The Keeper of All Things: Barrett Book Shop Cargo Trailer

~ Every new project deserves a new tool. ~

Barrett Book Shop Cargo Trailer

When we bought our cargo trailer at the end of 2024, I didn’t realize how much it would change the way we do book events.

It felt like a practical decision; one of those “this makes sense on paper” purchases. We were juggling books, tables, signage, tents, weights, totes, chairs, and all the little things you don’t think about until you’re loading and unloading for the fourth time in a weekend for an event. When the number of series and books blossomed to where we needed two more tables and had to buy a second tent, something had to give.

What we didn’t expect was how much easier and calmer preparing for events would become once everything had a place.

In 2025, we used the trailer for about half of our arts and crafts fairs, and by the end of the year, it was clear: this wasn’t just a trailer. It was a game-changer.

From Chaos to Control

Before the trailer, packing for a show meant mental gymnastics. What could fit? What had to stay behind? What would we need to repack in a different order just to unload efficiently? And of course, our most-often asked question: WHERE IS IT? That was frequently followed by a mad dash to Walmart or Lowe’s for something we forgot to pack, like concrete blocks on the windy day at an event when we forgot the tent weights.

With the trailer, everything we need for a show lives in the trailer; the only exception is books because humidity and paper don’t mix. Table racks don’t wander off, and fans don’t get left behind. Supplies live where they belong. The day before the event, we loaded our bins of books, and then when it was time to head out, we grabbed our lunch cooler, thermos of coffee, and cash box and left.

That kind of simplicity is hard to overstate when you’re setting up before dawn with the aid of a flashlight, which was in the trailer, or tearing down after a long glorious day of talking and signing books.

A Rolling Bookshop

One of my favorite things about the trailer is how it quietly represents what we’ve built.

With the Barrett Bookshop logo on the side, it’s a rolling extension of our brand, professional, recognizable, and a little bit fun. Pulling into an event no longer feels like we’re “just another booth.” We arrive like a small business that takes its work seriously… because we do.

Readers may not see the trailer once our booth is set up, but we feel the difference. And that confidence carries over into every conversation, every book recommendation, every signed paperback handed across the table.

Lessons We Didn’t Expect

Owning the trailer also taught us a few unexpected lessons:

Preparation reduces stress. With logistics handled, creativity and connection have room to breathe.
Investing in the business matters. Writing books is creative work, but selling them is a business, and treating it that way pays off.
Growth doesn’t always look flashy. Sometimes it looks like better organization, fewer headaches, and more energy saved for the things that matter.

As we kick off 2026, our trailer feels like a symbol of where we’ve been, and where we’re headed next. More festivals. More face-to-face time with readers. Better systems behind the scenes so the focus stays where it belongs: the readers and the stories.

And fewer moments of standing in a field wondering where we packed the tent weights.

Want to Come Along for the Ride?

If you enjoy hearing about life behind the book table, upcoming festival stops, new releases, and the occasional behind-the-scenes moments that don’t make it to social media, my monthly newsletter is where I share all of that.

I’m being more intentional about it in 2026, and I’d love for you to be part of it.

Sign up for the newsletter

https://judithabarrett.com/newsletter to get updates on new books, in-person events, and what’s coming next.

Here’s to a new year, new stories, and more adventures ahead.

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!

Judith signature

Can’t make it to an arts and crafts festival that’s near me, but not you? Visit me at the online Barrett Book Shop and find your next favorite book! https://barrettbookshop.com

Barrett Book Shop: our doors are always open!

In May, we packed up books and dogs and took our camper trailer to Ellaville, Georgia, population 1,500 (not a typo), for an Arts and Crafts event sponsored by the town’s Chamber of Commerce who named their event Luau in the ‘Ville. Kind of snappy, don’t you think?

I wore my flowered shirt, which is my version of appropriate luau attire (my grass skirt is at the dry cleaners), for the occasion, and if you carefully examine my tent, you’ll see my new “ceiling fan” is in place to keep us cool.

My new friends from the Wine Festival who told me about the Ellaville event were two booths away from me with their son who was selling his debut novel. We were too busy to chat very much, but I told them about the arts and crafts event that is close to me: Elevate Artisans; I hope to see them in October.

The most amazing sales wizard I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness was next to me in the purple tent. She sold jewelry, T-shirts, drink cups, and stickers, and she knew how to work a crowd. She maintained a constant, almost musical patter, and people were drawn to her booth.

Mother’s Day is coming up; do you think she’d like earrings or a T-shirt?
That’s our best-selling T-shirt, feel how soft it is. We have your size.
What’s your mom’s favorite color?
You need to get yourself a Mother’s Day present. You deserve it.
You’re ears aren’t pierced? These earrings make great charms.
You need a Georgia Bulldogs drink cup to go with that shirt.
You’re from Alabama? We still love you. Here’s an Auburn drink cup: you won’t see another one here.

Her charming delivery made her aggressive-sounding style a magnet as she magically became everyone’s favorite friend, including me.

It was another scorcher of a day in the afternoon in Georgia. Remember my fan? It was great until it wasn’t. We forgot to pack the charger, so we weren’t able to charge it fully the night before the Luau. It fizzled out around two, and I baked in the heat until five when the party was over. I have a new addition to my packing list: the charger for the fan.

Because all of the ebooks for each one of my series are included on my online Barrett Book Shop, I was fully prepared for anyone who said they didn’t read paperbacks. I asked everyone who stopped (or kind of slowed down) by my booth, if they read paperbacks or ebooks. The readers of Ellaville and the surrounding towns surprised me when they almost 100% said, “Paperbacks.”

I was even more surprised when many of them bought one or two of my books or an entire series. While all of my First in Series books sold, the number one favorite was TAGGED BY DEATH. I sold out before the end of the day. In terms of sales, Ellaville far surpassed any other event that I’ve ever attended. You’ll find me in Ellaville next spring trying to figure out how to get next to the sales wizard’s booth.

Pro tip: Readers are Everywhere.

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!

Tag: SmallTownsRock

Our Newest Tool: The Cargo Trailer