This past Saturday (October 17, 2015), I took part in a Christian author book sale organized by Stacy Monson and myself. The concept was birthed a little over a month ago when Stacy and I got together and asked, “How are we going to celebrate our book releases?” Her sophomore release, Dance of Grace (a fabulous book that you can purchase here), was coming out soon, and I’d just released Hungry for Home. We decided to have a book launch for the two of us at the church where Stacy had hosted her debut book launch. Special thanks goes to Mount Olivet Lutheran in Plymouth, MN for letting us use the space! It was a perfect room!
Then Stacy and I decided it would be fun to invite a few additional authors.
LeAnne Hardy in a costume she made herself!
Within days that two-author book launch grew into a 13-author, 1st Annual Fall Harvest of Books event that we now had to advertise big time. No problem, right? We created a website and a Facebook event, and the event was listed on the community calendar of a local Christian radio station. We also put together a flyer (that kept changing until the final week) and asked the author participants to share it.
Jennette Gudgel
So we had authors and giveaways and refreshments–now the only question was, would buyers come?
Delores Topliff
Well, they did. I was too busy at my book table (good problem to have!) to try to count attendees, but my husband guess-timated between 100 and 200 people visited. Not bad for a last-minute event. I’d say that’s a good foundation for future sales.
And, yes, we will do this again next fall, and possibly next spring as well, with even more authors! But next time, we plan to give ourselves a lot more time to organize the event!
Sale Participants (from above pic):
Michelle Lim | LeAnne Hardy | Stacy Monson | Elizabeth Goddard | Brenda S. Anderson | Julie Saffrin
Sharon Hinck | Connie Lounsbury | Kathryn Dahlstrom | Jennette Gudgel | Chawna Schroeder | Delores Topliff
Comments 4
Looks like a great time. Well played, Ladies.
It was a great time! And we’re looking forward to doing it next year!
My librarian heart stopped beating when I read you organized that in a month!!!!! I’m discombobulated. And impressed. Definitely make it an annual festival. How wonderful to have so many Christian authors live in the area.
We really are fortunate to have so many great authors in the area, and this list didn’t even include Julie Klassen, Susan May Warren, Michelle Griep, John Otte, Erica Vetsch, and more! We’re hoping they’ll join us next year.