Has anyone gone to a homeschool conference/convention as a vendor with their books? Was it a positive experience? What did you have on your table besides books? Besides basic selling supplies like change and bags, was there anything else you brought with or wished you'd brought with?

I'm considering trying homeschool conferences as a possible outlet for selling books. I think it would be a good opportunity for me, because homsechoolers are one of my target audiences. It would be well-aimed marketing.

I'm also considering sending bookmarks to some conferences to be included in their free literature packs. Has anyone done this?

I think this is a great idea for self published authors.

Christopher Paolini (author of the Inheritance Cycle) Started out promoting his books at home school conferences and that is how he eventually got picked up by a big publishing firm.

I knew Paolini started out small, but I didn't realize he did homeschool conferences. That's awesome and encouraging. Thanks, Joe!

My mom never went as an author, but she's sold old school books before

Like you said, she brought change and bags. She'd also bring something to cover the table with (like a nice sheet or thin blanket) and old milk crates to use as mini books selves (also to carry stuff in). I figure you thought of this already, but having plenty of bookmarks and business cards (if you have those too) to hand out. Pens for signing (you never know when one will run out ). Sometimes it's a good idea to bring your own chair too (in case they happen not to provide those) and a box/bag to keep money in. Oh! And it's always good to have a friend along to watch your stuff in case you want to look around


As for experience... Can't help much there It's been a long time since I've gone with my mom. There's a local author who's gone to conferences before, I could give you her site address/contact info, I'm sure she could give you some valuable input She's been going to HS conferences for a few years now (I think she's close to your age too...)

Aubrey! Great minds think alike! Brilliant, idea.
*goes into businesswoman mode*
Yes, I've seen new authors selling their books at Homeschool conventions (some of 'em could use some HWs editing), but there seems to be a market for Fantasy/scifi in the homeschooling world. At the Enoch Conference in NJ, I saw one author selling self-published books, and another woman selling unusual fantasy/scifi. So to answer your question, yes, I think that would work.

Note: PM me if you think this is sidetracking this thread.
So, I was brainstorming with my Mom the other day, and this idea came up out of nowhere. What if we didn't just do a table for individual authors, but what if we had a team of people doing "Holy Worlds" promotional tables at local Homeschool conferences? So, say, when I got published (notice the cocky lack of "if"), I'd not only sell my books, but I'd have a supply of, say, Red Rain or What Lies in the Dark as well. We could have bookmarks or something with the HWs website+logo, and anything else we needed to promote Holy World's author's in general.
We would probably have to wait until more of our authors were published, but then we could have multiple names out there in multiple genres! (NOT saying you should do this if you don't want to, I'm just throwing out random ideas for now).
What do you think? Is that something we could look into?

That's a brilliant idea! I never thought of homeschool conferences, but that would be a great way to market books. I think Ciela's suggestion of an HW table would be good too.

It would be a pay off thing. Two people on opposite sides of the country are both marketing self published books at Homeschool conferences, so they would market each others as well so that they have a wider global reach without traveling. Brilliant. The various authors would all have to be willing and agree, of course, but it's a really good idea.

A big part of selling at a conference, I think, is that you have to sell people your book. Talk to them about it, be excited, convince them, etc. I'm really not sure how well I'd do as a marketer, but I suppose as a self published author I'm going to find out... personally, I think you'll do fine, but that's the only helpful peice of advice that came to mind.

Awesome input, girls! Thanks so much for posting.

Ah, that's a lovely list, Vili! I don't think I'd need crates because I wouldn't have that many books to display (just multiple copies of a couple of books), but I plan to take picture stands to tip one copy of the book up for display. I totally didn't think of extra pens... good call. (I would have a pen, but I wouldn't have thought of a spare.)

Yes, I'm definitely getting bookmarks printed before I do this. It is good to have freebies that people can take away and remember you by.

Ah, yes, the in-person marketing. That's going to be the hardest part for me, but practice makes perfect.

Ciela, that's quite an amazing idea. I would definitely start a thread for that, either here or in HW projects, at some point. While I love the idea of a HW table, my practical side wishes to urge caution. The thing about a conference is that you need to have stock on-hand, which means you need capital to buy it. I don't know that I, personally, have the funds to buy significant quantities of a lot of books; I'm already going to be in quite a bit getting stock of my own books. Also, what about profits? If I sell your books, do I get to keep any of the profits as my commission? How do I get the earnings back to you? And so on.

