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| Craft set-up for literacy event with Parks Books |
When you’re working with a book store, they often have supplies which can lower the burden on you. They had this adorable setup and printouts from my Sourcebooks activity kits. This was destroyed as soon as actual children got their hands on it, which is a good sign that everyone had fun.
This is a picture of the “decorate a star” craft I do for "Call Your Mother" because there’s a star motif in the book. Kids can give their gem stars to Mom as a Mother’s Day gift! Yes, I did buy the gems for this one.
Bookmarks or some other sort of handout to serve as a business card—Kids don’t really use bookmarks for picture books, but I’ve found it handy to have some sort of business card. Sadly, business cards and bookmarks can, again, cost more than what you earn on a sale. However, the people I give these out to tend not to be kids/families. They are booksellers or educators who are interested in future collaborations. This is one reason why you can’t judge the value of events solely on book sales: events can be a great way to get educators interested in school visits! Though it is up to luck whether educators happen to show up to an event or not, I do find they tend to come by festivals where there are a lot of authors in one place. I need to do a bookmark refresh, but in the past I’ve even made them myself using card stock and scissors.
Mesh/clear bags to keep everything organized: I buy cheap laundry delicates bags in a variety of sizes to keep all of my supplies organized. Otherwise, my bigger bins and bags become a jungle of broken crayons and tangled strings.
Sharpies for signing books: I’ve gone down quite a rabbit hole of figuring out what pens are best for signing books. While Sharpies are not archival quality, they are simply the best for not smudging. For my board books, I have found that only metallic Sharpies work. Don’t ask me why. I can thank The Ivy Bookshop for helping me figure this out. I can vouch for both gold and silver Sharpies. Make sure that whatever color Sharpie you buy shows up on the title page where you’re signing.
Post-it notes: When I sign books, I always like to practice writing names before signing them in the books. I use post-its to do this. Sometimes when there is a long line, booksellers will get names written on post-its for me to make things move more quickly. You know, I do know how to spell Michael and Elizabeth under normal circumstances, but book events can be extremely overstimulating and overwhelming in a way that makes me question whether the letter M is really supposed to look like that after all. And you never know when it will be spelled Mykel or Elisabeth. Now, I’m a pro at drawing a heart doodle over mistakes, but it’s always best to test names out.
Little white board: A little white board and dry erase marker is so handy. This is an instant sign that you can change so that it says whatever you want! I do use this more for book festivals than book store events, but it’s great to have in the kit.
Book stands: Using the vertical space of your display is so important, particularly when you have multiple books. Really, I’d like to have an even better system for vertical display, but right now, I have book stands. These can also be used to prop up your white board if it doesn’t come with a stand!
Tape: Even if you don’t have a craft involving tape, just bring tape. Sometimes you need to tape paper somewhere and sometimes you need to tape a tablecloth down. I don’t really know why I end up using tape so much, but just throw a roll of Scotch tape in your stuff.
“Learn More” sign: I always bring a sign in a little acrylic stand with a link to my website. For book festivals, I bring more signs (more on that later), but it’s nice to have something to show that people (especially educators!) can learn more about you and your books.
Personal amplifier: At any book event where I am reading, I bring an inexpensive personal amplifier. Now, I’ll be honest. I always bring this but I have yet to actually use it. I have an inflated sense of confidence in my own skills of projection. I always regret not using my personal amplifier after the event when my throat is sore and my voice is croaky. My goal for the spring is to use my personal amplifier at events. Now, this is not so important in a tiny space. But if you are outdoors or speaking to a large number of children, this is key. Plus, as my friend Kathy MacMillan points out, sometimes people have struggles hearing, and a personal amplifier can be helpful for them even if you do project well.
Charging cords for all my devices: This is more important for events where I’m sitting all day, but I always make sure I have a charging cord for my phone and whatever payment device I am bringing (if I’m bringing one). Nothing drains batteries faster than a book event. Don’t ask me why! This is just a fact.
Tiny things to give away: Ok, this goes back to my “just for fun” category, because especially when you’re only earning royalties and not selling books wholesale, it is hard to find a giveaway that’s cheaper than your royalties. In the past, I have done sticker sheets. They are SO CUTE and so fun—but cost about 50 cents each, if I’m remembering correctly. I got a few hundred for each book and gave them away as preorder bonuses and at events, but I’m not ordering more due to the cost.
For my book "Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat,” I’ve also done tiny plastic bugs, which are pretty cheap. I also give those away as “non-food options” at my house for Halloween, so they’re multipurpose.
