The 2008 Arkansas Literary Festival

When we told people we were going to the Arkansas Literary Festival, the most common response was: "Why?"

When we explained why - a chance to spread the word, sell some books, meet some new people - the next question we heard was: "Yeah, but why Arkansas?"

Why not?

One: It's close. Little Rock is only five hours away. Two: It's reasonably priced. The cost for a table was $170. With hotel, food, and gas, we were looking at spending six to seven hundred dollars (that's the cost of just the table at our own book festival). We could make that back. Right?

***

We got to Little Rock Friday evening, around five. It was too late to set up our table (inexplicably, hours for setup were between 2:00 and 4:00), but we had plenty of time to set up in the morning.

The exhibitors were located in an outdoor pavilion behind the River Market, which normally has a great view of the river and North Little Rock, but they had to keep the canvas walls up because it was windy and so brutally cold.

The actual table itself was a little beat up. The festival didn't provide covers, and we thought about bringing one, but I told Robin we would be fine. We cover most of our table with books anyway.

However, I didn't know the table would be so old. When one of the event organizers said, "Oh, you didn't bring a cover?" Robin responded (a little briskly, she's quick to admit), "We though the tables would be from this century." Luckily, we had a piece of blue fabric and our sign to help make our table look presentable.

In addition to our normal display of books, journals, and t-shirts, we added a newish feature to our table for this festival.

When we went to the Texas Book Festival last fall, I brought a box of literary journals I had collected over the years. I put the box out with a sign advertising them for three bucks a piece, and almost all of them sold. The box did exactly what I hoped. It pulled in the casual viewer, who, after seeing the great price, would buy a copy or two, and then, oftentimes, pick up a copy of The First Line.

For Arkansas, I wanted to do it up right, so I contacted about thirty editors of my favorite journals (independent presses only), and asked them if they would be interested in donating extra copies. I told them I would sell them for two dollars a piece, and the proceeds would go to the Arkansas Literacy Foundation. Lit(erature) for Lit(eracy), we called it. (Cheesy, sure, but effective.)

(By the way, yes, I stole the idea from a certain organization, a 'council,' if you will. However, I didn't charge any of the journal editors ten to thirty dollars for the privilege of sitting on our table.)

Anyway, the response from the editors was better than I expected. We received over 100 issues of some excellent journals. It just goes to prove my assumption that if we could, most editors would give our publications away for free (just ask Fence magazine).

Lit(erature) for Lit(eracy) did pretty good, considering the crowd was so light. Most people who stopped by to look already knew about many of the journals on display, and I had fun selling some of the lesser-known publications.

In the first hour of the festival, only a few people entered the pavilion, and I sold only two literary journals. After that, Robin took over while I took the kids to one of the featured children's writer's reading.

Unfortunately for the exhibitors, the reading venues were held in several different locations (the historical museum, the main library, and a book store) several blocks away from the River Market pavilion. A few of the authors came by our booth on their time off, but if you didn't look at a schedule, you wouldn't have known there were readings.

For the rest of the day, Robin and I alternated working the booth - the morning was really slow, but the afternoon picked up. We weren't sure if it was the weather, the location, or the lack of local enthusiasm. I heard that last year, the festival coincided with the opening of the Farmer's Market, and there were people standing in line to get into the book festival pavilion. There seemed to be a smaller version of the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, but no one was waiting to get into the book festival.

As usual, we scared some people. We got more than a few puzzled looks followed by my favorite question: "What's this about?" It's fun to watch the faces go from skeptical to pleasantly surprised after I do our spiel, and it's even better when we make a sale. Every once in a while, someone would come by and say, "I know you guys," and I'll admit it, that's a bit of a thrill.

Our neighbors on the right and left were an author self-promoting her book and a local writer's group, respectively. A couple across the aisle from us created personalized children's books, and next to them, an elderly couple sold used books for a community center. Directly behind us was another writer selling his book. He shared with us that he wasn't selling much either, and he decided not to come back on Sunday. In fact, several exhibitors didn't return on Sunday, and one - a book publisher - left after two hours.

It was great to see Oxford Magazine at the table behind us. They seemed to be doing okay - they were offering back issues at three for ten dollars, which was a great deal - and we talked with the people from the University of Arkansas Press for a bit, but I don't know how well they did.

In the end, we made a little over one hundred dollars on Saturday, which I thought was great for such a slow day.

