Signing Bust? Find the Silver Lining!

Had a signing in Iowa yesterday. It was a sh!t show from the beginning. First, I got lost. The event was at one of the buildings at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. I pulled up to a building that a bunch of women were going in to carrying rolling carts (like many authors do). I stopped and asked, “is this the author event?” to witch the woman said yes. So, I parked, pulled everything out of my car and hauled it to the building… just to find out I was at the wrong building. Then I had to haul it all back to my car, repack it, and drive off in search of the damn location. For those of you that don’t know, the Iowa State Fairgrounds are massive. Luckily, an author friend of mine was also at this event and was able to talk to me on the phone and get me there.

Once set up in a very large building, with not a lot of authors (maybe 40….maybe), I did a quick walk around to see who all was there. I knew no one other than my one friend that signed up with me. So, lots of new people to meet! I ended up meeting and chatting with the guy behind me, and the one across who both are best friends. Apparently, everyone at this event were first timers to said event like me… which is odd as it was the “8th annual” one… Anyways, both authors delve more into fantasy and sci-fi. We ended up chatting about Planet Comicon KC. An event that all 3 of us apparently frequent. So it will be nice to have 2 more people at the event with me!

A majority of the authors were children’s book authors, or fantasy/sci-fi. I saw a couple cookbooks, and I think there were 2 horror authors there. I was the only paranormal romance author, and my friend and I were the ONLY romance authors. Also, most of the authors were local either to the area, or Iowa itself. I was an oddity being from Kansas. My friend is from Missouri, so she was also an odd one in this group. The bust of the show? There were very little to no readers that came. I got lucky and sold 2 books. My friend sold 1. I know the guy next to me sold zero, as did most of the authors there. The one guy I made friends with who does fantasy sold the most with 15. There just wasn’t traffic. It totally made me understand why all these authors were first timers at an “annual” event. Because there’s no sales, it’s a waste of money, and a waste of time. Luckily the event was only about $45, which is cheap for an author event.

SILVER LINING: I made 2 new friends that I will be able to connect with in the future at Planet Comicon. I got to hang with an author friend I don’t get to see very often, and we made the most of it by texting across the room at each other. I conversed with some new authors and helped direct them to some of the events I do that always have readers coming, so chances of sales are much higher. I also spoke to some “vanity published authors” that reminded me why I self-publish. It’s nice to be humbled and reminded that while things are a bit difficult, I don’t know everything about being an author. (I, in fact, will never ever claim to know much about being an author). I will share as much as I know so that I can help others be successful. I also learned that this is an event I will never participate in again. So, you must always look for the silver lining with events. Especially ones that are a bust.