#selling advice

[jbarkerstargazer]

Advice please

What's a good site to sell art on?

I'd like to sell prints of my work.

Any ideas?

#thunderfam #art advice #selling advice

[foldingfittedsheets]

Any tips on selling stuff? My Nana passed away in Nov. 2021 and I need to declutter since she was a borderline hoarder and google is useless.

I generally list on OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace. We’re thinking to host a garage sale later in the summer in which case I’ll do a bulk listing on Craigslist to try to drum up interest. I have found that larger items like furniture or storage can almost always find homes but little stuff just generally isn’t going to be worth the bother. Knick knacks and glass stuff that my nana can’t get enough of is almost impossible to shift. I’ll probably make one last ditch effort to bulk list some of my current batch before donating.

I measure everything and take pictures from most angles I can think of, and most time consuming, but I usually come up with a little sales pitch for each thing. A little thing of the life it lived, why it’s finding a new home, and what use it might be put to. My general rule of thumb is if I think something might be worth selling. I’ll do a quick search to see what something comparable might go for.

To be honest, I’m looking more at clearing stuff than making a ton. There’s some actually nice stuff but it’s more important to get it gone than to make a huge profit. If something appears to be solid wood it’s pretty much always worth listing. I don’t bother with clothes or soft goods. Maybe there’s a market but I’ve no idea how to tap it and the tiny profit means it wouldn’t be worth the bother for me, I’d rather donate.

I’m sorry for you loss and I hope this is a little helpful. If you’d like to DM me I can send you a little pitch example for something I’ve got listed now.

#ask ffs #selling #selling advice

[samcanalerealestate]

When you are planning to sell your home, there are several steps you need to take to prepare your property. One of them is making sure your home is still in good shape to increase your property’s value before selling. Likewise, here are signs it’s time to revamp your living space before putting your home on the market:

#Living Space Improvement #Renovation Advice #Selling Advice

[pollyanna91]

Just wanted to share the angels I made. Thinking I might sell them in the near future their the length of my hands. How much should I sell them for?

#angel #angel craft #crafts #selling advice #advice #my crafts

[thatsbelievable]

#What to do if Someone Tries to Sell Your Own Stomach to You #tips #tricks #life hacks #helpful hints #advice #stomach #unreality

[imanactualdumbass]

Invader Zip, my beloved one-off character

#invader zim #invader zim quarterly #zim #iz zim #invader zip #iz zip #invader zim shitposting hours #I propose: invader zip computer assistant #all he does is give you bad life advice and tells you to click on malware ads #tracks all your information and sells it to the conglamo corporation

[cozylittleartblog]

hey, so I'm trying to figure out what places would be good to sell my own art at, and I'm wondering- what has been your experience with selling on etsy? I've heard mixed reviews from people, and I want to know your perspective as an etsy seller.

etsy is not perfect but i think it gets a little more shit than it deserves, i've thought about opening my own website but generally i'm actually pretty okay with the services i get on etsy compared to what it costs so i'm just gonna make a subjective pros/cons list for you under the cut (because its loooong)

oh and if anyone else has experience selling on etsy and would like to add their two cents in the replies/reblogs please do!

Pros

⭐ The search function - this is etsy's biggest selling point. it already has a dedicated userbase of millions of people and a search feature to help them find your shop, which takes a lot of the load of marketing off your shoulders, and marketing is a huge factor for pushing sales. i am not good at marketing and a lot of my sales just come from people searching my stuff up lol

⭐ Purchase protection program - if USPS loses or damages your package, you file a missing package report and they confirm they don't know where it is, Etsy will refund your buyers order out of their own pocket (under $250). this is my favorite etsy feature because USPS likes to eat packages every now and again. delicious keychains. if you had your own storefront, you'd just have to replace the order yourself.

⭐ Share & Save program - every time someone makes an order on your shop through a special Share & Save link, etsy will refund you 4% of the fees. it's a nice perk to doing some of your own marketing and it helps combat the moderately high etsy fees!

Trackable letter mail - selling stickers but think it's insane to charge $4 shipping? you can buy letter mail labels for about the rate of regular postage, which is like .65c. this tracking is done through etsy though so you can't track with usps, but it does give customers a little peace of mind. this only works in the 50 US states though.

