cool air whistles in from my back door, which is open, and the birds chirp their favorite afternoon tunes, I will continue to allow things to flow smoothly as I become a better version of myself.
The PBS Blog 