***

One last note about Saturday: We wanted to attend Pub or Perish on Saturday night - it was billed as a reading of festival authors with some open mic time. Robin planned to read a short story from the spring issue, but the venue changed. Instead of taking place in the Peabody hotel, it was moved to Sticky Fingerz, a restaurant/bar next to our hotel. Known for their chicken fingers, the kids and I were excited, until we stopped by to check it out and learned that no one under 21 was allowed because of the smoking ordinance. Robin called the person in charge of the event, asked the manager at Sticky Fingers, and even asked the head honchos at the festival, only to be told that they hadn't really thought about the ordinance. In the end, they all apologized but said: no dice for anyone under 21. For such an fun event, it seemed like very poor planning.

***

To say Sunday was slow would imply there was some movement. We sold thirty dollars worth of merchandise in four and a half hours - and six dollars of that was from a return customer (a young lady who came back to buy a couple of past issues).

It wasn't as cold as Saturday, but I think the lack of events (only a few author-led groups and NO children's activities or author readings), and the fact that the few events they did have were several blocks away, kept people away.

I spent the entire time at the booth, which allowed Robin to take the kids to the Clinton Museum and go on a tour of old town Little Rock. They actually had a great time.

The highlight of my day was when John Vanderslice dropped by. John is an assistant professor of writing at the University of Central Arkansas. We've published two of his stories, including "Proof," which was included in our current anthology. John came down to moderate one of the Sunday events, and he dropped by the table. It was nice to meet one of our writers.

We were supposed to stay until five, but by four, half the exhibitors had started to pack up. We joined them at four thirty, and we were in the car, heading back to Texas by five.

***

Did we have fun? I had a great time at Kimberly Willis Holt's reading; although, I would have liked to have seen another children's author or two. The festival organizers were very friendly and helpful, our fellow exhibitors were nice and fun to talk with, and it was great to get out of the state, even for just a weekend.

Was it worth it? We spent a little over six hundred dollars on this festival. We ended up selling $160 dollars worth of merchandise, which included the fifteen Lit(erature) for Lit(eracy) journals we sold. That put a hurt on the old bank account.

Will we go back? There was a rumor floating around that the next year's festival will be run by the library. It would be interesting to see the differences, but I'd like to give them a year to iron out the kinks before we come back. Besides, several other states hold their book festivals in April. So, next year, we'll probably drag the kids somewhere else.

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The 2007 Texas Book Festival

Well, we survived our second Texas Book Festival. I don't mean that to sound bad, but as I've mention before, I was hesitant to spend the time, effort, and especially money on an enterprise that seemed to be light on return. Sure, we did our part to raise money for Texas libraries and the kids and I really enjoyed attending the free readings and activities, but as an exhibitor, let's just say, there were flaws.

An Attendee's Point of View (David and the kids)

But let's start with the positives. As festival attendees, there was very little to complain about. Sure, there weren't as many big names as in the past (Obama and Amy Sedaris last year, Clinton and Daniel Handler - Lemony Snicket - two years before), but there were plenty of authors to suit differing tastes, and the children's author selection was outstanding.

The weather was incredible. Mid-70s on Saturday, and I think it made it to the 80s on Sunday, with a light breeze. People were out on the grounds of the Capital, lounging in the grass, listening to the bands, reading books, and eating corn dogs - it was a gorgeous weekend.

Gabe, Olivia, and I got to meet several authors:

• Kristin Gore (Author of Sammy's Hill, Futurama writer - She's a smart funny writer and is hot? Sorry Tina Fey, you just moved down a spot on my list.)
• Jeff Kinney (Author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Gabe read the book waiting to get it signed and couldn't stop laughing.)
• Mo Willems (Author of Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too - Best reading of the festival. Seriously, I've got the tape to prove it.)
• Sally Cook (Author of Hey Batter, Batter Swing! - She called Gabe a "crank." He was touched.)
• Rob Kidd (Author of the Young Jack Sparrow young adult novel series - Gabe and I were interested, Olivia wanted to abandon ship.)
  

We made crafts in the children's activities tent, learned some magic tricks, ate junk food, and played football on the Capital grounds.

Overall, I was impressed with how the festival was run. The volunteers were courteous and prepared. We had a great time.

An Exhibitor's Point of View (Robin)

Okay, first of all, who plans a book festival on the same weekend as the Komen Race for the Cure? But we'll get to that in a minute.

We arrived Friday afternoon to set up and were pleasantly surprised with our location. We were in tent 400, right next to the Texas A&M Press tent, near the Entertainment tent, with easy access to the street. Our booth was between a one-book author and the Texas General Land Office.