Customs forms built into your shipping label - shipping internationally is a nightmare. etsy makes it easy though, generating everything you need to ship internationally on one label that you just have to sign and date and slap on your package like normal. for some countries they will actually just have your package sent to a domestic facility where they literally do all that for you. this is miles easier than having to do all that paperwork yourself.

buy shipping labels directly from etsy - related point, and just what it says on the tin. when you fulfill an order, you can buy your labels right there on Etsy so you don't have to mess around with a third party website. it comes out of your sale funds so you don't need to charge a card or a bank account or anything.

star seller program - some people say this is completely useless but i actually disagree! it's incredibly easy to earn this badge, and it lets buyers know you've got some of the best products, shipping, and customer service around. it helps you stand out from some of the more... questionable shops on the website.

sales tax - they remit sales tax for you. i don't think any of the other online platforms similar to etsy do this but i could be wrong. doing any kind of taxes sucks so i consider it a perk if they do it for you.

website promotions - every now and again etsy likes to host sales out of their own pocket. you get all the perks of having a sale without eating into ur profit margin. HUGE sale booster

generally the site is just very easy to learn and use and it's very beginner and dumbass friendly. i say this as a former beginner and current dumbass 👍

Cons

❌ the fees. oogh the fees. they claim it's just a 6.5% fee per sale, but on top of that you have to pay .20c automatically for every individual item you sell, plus there are processing fees (3% + .25c) that apply both to the item you sold AND the cost of shipping. i think it comes out to like 10% total in fees on average @ > @

❌ but wait, there's more fees! if you make more than $10k in sales a year (very easy number to hit actually) you are forced to participate in offsite ads, which i believe takes 15% of your total sale on top of the fees in the previous point. these kinds of sales are not as common as you'd think, but it's still annoying having a couple bucks shaved off your profits a few times a month because of them.

corporate bullshit - etsy is like renting a space in a mall. you don't own your lot, nor the mall itself, so if upper management decides to make any stupid ass decisions, you just have to deal with it or pick up and move. if they decide to raise fees again, you just gotta Deal. you are a little bit helpless on this website unfortunately

the push for discounts - etsy is constantly shoving it in your face that they want you to do discounts. they want you to have free shipping on orders over $35, they want you to do 25% off or more on sales, they want you to have returning customer discounts and abandoned cart discounts and 'you recently favorited this item' discounts - but you already have to compete with the steep fees, and when a customer gets free shipping, you still owe USPS that $4-ish bucks to send the package. you don't have to do any of this, but they do reward participating shops by favoring them in the algorithm and search results, so you can feel like you're missing out.

there aren't as many cons imo but they Are steeper cons. generally etsy is very beginner friendly and easy to get into and set up, and in spite of everything i do actually recommend everyone looking to get into online retail start on etsy and perhaps move to other platforms in the future. plus, you can combat all the fees by just... making your prices a dollar or two higher than you initially wanted to, and using your 'save and share' link as frequently as possible. the fees are a little bit much, but you have to think about what you get in exchange:

the search is invaluable, you could argue the fees are partially a marketing budget lmao. if you have a private website you alone have to push traffic to your website, and not as many people know about things like shopify and bigcartel so they might not be as trusting putting their card details into it. i miss out on a lot of REALLY COOL STUFF because artists only advertise on instagram and i don't hear about them, meanwhile if i want some cool owl house stuff i can literally just search that in etsy and find a lot of TOH stuff super easily. i cannot highlight enough how GOOD the search function is, especially in this day and age where social media like instagram and twitter will blacklist your posts if you say words like 'shop' or 'sale' and now nobody can find your stuff in that website's search either. its very hard to do your own marketing now a days :(

being able to refund customer's lost orders out of the company's pocket is such a nice thing to fall back on if you have to and worth its weight in fees. USPS lost like... four or five packages of mine in december. that's like $100 or more worth of stuff that Etsy Covered Completely, and a lot of the times the customer will take that refund to make their order again. don't abuse this system, make sure you check with usps that the package is actually Gone, but it's a godsend when you don't make billions of dollars and eating the cost of lost orders would otherwise sting a bit.

if etsy did not make international shipping easy i simply would not ship anywhere but the US to be honest. shipping to europe is still a headache though but that's because europe is stupid

that's everything i can think of, but tl;dr yes please open an etsy 👍 i recommend it completely in spite of everything

⭐ if anyone wants to open their own etsy shop, use my referral link to make your first 40 listings for free! :)c ⭐

#etsy #small business #advice #ask #anonymous #anon #selling on etsy

[hoochieblues]

Hey, writers of tumblr. I'm thinking about putting together a self-study course/ebook type thing on how to edit, intended for new/aspiring authors and those looking to prep their work for self-publishing.

