#bookfairs | Judith Barrow

PART TWO

So, to the practicalities …

You’ll definitely need a constitution for the official book fair bank account and if you’ll be looking for grants, sponsorship etc.

Get started early; you’ll need plenty of planning time. Work out the best time of year for your area by looking around, seeing what else is on at certain times. Is there any event happening on the date you’d like that might help or hinder footfall to your book fair? Is there a festival you could link up with? Or a similar event to yours which would take away your potential public? If the latter, don’t be inflexible, change your date.

Book your venue. You want somewhere that people will pass and enter easily. (Check for disability access and facilities). And check that there is somewhere outside of the building that you can hang a banner advertising the book fair on the day – or, at the least, somewhere that you can stand A boards outside without causing any obstruction

Thorne Moore and I on the morning of our last book fair and hoping this banner will attract enough attention for our last book fair at the. It did – well, alongside the rest of the publicity we’d put out there over the previous few months, it did.

If you intend to ask your authors to give talks, hold creative writing workshops, hold panels on various aspects of writing or genres, or invite publishers to put on an appearance for talks or editor sessions (always a good move and the authors will thank you!), make sure there are enough rooms. Most importantly, make sure the actual room/hall you’ll be holding the book fair in is large enough. You’ll need a fairly spacious area because you’ll be inviting lots of authors to participate… won’t you!?

Also check for the number of tables and chairs the venue has. And make sure you can get your hands on more tables if necessary. You don’t want to have more authors than tables

Find out if the venue has public liability insurance. If not you have two choices, stump up for it yourself (in which case you could be paying out a fortune) or ask the individual authors to take out their own – much the better option and a lot of writers have their own insurance anyway.

Lists, lists and more lists! Try to include as much detail as possible and when things need to be started or completed by. You won’t always hit the targets but you’ll know when they go whizzing by (a bit like that deadline you’ve set for yourself with your WIP). Know which of you is responsible for each task. But don’t forget to ask for or offer help from one another… you are a team working to one goal.

And that’s it! This is what worked for us. And, for anyone brave enough to organise a book fair – good luck.

Oh, and don’t forget – you’re entitled to a little of the publicity for yourself.

Judith Barrow Thorne Moore

Many years ago I was asked by a local online television company, Showboat TV to interview for a programme called BookSmart. In slight trepidation I agreed; I had no experience in interviewing anyone. But as an author and a creative writing tutor they obviously thought I would be able to talk to other writers about their books and the way they wrote.

I remember I had just the first two books of the Haworth trilogy published then …

Pattern of Shadows

And the sequel: Changing Patterns

But ShowBoat TV had faith in me, and it’s been interesting – and fun. I’ve met many people, authors who live in Wales and authors from all over the world. At first it was filmed and shown through the internet; these days, when I interview, we work through Zoom. Which is what I did when interviewing Debbie Campbell last year, and lately Suzi Quatro. Need I say these were the highlights of my volunteering – and Showboat TV are promising more of this ilk for their viewers.

Viewers, whose numbers, may I say, have risen steadily over the years,because the company provides such a variety of programs. Besides BookSmart, there are interviews with musicians and performances of dramas produced by small companies. All accessible from the homepage, which contains all of the seven free series, with one episode following one each day.

But not only does the company cover all this, but they also travel around filming events, and, in the past, they filmed and were sponsors for the September annual book fairs that I helped to organise, initially with friends and fellow authors, Thorne Moore and Alex Martin – then in later years, when Alex moved away, just with Thorne.

It was hard work – and it began in the January of each year.

When embarking on this, the first thing you do is start with the obvious; find someone like-minded to help you with the organising of the whole affair. More importantly, someone who you know well enough to recognise you’ll be able to work together without egos getting in the way. (And, yes, I’m speaking from experience; enough said!) And someone with a sense of humour. Believe me, if you’re determined to hold a book fair, you’ll need one.

So, to the practicalities – but maybe that’s better left for next time…