Author Event #1: The Mid-Ohio Indie Author Expo

     Here's an interesting fact that I didn't know but that I've learned from more seasoned fellow writers since the publication of my first book:  Any author who wants to see his or her book sell - unless he or she has the good fortune to be a top name in a big major publishing house -  must do the lion's share of the work in the marketing and promotion of his or her literary wares.
      To this end I attended two author events -  as this sort of public presentation and promotion of one's opus is called - this past weekend.
      The first was the Mid-Ohio Indie Author Expo, which took place Saturday afternoon from 3 pm to 7 pm in the Columbus suburb of Urbancrest,

...at the Vaughn E. Hairston YMCA,  

...the pleasant grounds of which were alive with families enjoying the  beautiful day,

...while inside we the authors set up our tables,

...with the help of all the wonderful Expo volunteers,

...under the supervision of the Expo's organizer,

...local author Alicia Wiggins.

     When I asked Alicia how she came up with the idea for the Mid-Ohio Indie Author Expo she explained that self-published authors are often excluded from book fairs, so she wanted to give these authors, as well as authors published by small independent houses -  such as Black Rose Writing, which published my book -  a chance to present and promote their books to the public as well as give the public the opportunity to meet local authors.
      There were fourteen of us local writers at the Expo,

...and one book cover artist,

...as well as several vendors,

...who provided good eats,

...and some beautiful, yummy desserts.

     I, too, attempted to provide some desserts amidst the other freebies I was giving away,
    

...book marks and cards advertising my  blog,

...a synopsis of my book, a couple of sample pages, Amazon reviews and a biography of myself.

     The paper goods turned out to be a good idea.
    The chocolate cupcakes and donut holes I brought - in honor of the chocolate cake scene in chapter 18 and the scene in chapter 8 in which donuts serve a prelude to...well, something - not so much.

     It wasn't that the Expo-goers didn't enjoy the treats.   It was that on the ride in a hot car from Gahanna, where I live, to Urbancrest, where the Expo was, the chocolate icing - which had resembled pretty rosettes that morning when I iced them - had melted into a formless sticky mess atop each cupcake,

...which I not only managed, in my attempt to set the cupcakes on the tray, to get on my white shirt and gray pants,

...but on some of the merchandise as well.

     But I tried to be philosophical about it.  This sort of made me more like the characters in my book,

...to whom embarrassing things were always happening.

  Or maybe this was cosmic payback to me for inflicting all those embarrassing things on my characters.
     Still, the visitors to my table ended up being fine with the sticky-iced cupcakes nor did they seem to notice the chocolate stains on my clothes.  Or else - more likely - they were too polite to mention it.
     Anyway, after we were all set up and read to go,

...some of us made the rounds of each others' tables and introduced ourselves, checked out each others' books, and wished each other well.

   It was really a friendly group, most of the participants veterans of author events, a couple of us first-timers.

     At 3 pm the event officially began and Expo-goers began arriving soon thereafter,

...visiting the tables,

..chatting with the authors,

...enjoying the food,

...including my donuts and cupcakes,

...and buying books, signed by the authors.
     A number of the authors had brought support persons with them to the Expo,

...and I was happily surprised when Tommy stopped by for a support visit,

...and I was again happily surprised a little later by a visit from Randy and Anusha who also stopped by for support and to buy a book (Okay, I did try to give  them a book, but they insisted on buying one!).

     There was a webcaster from Yourbookmybook, Miguel O Lopez, who was there covering the Expo and, as it turned out, I was chosen to be one of the featured authors  interviewed for a webcast video.
     Here's the link to the video of my interview if anyone would like to see it who hasn't already seen it on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/patti.liszkay/posts/665075523703750?notif_t=like&notif_id=1502586879707040

      Justine Jackson, the interviewer, and Miguel were so nice. 

      They let me sit positioned so that the chocolate on my shirt didn't show in the video.

     It was an enjoyable afternoon of talking to many people, meeting other authors and sharing experiences,  camaraderie, encouragement,  and advice.
      As for book sales:  Well, I only sold four.  And one of the books was to Randy and Anusha.
      I guess that's bookbiz.