For context: I currently do most of my freelance work through an agency that positions itself as an industry leader for author services (make of that what you will) and I get a lot of quote requests from folks who know their work needs editing, but have little idea where to start or what to expect. Frequently, either cost is a barrier to entry for them, or I find I'm having to correct or explain the same issues to a lot of clients.

I'd like to put something out on a pay-what-you-want basis that covers the most common issues I see in manuscripts. I'm thinking topics like basic grammar and formatting (especially for ESL writers and those working with translators), POV and perspective issues, filtering, pacing, rhythm & flow, dialogue, and a primer on techniques for self-editing your work prior to submission, pre-production, or sharing it in general.

Is this something you'd be interested in? What other kinds of topics would you like to see? What format(s) would you prefer?

#on writing #fine to reblog #i hope i don't regret saying that #also #first time i wished i actually have polls #so tell me in the tags or inbox me or w/e ig #also also #yes i am aware the internet is awash with writing advice but i have yet to find a comprehensive guide i can point clients at #that isn't trying to sell an ebook series and also includes all the major parts of getting your ms cleaned up. #this is honestly partly self interest. if i'm writing up a guide for clients i may as well make it accessible for everyone right? #then at least i'll have something in hand that means i don't have to explain dialogue tags ten times a week. i can just ctrl + c it. yay.

[foreversaba]

A guide to Glazing your art so that AI cannot take it without consent:

Now that tumblr is selling our works to midjourney, here's how to protect yourself. Quote:

Glaze is a system designed to protect human artists by disrupting style mimicry.

It was developed by the same team as Nightshade, a more extreme version that aims to poison datasets taken without consent.

Go to https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/ where the official program can be found under "Download Glaze".

Download the appropriate version

wherever your downloads are stored, go there and extract the .zip by right-clicking > extract all, or the button in the file explorer.

Important!! Inside the unzipped folder, check if any folders failed to unzip. This is a common error and glaze will give you an error if any folders remain unzipped!

Find Glaze.exe in your folder and double click to run it. (You can also pin it to start or your desktop for easy access. It doesn't appear in a list of recently installed programs because it's not an install.)

Their cute little UI will notify you that it's downloading resources for a few minutes.

Ready to go!

Select your image(s), settings and an output folder before you run it. (You can even select the same image multiple times if you want it to run a few times with different glazes.) Then Run Glaze.

(It will even kindly run on your graphics card if you have one.)

If any errors occur after clicking Glaze, the darker square will give you some python-related text saying what to do. This was extensively for the devs, do not be alarmed. Go back and check for unzipped folders inside the Glaze folder, that's usually the cause of every mistake.

Let it run for the estimated time. (don't close it before it's done, I've done that by accident lol). The image will just show up in your output folder when it's done.

Booyah! Art Glazed. Art from my art blog with no glaze, default glaze and high glaze:

It will look a bit like compression artifacts, but rather that than a huge watermark on my work.

addendum:

it takes a while to clear up its own cache. Just wait a bit before glazing again because it will take too much memory if you try again immediately.

#anti ai #fuck ai #artists on tumblr #artist advice #generative ai #signal boost #tumblr #fuck ai art #data selling #ai #tumblr ai #psa #midjourney #third party sharing #glaze #nightshade #glaze guide

[vigilskeep]

do you have any recs for video guides on how to play wotr? I got through a good chunk of the first act and am desperate to go back for Wenduag and Daeran but I definitely hit a ceiling where my inability to grasp the mechanics couldn't be overcome by just winging it lmao

i used a couple videos from this playlist to go over the classes i was unfamiliar with, and then this video is a bit bulky but covers a lot of the fundamentals... i think those were the main things? also just spending a lot of time on wiki and reddit pages while thinking through character creation was a helping hand. and then trial and error lmao

#uhh do i have any advice. play on turn-based mode. spellcasters need dex to hit. #party formation matters. remember to charge. sell all the armour u r carrying

[izanori]

idk who needs to hear this, but if it hasnt already been done i want to clear up some things