However, I would absolutely be willing to put out bookmarks, business cards, or other free literature for friends on my table (at my discretion, of course) from other HW authors. Then no funds need exchanged; you just need to send me the material and I will give it away. (We were talking about that in another thread. When I get bookmarks printed, I shall be swapping them.) I'd even be willing to go so far as to put together a "packet" of literature, if I had enough, maybe bearing the Holy Worlds label.

Oh, bookmarks! Where are you ordering/buying/aquiring them? And I'm curious as to what design you're going to use (I'd love to see character illustrations on a bookmark, like a small profile sort of thing; those would be great to pique interest and curiosity). *loves bookmarks*

And as for the in-person marketing, I think you'll do absolutely fine! Just relax and summerize the book (I imagine practicing in a mirror would help), and maybe share what makes the book special to you.

Haha, well, I tend to spout off ideas without thinking about the practical side of things. Of course, a HWs table sort of thing would definitely be in the future (probably far future, though I think I have the monetary thing worked out . . . maybe). If one initially bought the books from the publisher/author, then one would be able to keep the money from sales. Of course, that would require one to be financially prepared for bookselling (unlike your's truly). But I think it would be an interesting way to promote HWs authors in general. I'll keep researching possibilities

What homeschool conference are you considering going to? Some of those annual ones are pretty big, and that would be a great way to get the word around for your books. On the other hand, if you did several small ones, it might be cheaper to get the table you need. Maybe there's a list of conferences somewhere . . .

I've been to the big one in Cincinnati (Yes, the one that banned Answers in Genesis and Ken Ham) twice, and there were authors there. Chuck Black was there, and I got to talk with him a bit. There was a self-published author whose name was Victoria Kasten, I think. I don't remember what it is now that she's gotten married. I think they both did fairly well, because Miss Kasten was a speaker at her own session.

There was a film studio there too, they were the family studio who made Pendragon: Sword of His Father. They always seemed to have a fairly large crowd there as well.

For a HW table, I think that's a good idea, especially once we get the Starsailer anthology published, and some Triterrus stories as well.

Free stuff is always good. Bookmarks, business cards, I collect them wherever I go, and I'm sure others do as well. It gives them something to remember, like your name and the books you've written.

Hi-ho! Sorry I'm behind in replying to this.

I'm going to be printing my bookmarks here - http://gotprint.net/g/uploadBookmark.do Very reasonable prices! Dieki made a bookmark for Peter's Angel and is working on one for Red Rain. The Peter's Angel one has already been posted on FB (I can email it if you can't view the link); the Red Rain one will be up there shortly. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 474&type=3

I'm not as competent at in-person marketing as I am over the internet, but I am working on it. Practice makes perfect! I haven't decided on conferences for sure, but they would be local ones - i.e. Wisconsin.

Good thought about the anthologies, Varon! Certainly, selling the anthologies would be easier because all the profits go to HW. (Perhaps allowing for a small commission for the seller's effort.)

Also - I have thought about putting my character illustrations on professionally-printed bookmarks (I have some simple "print your own" available currently), but the trouble is the cost. Especially since I would need to print a bundle of the bookmark with each character.

Thank you for this thread. The topic is very interesting and thought-provoking, particularly as my wife and I have just started to homeschool our eldest son.

I think several authors working together is a fantastic idea!! Those tables are expensive, and people usually quickly pass up a table that has all of two titles on it. But a whole bunch and nicely done? Now you're talkin'!

Being able to stock books is a matter of having capital to invest. I know I personally can order any number of books on demand with my self-publishing services; it's just paying for those books.

I suppose if a person can only provide so many of their title(s) and they did happen to sell out, they could offer free shipping if customers place the order at the convention. I have made up a couple little slips for this purpose. Haven't sold out at an event yet, though...

That's a good idea, Perry.

Good thoughts a brewin here, guys.

I love all these ideas! I've always planned on using homeschool conferences if I self publish, especially since I've seen a couple other authors do so well at them. At the last one I went to, one girl even had her own seminar, where she promoted her books and talked about her writing in general. I ended up buying two of her books, even.

Also, the conference in Florida is HUGE. As in rent-the-entire-Gaylord-Palms-resort huge. They utilize a massive conference center, and have multiple seminars going on at once. Anyone who sets up a booth there can reach thousands of people who might not hear about them otherwise. So... yeah. Setting up a booth there would probably prove to be a brilliant idea. I'm not sure how it is in other states, but it's probably pretty similar.