Mom and I are purposely filling up our summer and fall schedules with author events and arts and crafts shows. We’ll soon be busier than we’ve been in years. Unfortunately, that’s because both of us were confined by taking care of someone with Alzheimer’s. We spent many hours making sure Dad was safe, and we did so willingly and with love. We even dragged him to a few of our book events, where we occasionally were rewarded with glimpses of my dad’s great, gentle smile. Alzheimer’s took much away from him, but it did not take his friendliness even when he had no idea whose hand he was shaking.
But we are now enjoying the freedom to attend what we want. With three books under our belts (and two more in the works), we are in another phase of being authors: getting out there and letting as many people know about our books as possible. We’re returning to some of the communities where we started our marketing efforts. We are also pursuing a new venue that began last holiday season and really took off: arts and crafts fairs.
In both cases, we are there to get people to buy our books and it feels great when they do. Selling anything piece by piece is a hard way to market a product, but it can be rewarding: we’re doing something we love and hoping to make some money at it.
Also, selling this way allows you another great benefit: you get to meet your audience. Whether you make earrings, quilts or books, creating something but just sticking it on a shelf never allows you the greatest reward of all: exposure to those who love your art. We are now at the point that we occasionally run into people who have read our books and want to talk about them. We also just love to meet the people that might be potential readers. If they stop at our booth, listen to our story and flip through our books to check our writing style, they have shown an interest in reading and/or writing. They are fascinated by what we’ve done and they validate the hours we spent doing it.
Don’t believe the naysayers that say reading books is a dead entertainment. We’ve been there first-hand and seen the passion in people’s eyes. Unless you’re a reader, it’s hard to understand. But reading is an activity that allows your brain to create the story from within. Even children, who have pictures to help them along, are using their brains to fill in the blanks. They don’t have a giant screen and loud music and noises telling their brains exactly what to think.
So gather up your pennies and come see us at a fair or event. You can spend those cents at another booth, and we’ll be perfectly happy. We are all artists and crafters and we want you to see what we do.
Genilee Swope Parente
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