Double the Fun

Sales on Two Sides

When we arrived at the Strawberry Festival at 6:00 am, we had to have an extra splash of coffee when we realized our assigned site was in the middle of the road, and Strawberry Festival visitors would be walking past our booth on the “front” side and the “back”.

Challenge accepted, Strawberry Festival! Not all the vendors had the luxury of being able to take advantage of foot traffic from the front and back of their tents, but we revised our “usual” set up to be approachable from both sides.

We had our tables and books organized and were on our way to grab a bite of breakfast when the cafe on the corner opened at 7:00 am. Note how relaxed I appear in our early morning photo. “We got this.”

It Takes Two

Our usual, smooth routine is that I chat with readers and sign books while FarmerMan processes payments and puts the book(s) into one of our spiffy Barrett Book Shop sacks that are prefilled with a Barrett Book Shop postcard. It’s quite nicely orchestrated, and we’ve done it many times.

Our chaotic routine at the Strawberry Festival resulted in the two of us switching sides regularly, sometimes midstream.  FarmerMan had the double duty of talking to readers and managing payments while I talked to readers and signed books. Both of us grabbed Barrett Book Shop sacks and popped in books, sometimes at the same time for the same book.

Our one saving grace was that for the first time ever, I had the brilliant idea to sign every single book, a total of over 175 books, while we waited for the Strawberry Festival to begin. After each sale, I only had to add the person’s name and a short note, which was usually my tagline: You keep reading; I’ll keep writing.

Two Events

In addition to the Strawberry Festival, I was also participating  with 41 other authors in a group online Thriller Sale. (The answer is 42. For more explanation, read my blog about the sale, For Thriller Readers.)

I had emailed Draft to Digital (D2D), my favorite distributor of my books to retailers, telling them about the thriller group. Somehow, my thriller, I Always Wanted to be a Spy, was inadvertently left off the list of books. By me: I was the guilty party.

A kind-hearted D2D promotion coordinator, Megan, sent me an email to say she didn’t see my book on the list. After a brief, private moment of embarrassment, I sent her the information. Crisis averted, thanks to Megan.

When a lovely young woman who was the same height as me, approached my table and smiled, I said, “You must be a reader.”

She said, “I better be; I’m promoting your book this weekend.”

<INSERT LOUD SCREAM> again me.

What are the odds? Megan and Me.

Side note: any respectable Promotions Coordinator from Georgia would wear a hat crocheted like a strawberry and a Strawberry Shortcake shirt when she took her daughter to the Strawberry Festival, ammi right?