Fashion Dreamer is not Style Savvy. BUT. It’s created by Syn Sophia, just like Style Savvy was. So, if you’re still holding out for a title that’s specifically called Style Savvy it’s time to give up, because it’s very safe to assume that Fashion Dreamer is meant to be Style Savvy’s spiritual successor. This may be due to influencers and other internet personalities being way more popular than wanting to run a store among children these days.

so… yea. ^_^

#style savvy #fashion dreamer #its even called Fashion Dreamer in japanese and not Girls Mode so its not a licensing issue or anything #its just an entire new game #im worried about the gameplay #but im assuming itll be like style savvy where you help ppl w fashion dilemmas #but instead of selling them clothes #they ask you for advice because youre trusted in the fashion community #and you pick out clothes for them there #and then as an influencer you also get to model #and maybe collab w companies to design clothes? #and like. Idk. Debut as an idol?? #idk. I think they can still keep a lot of the old gameplay intact this way #theres games where you can model and games where you do hair and games where you do makeup #and games where you run boutiques #but style savvy was the only game that had all of these in one package PLUS a super cute style #and good skin tone options!!!! #and thats what makes it special to me #and now you can be a BOY…. and a GOOD LOOKING BOY!! The boys in the old games were SCUFFED. Except dominic. Dominic was cute #so the only thing im sad abt is i was hoping maybe you could choose from 3 different body types #maybe next console… #cici

[millennium-queen]

Maybe it’s because I’ve had a little bit to drink but DAMN the movies really removed all of Katniss’s relationships with everyone who wasn’t G*le huh??

#Lucia’s life #like hmmmm #I wonder who she loved enough to die for? #I wonder which guy she’d sacrifice herself for? #I wonder who she turned to for advice and comfort in D13? #I wonder who she built a surrogate sister relationship with? #hint - not fucking HIM #ughh and yet the movies still tried to force the love triangle to sell tickets #like mate read the book it was never him #ahhh

[dallonwrites]

bestie how the fuck do you start writing again when you haven't written in years bc you're so paralyzed with Fear of Writing Badly mixed with How Do I Get Started and also WHAT do I write about HELP

I WANT to write but every part of it is. so. DAUNTING

Ohhh bestie I have BEEN there. Whenever I take breaks from writing I find myself scared that I'll have just….forgotten to write?? I think the fear of "bad writing" is amplified when you don't write for a while, however long, because you have to like hype yourself up to go back to writing and it's like what if I do all that and then I just can't do it? Returning to writing, especially after a long time, for me has taken a lot of mental work, trying to understand what will make writing fun and healthy for me. A lot of it, honestly, is easier said than done, but also it's mental work you'll keep doing after you start writing again and as you write, and for me it's easier to process my relationship with writing when I am actually writing.

A big part of that mental work for me, and something I think is so valuable, is to reconsider what "bad" writing is and give yourself permission to write it. Sometimes you will think your writing sucks, happens to all of us, but that isn't all it has to be. Like yeah, I'll think something I wrote sucks, but I still wrote it. I can revisit it and work on it and maybe I'll turn it into something I'm happy with. And even if I don't, I still wrote it, I learned from it. Writing does not need to be "good" by whatever standard we're holding it up to for it to have value. And you can delete it! Nobody has to see it! Also you can have fun writing something and still think it's not your best. I've written a lot of "bad" scenes that I had fun with because the scene was entertaining to me! I love when writing turns out how I like it, or I write a banger prose line, but equally I found it helpful to give myself permission to not worry about that all the time and just focus on my interest/enjoyment in what I'm writing, regardless of the "quality". Again, easier said than done, but something I've found easier the more I write, because you'll have bad writing days but you'll also have writing days that are so good

I know a lot of people see writing as a skill that they want to improve, and like I agree it feels really good to see your writing grow, but writing is so much more than the skill and the craft and the theory. There is no objective "perfection" to reach with writing like we are not Sims with levelled skills LOL. Writing is art and creativity and it should be fun and fulfilling. And IMO, the more you focus on what makes writing fun, you will grow and "improve" as a writer a lot quicker and in a way that is a lot more enjoyable than if you treat writing like some icy quest for perfection. You also get to decide what "good" writing is for you/your story. Some of my stories are more prose focused and I'll play more with language, imagery etc. Others are more about the plot and just having fun imagining this scene. Sometimes it's a mix of both. What is "good" writing depends on the writer, story, genre, etc. There is no one way to write.