Mask: I typically have a mask in my bookstore stuff. My first books came out during the pandemic, so I got in the habit. Now, data on whether masks work is iffy, but you know what they do work on? My mental health. The truth about doing events with small children is that they will absolutely get in your face and sneeze in your eyeballs. However, it’s really tough to engage when half your face is covered. I do like to have a mask though in case I’m feeling sick, to protect others, and in cases where I really don’t want to get sick (like if I’m traveling).
Hand sanitizer: If you don’t have this on you normally, bring it to book events. See: young children are snotty.
What I Bring When I Am Selling My Own Books
More copies of my own books: At festivals or events where you’re responsible for selling your own books, figuring out how many books to bring can be hard. If you can, I’d ask the organizer or other authors who have been there before what to expect. I’d also recommend bringing more than you think you need. It’s sad when you are sitting there all day and could have made more sales if you only had more inventory! Generally, I bring 5-10 copies per book, but I do have 4 books, so if you only have one or two, I’d bring 30-40 total. And let’s be real, I do normally leave some extra in my car just in case.
Ways to take payment: I use PayPal’s credit card system because I already have a PayPal account. Make sure you have whatever device you need well ahead of time because you need to get it shipped and make sure it works. And, of course, bring a phone! I have found that I am swiping credit cards much less these days because of the growing prevalence of Venmo, Paypal, and Zelle. I’d love for credit card swiping to go away. I have had so many issues with connectivity. That said, if the wi-fi or data connection is bad, sometimes Venmo/Paypal/Zelle doesn’t work great either.
Basic change: People do still pay in cash! I try to have some ones and fives. I also will fudge the pricing a bit if someone doesn’t have exact change. I don’t mess around with coins. I just figure out the sales tax on my end later. Cash means I’ve saved money on credit card processing fees anyway. But Venmo is the best because it doesn’t have fees!
Sign with your payment info: Have a sign with a QR code for your various payment methods and your user name. QR codes don’t always work, particularly if the lighting is bad. Having a sign will save you so much time of having to spell out your user name.
Sign with your prices: You should have a sign with your prices—or multiple signs—depending on how you are set up. Clarify whether or not you’re including sales tax. Of course, if people have to ask you how much things cost, that can increase interaction. But I think people like to be able to look and know.
Plastic sign holders: I bring cheap acrylic sign holders and just print my signs as needed to swap them out. The sign holders help me use my vertical space. There is normally not enough room to have signs horizontal on the table, and they’re harder for people to see this way as well.
Toys that match your books: Ok, plenty of people go wild making custom stuffed animals for their books. Unless your books are mega-popular, it’s going to be really hard to make money on these. They’ll cost you a lot of time and money to make, and people don’t really want a stuffed animal to match a character they don’t know yet. Personally, I look for stuffed animals that already exist on the market. Squirrels and bats are pretty easy. I don’t have a way to get them wholesale at the moment—and I’m not sure if wholesale makes sense at the low volume I do. I do think that having something else besides books to sell can help increase your profits if you’re sitting somewhere for a whole day. I also like to have toys on hand as I frequently donate my books to silent auctions, and being able to add a couple stuffed animals makes a basket look much cuter.
I will say that I once had toys out at the Chesapeake Children’s Book Festival and had to put them away. Multiple children asked their parents for a toy…multiple parents said no, we’re here for books. I watched some families avoid my table even though their kids were trying to pull them back to me for toys. So I put the basket away to lower the drama for everyone. In my experience, toys do better at events that are not purely focused on books. Now, if you can MAKE toys to go with your books, that could be an easier sell. I would not count on toys making you a lot of profit, so I go back to my rule: only get toys for your books if it’s fun!
The above photo is from the Chesapeake Children’s Book Fest. Often, you have to cram your stuff into half a table! Of course I was happy to share with author Terry Catasus Jennings. I love that in this pic, you can see the cool dolls Terry has to match her characters—and big banners from Timothy Young (left) and Kathy MacMillan (right). My very fancy tablecloth here is literally a beach towel. You don’t always have to buy something new.
Baskets and bowls: What you need here depends on what you bring. I have baskets and/or bowls which I fill with toys. I sometimes also use a small cup to hold scissors and crayons. I don’t tend to need this when a bookstore is providing supplies, and I don’t bring toys to sell at bookstore events, since they typically have their own tchotchkes on offer.
