I sold books at a local fair

December 26, 2022

Note: this is the transcription of a YouTube video I made in 2022

Preparing the Christmas market was a bit stressful. I live in the French part of Belgium, so French was mandatory if I wanted to sell anything locally. And I was already in the process of translating my book in French… but this time I had a deadline: December 3rd. I needed to get the translation and the publishing done as fast as possible to order paperback copies and have something to sell.

Selling books at a Christmas market for the first time was an incredible experience. I was on the other side of the table at last, watching people coming and going, browsing the different stands. I didn’t want to be that pushy author who tries selling her books to someone who doesn’t really want to buy. Instead, I let people check the back cover, invite them to get some sweets and have a nice chat about London. I think it was the best approach, even if it wasn’t the right audience. Lots of elderly looking for Christmas decorations, or young parents coming for a picture of their kids with Santa.

But because we do like some good numbers, let’s have a look into it.

The Christmas market was organised by a friend of mine, and the fee to participate was €15. With those €15, I had a whole table just for me. Add to it that I bought some sweets for the event at €1.35 and it makes a grand total of €16.35. With that cost, I calculated I needed to sell at least 3 books to get my money back and make a tiny profit.

On the day though, my friend and I realised there weren’t enough tables for everyone. So we decided to share a table together and she refunded half of my participation fee. So in the end, the real cost of the event was €8.85. I only needed to sell 2 books for the same result.

Did I succeed? Well, yes and no.

Yes, because I did sell two books during the Christmas market. So, my objective was complete. No, because one book was sold to my friend and the other to one of my cousins, who had already promised me to buy my book once it would be released in French. No books were sold to total strangers this time around.

In terms of numbers, I made a tiny profit of €6.09, which makes a 68.81% return on investment (or ROI). But was it really? I guess it depends on my own definition of success.

I had a good time at the Christmas market. My friend and I talked and had a lot of sweets. I indeed sold two books but it wasn’t unexpected. They would have been ordered even if I wasn’t doing the event. So, hands in hands, it was a success but not really a success if you know what I mean. I’m not regretting doing the Christmas market because it was a good experience overhaul and I was on the front lines, showing my babies for the first time ever to a local audience.

But my take on that is to choose carefully which event you’ll be doing with your books. Christmas markets aren’t really the place to sell books, because people are looking for Christmassy food and atmosphere. They’re looking for decorations or cute crafty last minute gifts. The next event I’ll be doing will certainly be a book-related event, where people go to buy books specifically.