I'm rambling a lot because I'm just really passionate about this and I cannot express enough how easier writing got, including all the difficult and ugly and frustrating parts, when I gave space to prioritise my enjoyment and fun. People love to romanticise the idea of the "struggling" writer. I see stuff on here and I'm like you guys….writing should be fun. Like yeah sometimes it's hard and we should talk about that but like, you Need to make sure you are having fun. Anyway I'm going to try not to ramble and bullet point some things that helped me:

Make Writing Fun: Lol! Literally whatever makes writing fun. Sometimes I just write super indulgent scenes and the fun of that sets me up to work on my projects. When I work on my projects I try to find what in each scene I'm going to enjoy the most, and focus on that to help me write the rest. I make playlists, moodboards, memes, art etc for my story because it's fun, and it helps me be engaged with my story outside of writing it. Just, have fun.

On productivity: some people will benefit from setting clear goals and running towards them. Some people don't. For me it depends on my headspace. I don't think productivity is a bad thing, it can feel good, but productivity should not be the only reason you write. And the most productive writing process is whichever one makes writing enjoyable for you, because that's how you'll get words on the page

On that note, please be wary of anyone online who who treats the writing advice they share as Fact. I'm not saying every writing teacher out there does...but some of them market it that way! And creators do not have an authority on writing just because they have a platform however big. There are some AMAZING content creators out there who talk about writing, and I have found them motivating, but like just let yourself be picky about who you listen to/engage with. I say this because I consumed some very Strict writing advice when I was younger and it literally contributed to my years long slump so like...I'm picky now LOL

About goals: Personally, gentle goals are what help me get back into writing. Maybe just write for 20 minutes, or write every day for a couple days. When I do word count goals, I base them on how I feel that day, and recently I don't make a word count, I'll transfer it to the next session but smaller. So if I try to write 500 words but can't I'll say okay, lets try 250 next time. Goals can be a great motivator and way to feel achieved, and maybe bigger goals will help you, but you're also allowed to adjust them as you go to make it easier

On finding new ideas, having been there before, you don't need a fully fleshed out idea to start writing. My longest break I came back to writing with...one character and a backstory? If you have stories/characters already you can revisit them, either build on what you have or completely change it. Or if you don't have that, if there's a piece of media you like you can take that concept and play around with it in your own way, or you can even just write fanfic until you have your own idea (if you want your own idea, fanfic is cool too!) You can even just find a cool pic on pinterest and play around with describing it, writing about it, seeing if you can get anything from that. Ideas are everywhere and they can be tiny, and I think if you have that want to write you Will find your story eventually. All writers have had the Idea struggle, but I think the more you engage with writing and think about what concepts and stories interest you already, the more you'll like train yourself to get ideas

That was very long and maybe a lot but like, I am very passionate about this! I've been in writing "slumps" where I didn't know if I would write again, I've started writing again with no ideas, and in those times all I had was the fact I knew I wanted to write. There are a lot of reasons why we end up having long breaks from writing and it is totally normal, sometimes beneficial for us, and we should never give ourselves a hard time for not writing for however long. But also remember that you can always come back. Every one of us has the capacity to create, whatever that looks like, and you can make it as self indulgent and self serving as you want.

#also a bit on the creators and writing advice thing #I dont think every creator out there who does How To Do X.....is treating what they say as fact. and i dont think that's Bad #i think they're just teaching what they think is valuable info #but like...you're allowed to disagree with it #but I've also encountered people with big platforms who will say shit like if you don't do This Thing you WILL fail in some way #just because THEY had that expreience...or will do writing advice marketed like Harsh Truths For Writers!!! #and like yeah you might find something valuable in that but like it's all marketing!!! they want you to click on their post and engage! #again! not always a bad thing it's how the internet works unfortunately! but sometimes it IS kind of shady lol and you can just ignore it #i'm saying this as someone sharing advice right now. you can disagree with any of this lol #some people share writing advice online and that's literally how they make money or they're using that advice to sell their product #again fair i dont think that's inherently bad but i think just. look at this stuff with a critical eye. people have experience that can be #helpful but NOBODY is an authority on writing #cause unfortunately some people Are capitalising on the fact there are vulnerable writers out there looking for help #putting this extension in the tags because its not so much about starting to write again but i think its important #in regards to engaging with writers spaces. that engagement can be so motivating but you have to set barriers LOL

[samcanalerealestate]

Property selling in Pennsylvania can be complex, especially if it is your first time going through the process. By hiring professional realtors like us at Sam Canale Real Estate, you can sell your house and lot at the highest possible rate. You can rely on us to handle the nitty-gritty of the selling process from start to end.