Tablecloth: You can see in my pictures that I have used a variety of items as tablecloths, including a beach towel and an old scrap of fabric. Tablecloths look nice, but more importantly, they cover up the underside of your table. That’s where you’ll need to cover your backstock of books and important things like your purse! It’s nice to have it hidden. I’ve upped my tablecloth game recently thanks to the cornucopia of tablecloths that can be found cheaply at Good Will. You can get cheap plastic tablecloths new, too, but it’s more fun to thrift!
You can see a lot of my set up in the above picture! I have a whiteboard, basket of crayons, pages printed out from my activity kits, a sign about all my books, a basket of toys, a sign about my website, and a sign with my Venmo and Paypal info. Whew! I think the venue provided the tablecloth.
Woohoo, I got a full table! The above picture is from the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland. In my experience it is rare to get this much space but you can see my full spread here. This was before "Call Your Mother" came out. I have a print-outs from my activity kits, crayons, scissors, yarn to tie a string to cut-out bats and squirrels, a white board, and baskets of toys. In the back you can see my “learn more” placard with my website. On the right you can see my pricing sheet for my books.
Here we have zoomed in a bit! You can see my very fancy tablecloth is just a random piece of fabric from some costume or other that has been roughly cut. On the left you can see that I’ve taped an example hanging bat so that kids can see the craft. Crafts bring kids to you! You can also see that I have a few little plastic bugs scattered on the table. I give these away for free if I can buy them cheap enough! You will also see my mask.
This is author Rachel Kolar with her book “Mother Ghost” at an event at Park Books. You can see her cool skeleton props and fun witch hat! On the table in the forefront is a craft provided by Park Books—color your own spooky tote bags! I teamed up with Rachel and another local author, Rebecca Evans. It looks empty, but that’s because it’s a huge space and I was avoiding kid’s faces in this picture for privacy reasons.
Things I Have Thought About Bringing but Don’t
Email sign up list: So, I actually did this in the past, but very few people signed up, and it took up precious space. And then I’d actually have to send out an email newsletter to make it worthwhile. However, I probably should bring this as I do occasionally send emails. They tend to be focused more on writers than readers. Psst, you can sign up to receive content like this blog post here: https://tracycgold.com/newsletter/.
Banner or custom tablecloth: I’ve looked into getting a custom banner or tablecloth to bring more attention to my table. They are just so expensive. I’m lucky enough to have books coming out scheduled into the future, and I just couldn’t see myself paying for a new banner every time I had a new book come out. Now that I am five books in, however, I might do something with just a few of my books. Probably not, though, unless I can find a really good sale.
Hoo boy! I think that’s it!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and resources with us, Tracy! What a FANTASTIC prep-kit list for book events! I consider myself a book-event pro, but you've included some things on your list that weren't yet on mine. Thanks!
And now, dear readers, you know what to do. The best way to thank an author whose insights have been helpful and/or inspiring to you is to support their work. Buy their books. Request them from your library. Read and share them with others. Tracy's books, including her latest, CALL YOUR FATHER, are available everywhere books are borrowed and sold, including your own local, indie bookstore, and through Bookshop. *Disclosure: As an affiliate of Bookshop.org I may earn a small commission from books purchased through links on this post.
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| Photo Credit: Shore Love Photography |
Tracy C. Gold writes books that inspire kids to connect with nature and their families. She also works as a freelance editor, helping writers develop novels, memoirs, and children’s literature. Her published and forthcoming picture books include “Call Your Father,” “Call Your Mother,” “Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby,” “Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat,” and “Hide and Seek, Nuts to Eat.” She also writes short stories, essays, novels, and poems. Her work has been published in several magazines and anthologies. Tracy earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore and earned her B.A. in English from Duke University. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s playing with her kid or hanging out with horses and dogs. You can find out more about Tracy at
tracycgold.com, by following her on
Threads and
Instagram at @tracycgold, or by liking her
Facebook page.
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Have Swag Will Travel is an occasional feature of Dawn Babb Prochovnic's blog. Dawn is the author of multiple picture books including, Lucy's Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, Where Does a Pirate Go Potty?, 16 books in the Story Time With Signs & Rhymes series, and the forthcoming title, Mama's Home (and Baby Too!). Dawn is a contributing author to the award-winning book, Oregon Reads Aloud, and a frequent presenter at schools, libraries, and educational conferences. Contact Dawn using the form at the left, or learn more at www.dawnprochovnic.com. Subscribe to Dawn's newsletter and never miss an update.
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