On October 20th, 2024, I had my first book event as an author, Read Between the Stars. I wasn’t expecting to sell any books and mostly attended so that I could meet a few other authors as well as local readers. The results were more than I expected.

Perhaps one of my more interesting surprises centered around how I sold a few copies of my first book, A Freelancer’s Tale.

RBTS was a sci-fi/fantasy event. I just figured I’d take along the last few copies I had just to test the waters. I sold three copies of A Freelancer’s Tale before I sold three copies of Kingmaker.

The Highlights of Read Between the Stars

Although it was a small event, I still had a lot of fun. It was easily one of the highlights of my year and a great way to get my feet wet.

I often stress myself out before public appearances. But when I’m there, it’s a whole different persona that takes over. This time was no different.

Meeting the Other Authors

As I said, one of the biggest reasons why I was going to Read Between the Stars was to meet the other authors. Even though half of us have been on my show, it was nice to meet them in person.

I’m more of an in-person type of person anyway.

I was able to talk with several who have never been on my show and made some nice connections. That, alone, was worth the table fee.

Making People Smile with My Table

Despite not having a lot of extra cash to deck out my table, I was still able to make some people smile. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the skeleton got the additional chair while Sam had to sit on the stage.

Since it was close to Halloween, I also added a few things that were fitting as well as decorative.

The skeleton always has a way of piquing interest. When I walked down the mountainside with him on my shoulders, it made a lot of people smile and laugh. And for me, that’s reason enough to do what I do.

Sold a Few Books

My only sales goal was to break even. That meant selling at least 3 books or so. In reality, I would have been happy selling one autographed copy of Kingmaker.

Instead, I sold 9: six for Kingmaker and three for A Freelancer’s Tale.

After the $20 table fee and printing costs, I netted $18.85. I know, that may not sound like a lot to some self-published authors. But remember, making book sales wasn’t the primary driver of why I went to RBTS.

And yes, I’ve had several people comment about my book prices. I don’t charge a lot because I want to be accessible to as many people as possible. I don’t need a lot of money, I just want to tell a good story.

I don’t count the money I spent on decorating my table from Spirit Halloween. They are now part of my Halloween decoration box and are things I was going to buy for the house anyway.

Now that I think about it, though, I should have kept the reciepts and claimed it as an expense. Sigh…I need to remember this crap.

Other Author Support

About half of the books I sold throughout the event were to other authors. Of course, I brought a couple of people who had to buy a few of their books as well.

In fact, I was eagerly awaiting Read Between the Stars so I could pick up The Oilman’s Daughter and Roast Wyvern from Ian Thomas Healy – not the cricket player.

While I don’t really have anything to compare it to, the event seemed to be quite driven by a community mindset. No one was competing with each other, and it felt as though a common camaraderie was in the air.

I suppose that’s what happens when you surround yourself with amazing people.

Live Streamed on YouTube

I thought it was fun to live stream Read Between the Stars on YouTube. I had a lot of helpers with the video content, and I thought they did a great job. Well, outside of some people pointing the camera at the cement floor for large chunks of time.

Anyway, the plan is to take some of that content and make YouTube shorts, videos, and (sigh) TikToks out of it.

I have become one of those people whom I made fun of in the past. I never thought I would be pointing a phone at myself like some kind of self-important influencer. It makes me cringe every time I think about it.

What I Learned from the Event

As this was my first event, I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect or what I was doing. Obviously, I had to take The Guardian with me, as he is in the book and on the cover. So, it was good to take a look at how everyone else had set up, giving me ideas for the next time.

Need Some Printed Stuff

We already knew that I should have, at least, printed the Venmo and PayPal QR codes for payment. Unfortunately, the printer is out of ink and I’m poor folk. Not to mention the fact that we’re having issues getting the damn thing to wirelessly connect.

Some of the other tables gave me ideas for the next round outside of payment QR codes, though.

For instance, a menu-esque print-out of the prices for the books, a QR code for WriterSanctuary.com, a QR code for this blog, and perhaps even a short blurb about me, the author.

The bottom line is that I could have done far more in terms of printed information. Hopefully, I can get it all squared away before the next event.

Need Some Swag

Most of the other authors had a bit of swag going on at their tables. I saw some really nice designs on everything from bookmarks to stickers. Allison Giordano even had printed totes that matched her book.

One of my ideas was to print out several bookmarks featuring the different characters in Kingmaker. And if I can get my expensive 3D printer to work right, I would love to print out some figurines and whatnot.

At the end of the day, though, it’s more about the book than the swag, I think. Sure, some things can be ultra-flashy and fun, but I’d rather convince people to read the story than collect goodies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I’ll come up with something fun for the next event. But I’m going to work more on ways to get people to buy the book.

Cash Box with Change

As I never carry cash, I completely forgot that it exists in the real world. I had to break a twenty at 7-11 just so I had a couple of fives in case someone had paper cash.

Some authors had a cash box with some money to break bills in the event they needed to make change. I have a cash box, but it’s in storage on the other side of the state. Needless to say, I opened my wallet a bit yesterday to pull bills out.

Since my books were an even dollar amount (5, 10, and 15), it wasn’t too much of a hassle. But as things get rolling, I’m going to need a cash box with maybe the Square payment reader.

It’s been so long that I forgot how actual product sales happen.

Always Take the Chance

As I said, I sold a few copies of A Freelancer’s Tale. The first buyer was a composer and was interested in how to start writing.

I didn’t think I would sell any, given the event was for sci-fi and fantasy books and authors. But I figured I’d take them along just in case. Well, I made a few extra bucks because of that chance.

Another chance I took was agreeing to do Read Between the Stars in the first place. I am somewhat introverted, so getting me out of the house is a chore more often than not. However, I am incredibly glad I went. It was a lot of fun and I did more promotional stuff for myself in one day than I had all year.

Kind of.

I still need to work on promoting myself a bit better.

The point here is that you should always take that chance. As the saying goes, you’ll miss 100% of the shots you do not take. Not every event is going to go smoothly. But there will be those that wind up being pivotal moments in your career.

You can’t be afraid to put yourself and your work out there. It’s always worth the chance, even if things blow up in your face. Then, it becomes a learning experience for how to succeed during the next attempt.

What’s Next on the Agenda?

One of the things I wanted to post on WriterSanctuary.com is a way to curate the events in Colorado so authors don’t have to sift through pages and pages of search results. I would love to make a WordPress plugin that does this, but I don’t have the time.

Anyway, I’m going to start looking further into more events like Read Between the Stars. From what I’ve heard from other authors at RBTS, we have more events in Colorado than I thought we did.

As I sign up for more of these, they’ll be posted on this site. I was debating posting them on WriterSanctuary.com, but that site focuses more on helping others with blogging, freelancing, and self-publishing information.

I’m also debating on printing more books and setting up an actual store on this site. It’s definitely coming, I just don’t know when. I have to set aside development time and get a bit of cash for more printed copies.

Needless to say, Read Between the Stars isn’t going to be my only event. I don’t know what’s available for the rest of the year, but I plan on doing a LOT of these in 2025.

It Was $20 Well Spent

Between the connections I made, the introductions, and the sheer amount of fun, the table fee was well worth it. As I said, I wasn’t looking to make a ton of book sales. I was mostly out for the experience.

Any day that you can go beyond breaking even is a success. At least, it is to me. And I’m not just talking about book sales. Meeting everyone and getting myself out in the public eye is a vast majority of what I view as successful.

Not everything in life is all about making that bag of cash. Making those human connections goes well beyond anything you could make at your table or booth.