#Home Expert #Selling Advice #Property Experts

[tlbodine]

Lessons Learned at My First Book Signing

I attended an in-person author event today for the first time ever. It was not an especially high-profile deal -- just a local author fair hosted by the library. But it was still the first time I'd ever set up a table for the purpose of selling and signing books and interacting with would-be readers, and I want to talk about that experience a little bit and give some take-aways and advice for other writers who might be curious about doing something like this.

Step One: Find an Event

My dear friend and co-conspirator @comicreliefmorlock tipped me off about this. She saw a flier for it at the library and I applied on a whim, not even sure if I'd get accepted for the event. But I did! And that's the first lesson I want to give you: Everything good I have in my life I got by saying, "Fuck it, let's give it a shot."

Don't get too deep in your own head about things. Don't self-reject from opportunities. Kick imposter syndrome in the teeth and just do the thing.

Step Two: Set Up a Table

I was operating on a major shoestring budget for this, and I didn't have time to put together real signage or anything fancy. But I could go to the dollar store for some Halloween flair and a tablecloth and honestly? Even that was eye-catching enough that it definitely lured some people over. Next time I'll be better prepared to do something a bit more cohesive. But even these little touches put me miles beyond most of the other authors there, who just had a small stack of books on a bare table.

A few tips:

Don't put out all your books at once. Leave most of them in the box and tuck it under the table or somewhere. Fewer books, artfully arranged = implied scarcity. And it just looks nicer.

Scatter your business card/swag around the table. Consider leaving out a dish of candy. Freebies lure people into stopping.

Put up a sign with pricing. I used a small whiteboard from the dollar store and doodled on it when I got bored.

Try to have a little flair. Keep it on-brand with the type of stuff you're writing. The goal here is to be eye-catching enough that people want to come see what you've got going on.

Step Three: What You'll Need

If you're going to attend any kind of author fair or signing event, I recommend the following:

Some way to take payment not in cash. If I'd had a Square reader today, I would have probably sold at least a couple more books. Nobody carries cash anymore (but plan to have a bit of change anyway). The sales I made today came through PayPal, and having that QR code sign (free with my business account!) came in clutch.

An assistant. If you can, try to bring someone along to be your helper. It makes a huge difference having somebody who can watch your table while you go network with other sellers, as well as somebody who can help make change and restock the books if you get busy talking to people. And on the flipside, if nobody shows up, your helper can keep you from feeling super lonely and awkward.

Some kind of swag or, at least, a business card. Bookmarks or stickers/bookplates would be baller, too. But you for sure need something with your name and some kind of identifier -- your website, your social media, your Wattpad, something. This is what my business card looks like:

They're double-sided (the black is on the back). I had these printed up for Wattcon 2018 (and then forgot them in my car at the airport) and didn't have a website yet at that point. But I'm still quite fond of them. I designed them, had them printed, and picked them up at Office Depot.

I cannot express enough the importance of the business card. You may think you're there to sell books. But you are actually there so that people will remember your name. Folks who stop by might not be ready to buy your book, but they might check you out later. At the very least, they'll now have a thing with your name on it in their possession, which will help stick in their mind so the next time they see your name, it will have a ring of familiarity to it, which will make them much more likely to be interested in what you're doing.

Step Four: Talk to People!

Make eye contact and smile with passers-by. Engage with people who look interested in what you have to offer. Don't try to hard-sell or anything, but be available to answer questions. Have a quick, one-sentence pitch for explaining your book at the ready. Encourage people to take your swag.

And then get up and go talk to other people! If you're at an event where there are multiple authors, go introduce yourself (bring a business card!) and ask them questions about their work. Be friendly. I traded one of my books for a book from my neighbor's table today:

Eirik, it turns out, is a Twitter mutual of mine. We share like 20 online acquaintances and would have never known we lived in the same place if not for this event. I tagged him in my tweet about the event, and he tagged me back for his followers. That's networking, baby! (also this book looks sweet as hell. The Great Gatsby with werewolves? yes please. I'll let you know how it is after Angel gets done with it because she yoinked it from me as soon as it came back to the table).

