Welcome to the Peschel Press Newsletter for May 2022!
You just never know what will happen at a show. Which is a roundabout way to introduce this month’s topic, teased in April’s newsletter.
We had a wonderful time at Malice Domestic 2022. We met a lot of people, talked until we were hoarse, sold a lot of books, and have already signed up for next year. See you in Bethesda in 2023!
Malice is indoors, inside a nice, climate-controlled Marriott Hotel. You never have to leave the building unless you want to. There is no weather.
Hershey Artfest takes place outdoors. It traditionally ends early with a late afternoon thunderstorm. Not this year. This year, the thunderstorm arrived Thursday night, stalled over Hershey, and didn’t leave the area until Sunday morning. Torrential rain and high winds. It wasn’t at Tropical Storm Lee levels but it was bad enough.
Bill and Mark set up the canopy in the wind and pouring rain on Friday, 6 May. They used all the weights and stakes, praying that the canopy would still be standing on Saturday morning and that the rain would taper off. The canopy was still standing Saturday morning when Bill and I arrived with a Buick full of books at 8am. The rain was even more enthusiastic, the winds higher. There weren’t many other vendors around. Some canopies had collapsed or had been blown across the field into the new West End development. Other vendors never bothered to show up at all. At 8:15, the Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society (the organizers) cancelled Artfest.
I consider this a win.
Why? Because we played by the rules. If you’re going to do direct sales (and that’s what selling books at an arts and crafts show is), you need to know what you’re agreeing to. We agreed to check-in Friday afternoon. We’re local so it’s easy. Checking in on Friday also told the Historical Society that we planned to be there on Saturday, despite the weather. Remember, outdoor events take place rain or shine. It says so in their advertising.
We showed up on time Saturday morning; 8am in the driving rain. We packed the books, the tables and chairs, the banners, the signs, the kisses, the umbrellas, and our own sweet selves. We were prepared to shiver under the canopy for the entire day and see no one other than the hardiest and most dedicated craft show aficionados. We didn’t expect to sell a single book. We prayed we’d be able to keep them dry.
In other words, we showed up like we’d agreed to.
Remember, if you don’t show up, you forfeit your booth fee. You also annoy the show organizers. They remember people who back out at the last minute without notification and a darned good reason (i.e., a death in the family). Fear of inclement weather isn’t a valid reason. You still lose your vendor fee because the show goes on — with or without you — and the organizers are on the hook for costs of their own, such as renting the venue.
In this case (and this won’t always happen), the Historical Society rewarded us for our faithfulness. We’re on their nice list. We’re invited to Artfest II, the Remake, later on this summer at the Cocoa Beanery at no additional charge. If we can’t make Artfest II, we can get a refund on this year’s booth fee. Or, we can roll over this year’s booth fee to next year’s Artfest.
We have choices and we’re not out any money. We have to see what dates they suggest to see if we can make them. Otherwise, we’ll roll over this year’s fees to next year’s show when, presumably, the weather will be better.
Our books, banners, and signs stayed safely inside the Buick and didn’t get wet. We also discovered (to our shock and horror) that our canopy and side panels need waterproofing! The canopy tolerates a light rain. It doesn’t tolerate a monsoon. We’ve got time to waterproof it before our next outdoor show on Saturday, 11 June at the Middletown, Pa., Arts and Crafts show.
I’m assuming we’re accepted but we won’t get confirmation until May 24th.
So Artfest 2022 worked out for us.
Our next event is the Gaithersburg Book Festival! Yay! It’s on Saturday, 21 May 2022 from 10 am until 6 pm in Bohrer Park. It’s rain or shine too, but we don’t have to worry about our canopy not being waterproofed. They supply the canopy. We’ll be somewhere in the Exhibitor B tent, located near the food trucks. Come out and see us. You can admire our canopy banner, our signs, our tablecloths, and our 6-foot banners, all in various shades of Peschel Press Blue.
We debuted some of our new signs at Malice. The canopy banner was supposed to debut at Hershey Artfest. Instead, Gaithersburg will do the honors.
Shows and events, whether they’re book-related or not, have best practices. Reading and understanding the contract saying the show must go on, rain or shine, is only the beginning. Your presentation has best practices too. We’ve spent years honing our presentation and we’ve gotten better.
If you’re a creative type of any kind and will interact with the public, you need to develop your presentation skills. If you’re in sales or a business owner, you should already know most of this stuff.
First and foremost is how you behave in public. Think of Malice Domestic. We were onstage every single moment we were not in our hotel room. The Dealer Room was only the start. We met other Malice attendees attending panels, in the hallways, in the elevator, on the stairs, at the bar, at the restaurant, during the Agatha Awards banquet, and in line for a fancy salad bar.
Every one of those meetings had the potential to be positive or negative. Positive meant that I gave directions, commiserated on how spread out everything was, answered questions to the best of my ability, encouraged people to finish that novel, and was helpful and pleasant. I did not complain. Ever.
That does not mean I sold books!
It means that anyone who met me and Bill left with a positive impression of us. They knew we were part of the convention. We didn’t just wear the neck wallets (a dead giveaway). We wore our Peschel Press uniforms. Bill wore his type-font shirt, his dictionary shirt, or his robins-egg blue shirt and always wore his big leather hat. I always wore robins-egg blue shirts, with or without our logo plastered all over. We were memorable and recognizable. We always wear the same uniform to events, whether they’re small and local, like a two-hour library signing, or they’re days-long like Malice.
We chose robin’s egg blue because it’s vivid, distinctive, memorable and Bill liked it best of the original options when we bought our first sign from Staples. Wearing the same clothes (the ‘uniform’) helps people remember us from show to show.
We do not look like we’re cleaning out our garage.
If you’ve ever attended a craft show, you’ve noticed that you can’t always tell who’s running the booth. Make it easy for potential customers! If you’re a musician, wear a shirt with a musical theme. If you sell goats-milk cheese, have frolicking goats on your shirt.
This is not hard.
I have plenty more to say on the subject of branding, public appearances, and direct sales so we’ll continue in June’s newsletter. Maybe July too!
Remember: just like people judge books by their covers, they judge authors by their appearances.
Thanks for joining us and if you’re in the Gaithersburg area on Saturday, 21 May, meet us and hundreds of other writers at the book festival! We’ll be there, rain or shine.