We arrived early Saturday morning to finish setting up, and then we waited for the crowds to show. Last year, we were so busy, I didn't get a chance to sit down for the first four hours, and we brought a friend along to help. In fact, I was so swamped with inquiring minds last year, I didn't have a chance to relax the entire festival.

This year, the tent was noticeably empty. People wandered in and out, but very few stopped by any of the booths Saturday morning; we didn't sell anything until 10:30. (Last year, our first sale was at 8:30 - thirty minutes before we we were technically open.)

Early estimates from the organizers put the festival's attendance at 40,000 - about the same as last year. Maybe, but 40,000 people didn't come through the exhibitors' tents.

Those who did were, for the most part, supportive and kind. We still got a lot of double takes, not as many as last year, but the most oft spoken comment we heard after we were asked to give our spiel was: "How cool."

We had writers, readers, booksellers, and editors drop by and say hi. We even had an author drop by and visit who we had rejected but who was able to sell the story to another magazine. I had a great time talking to everyone. Even David, who, as a general rule, doesn't like people, admitted to having fun during the twenty minutes he was in charge of the booth.

Our neighbors were nice. On Saturday, one of the men at the Texas General Land Office booth bought a copy of The First Line to read during the lulls. He liked it so much, he bought several more issues on Sunday. That right there made the entire weekend worth it.

Were we satisfied with the festival organizers? For the most part, yes. We enjoyed the donuts and cookies. Communication could have been better. The tents were supposed to be closed at 5:00 on Saturday, but the festival organizers decided to keep them open until 6:00 because of a concert on the Capital steps. We weren't told. At least not anyone at our end of the tent - and we were right next to the organizers' tent. We heard about it from another exhibitor, but they thought it was a rumor. I had to go ask the organizers if it was true. Someone should have sent a volunteer around to tell us.

Why did the festival start so late on Sunday (11 instead of 10 the year before)? Was it because the Komen Race for the Cure? It was cool to watch the race wind through the city streets from our hotel room Sunday morning; it was a nightmare to try to get to our booth with most of the streets surrounding the festival closed off. We had to break several traffic laws and cross a couple of barriers just to get to the festival in time to set up. Terrible planning.

(By the way, Austin is a football town. Why is this not in the spring?)

Fall in Texas is a great time to have an outdoor book festival. However, you don't expect it to be in the high 70s / low 80s. By 4:00, the inside of the tent was stifling. It didn't help that there were huge lights in our tent, adding more heat to the mix.

Sure, the organizers can't control the weather, but they can try to make the tents more comfortable. By Sunday afternoon, it got so hot, some exhibitors were pulling out fans and raising the sides of the tent to let in air. We did appreciate that the volunteers came by every once and a while with cold water. That was nice.

Did we make money? No. This is an expensive book festival for a small press to attend, especially in relation to the costs and number of people who attend the bigger festivals (LA, Miami, and Chicago). Last year we sold enough to cover half our costs. This year, the festival costs rose, but we made only half last year's number. (Was attendance down or was it that the same people showed up as last year, and they already had our books?)

But compared to most of our neighbors, we did great. We had a small but steady stream of people file by. Some of our neighbors went thirty minutes without anyone stopping just to chat. (Surprisingly, the Texas General Land Office, which sold maps, seemed to do great business. I was amazed at the number of people who bought maps.)

It's just my two cents, but they need a better - fairer - pricing structure. I know some festivals charge lower rates for small presses and individual authors, and some charge lower rates across the board, but ask for ten percent of the sales. True exhibitors, like the Texas Folklore Society and one-book authors, shouldn't have to pay as much as a small press, and a small press shouldn't have to pay as much as a university press or an independent bookstore. At least this year, the festival allowed people to share a booth.

Apparently, Barnes and Noble's book sales are the measuring stick for the success of the festival, but that's only because they have a monopoly on selling the attending authors' books. How much do they pay for their tents? Do they get a discount because they give a percentage of their sales to the festival? What is that percentage? And where was Austin's own Book People? Or Borders? Even faux indie Intellectual Property made it to the party. (In truth, we don't expect or want special treatment. We thrive on trying to survive in a time when books seem to be losing their luster.)

Will we come back? Ever year we can. We love that there is a book festival in Texas. I love meeting new people, talking to authors and readers, and the whole experience is worth it. Even if only one kid gets to go to college.

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