Even if there aren't any other authors to meet-and-greet and network with, ingratiate yourself with the staff of the library/bookstore/wherever. Be friendly and thank them for the work they're putting in. Being kind and gracious is how you get invited back to more events. And you really want to make friends of librarians and bookstore employees because they're in a position every day to recommend books to dozens of people. Word of mouth is literally priceless in this business.

Something I saw others doing that was really smart is capturing email addresses to add to their newsletter. One had a giveaway raffle - sign up, then a name gets drawn at the end. One just encouraged people to sign up so they could learn more about his work. This was really clever and a good use of the space -- I'm going to do something similar next time I do this!

Step Five: Don't Get Discouraged

I sold two books at this event. That was twice as many as anybody else I talked to. Like I said earlier -- this is a marketing thing, not a chance to profit directly off book sales. Don't feel disappointed if you go to something like this and don't sell out. If people are scoping you out and engaging with you at all, if they're taking your card or signing up for your newsletter, that's a win.

R.L. Stine pretty famously had one person come to his first book signing. He writes about it in his autobiography. I figure, if his career could start out like that, it's good enough for anybody.

You can learn a lot from going to an event even if you're not selling books. From watching the way people interacted with my table, I came away with a few observations:

Most people who use libraries are, in order: old people, parents with young kids, teenagers. Of that, I captured the most attention of teenagers. They were drawn like catnip over to my table, maybe because of the Halloween decor, maybe because of the covers. Old people don't read horror, by and large -- they prefer mysteries. But a lot of them know someone else in their life who does like scary stuff, and a lot of them took my card to presumably tell their loved ones about it. (I had a few teenagers who absolutely would have been sales if they'd had any money. I told them I was also on Wattpad and encouraged them to take a card to look me up there. The response to that was an even mixture of bafflement, suspicion, and excitement. Yes, graying middle-aged farts like me are on Wattpad.)

The Darkness of Dreamland was far and away the book that captured people's attention. I think the cover really drew people in.

Purple is an unusual color in the genre, and that hand-painted unicorn with its malevolent, unusual design is a real eye-catcher. A lot of people wanted to stop and read the back cover to see what was up with this book. Which leads me to....

Your back cover copy is your most effective sales pitch. The front cover has to get them through the door, and the back cover seals the deal. It's really easy when you're working on them to forget about that. It's easy to get too deep in your head about making both of them accurate or literal interpretations of the story or symbolic or whatever. That's not the purpose. Your book cover is a marketing tool, it is ad copy, and you have to approach it with that mindset.

So those were my takeaways from my first-ever author fair. I hope some of this was at least a little interesting or helpful for you! I got a lot out of this experience, even if I did spend a whole lot more money ordering copies than I earned selling them -- now I just have to challenge myself to sell the rest of the books in my trunk!

Happy to answer any questions or give clarification on things.

#long post #writing advice #publishing advice #writing tips #publishing #book selling #writeblr

[lemongogo]

ork ,, this is super impulsive but i think i might apply to an artist alley and if ..i get in . IFFF!! i think ill Be Strong And Brave and try to table frlsies 🚶 bc i need to stop being scared and jsut freaking do it

but that also means id need to be serious abt drawing in the next few months and i wanted to know what you guys personally look for @ conventions .. do you prefer posters, stickers, charms, etc .. on site commissions ? .. do you look by fandom or are you more interested in art style / presentation .. and in that same vein, what fandoms do you like to see, so on

ik a lot of it comes down to where you table &the demographic there so ofc id prioritize stuff im into like trigun ofCOURSE !! jjk, kny, but like .. if you enjoy dunmeshi or drhdr , bg3 ,, if i need to go back to my bnha roots i stg i will do what it takes if it means being able to open myself up to opportunities like this🙏 HAJAHAHA

but just wondering ^__^ tysm ! hugs , kisses 🫶

#BC I NEED TO I NEED TO the desire is ripping its way thru my flesh #and i think its partly been the bane of my recent issues wrt art #bc im so scared of failure but tbh.. better to try than to never try at all ig-__- HAJAH #sorry for asking so many questions recently #i feel like its probably boring as hell 2 see that i havent been up to much but i #really appreciate the advice and such everyone has given me ovr the past few months #bakugou print incoming <will b only piece that sells #joe king .. unless.?🥸🤔🧐LMAOO #swear i saw a post that was like a bkg print will save ur table HAHAHAGAG