Showing posts with label Book Events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Events. Show all posts

Shopping Bags for your Books

Shopping bags from Big Lots (left) and Hobby Lobby (right)

Do you use shopping bags for your book events? If you're doing a signing at a book store, they will be the ones to provide strong, professionally made bags for your books at the cashier. But what about other events such as speaking engagements, parties, craft fairs and fundraisers?

In the past, I have been very frugal, watching all my pennies, recycling crumpled-up store bags for bagging my books. It wasn't very professional, but it worked. It's always good to recycle grocery bags. Customers never complained, in fact they were always glad I had something to use so they wouldn't have to risk dropping or damaging my books while they continued their shopping.

This has been a good year and I got an idea that I want to share with you. As I shopped at our local Dollar Tree store I passed by rolls of decorated kraft paper. The paper was fairly strong and I liked the design. It occurred to me it was time to learn how to make my own shopping bags. For only a dollar, I bought the roll and went home and found a couple of  Youtube videos on how to make your own gift bags.

With some tape, paste or glue, scissors, yard stick, and recycled cardboard, I got to work. Here are a couple of links, if you want to try this out.

Paper bag tutorial
Boutique Gift Bags



Using a roll of paper gave me the freedom to make various sizes of paper bags and I managed to make 13 paper bags from just one roll! That's about 10 cents a bag if you include the glue, tape and ribbon handles. I made several small bags, a few mediums and the rest large.  After making the first two bags, the rest were easy and quick to make.

I can't tell you how proud I was to be able to hand out my fancy shopping bags to my customers at the Fall Women's Expo. Now I am thinking of adding my name or logo to them for the next fundraiser. But what if you just don't have time to make your bags? Did you check out some of the sales last weekend at Big Lots, Tuesday Morning, or Hobby Lobby?  I did!

Now is the time to shop for holiday decorated gift bags at bargain prices. I was thrilled to find a 10 bag set at Big Lots for only $5.99 (See the photo above) and even better, Hobby Lobby was selling their kraft bag sets at 50% off last weekend. I got 12 plain sturdy medium size bags (see above) for only $3! That's only 25 cents a bag, and you don't have to do a thing unless you want to decorate them. And if you keep the receipts, you can write this off on your business!

Image means a lot when you are out in public. My business cards, mini flyers and brochures have all done their job in promoting my books and crafts. Now it's time to invest a few dollars into packaging. I plan to store several bags in my car trunk with my crate of books so I am always ready to sell my books in style to customers whenever I am out on the road. You'd be amazed how often I sell my books during my travels.




I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. May the next few weeks be filled with holiday cheer, love and joy! God keep you all safe and well. Thank you for following my blog and being my friends.

Book Signing Tomorrow at Hastings Bookstore!






It's time again for another Hastings Book Signing!  
If you live in Lake Havasu City, AZ come on over to the

Hastings Bookstore 
321 Lake Havasu Ave.
(928) 680-7272 

12:00 - 4:00PM

Saturday, March 22nd.


I 'll be there to promote my two books and to talk about the third
 I'm working on: "Guardians of the Fayre Sea."  I hope to see you!







My 2013/14 Winter Events

November is here and with it a good number of craft fairs and store events. People here are revving up for the holidays. Lake Havasu has the "snow birds" coming back for a break from the freezing temperatures up north. The weather is absolutely beautiful. I got my fire logs ready for the fireplace and have set up my home office where I can write by the firelight, so to speak. Now that I am done with the new and improved "The Priestess and the Ravenknight" I plan to craft some items, order more books to sell and attend these events.

Here is what I have scheduled so far:

The Book Exchange - Authors Meet & Greet on Saturday - Nov. 9th - 11 - 3:00

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WNEA Extravaganza on Saturday - Nov. 16th - 9-3:00 

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E.V. MEDINA BOOK SIGNING at Hastings Books, Videos and Music on Sunday - Nov. 17th - 12-3:00

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E.V. MEDINA BOOK SIGNING at Arizona Renaissance Festival on Sat. - Feb. 15th 12 - 4:00

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I also hope to take part in the Lake Havasu Winterfest in Feb. 
Will post those details as soon as I get them.
Venue: McCulloch Blvd (Main St) btwn Acoma & Smoketree
Contact Information: Jeni  Coke
Phone: 928-855-4115
Email: jenic@havasuchamber.com
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If you are anywhere in the area this month, do stop by and visit. I'm always happy to meet my readers and make new friends. All these events are FREE (except for the Ren. Festival) and contact information is posted above.






Another Freebie Weekend!

The two day promotion last weekend just didn't seem to be long enough. I have met with friends who missed out on the event and wanted to download my new ebook. For those of you that still want to get a free copy of my ebook novella, The Priestess and the Ravenknight, please click on the link below and it will take you straight to the Amazon webpage where you can get it for FREE.today, tomorrow and Sunday! It's supposed to be available all day long from midnight to midnight. Make sure you are paying ZERO cents when you purchase the ebook there.  Some of you may have bought this ebook before, but this is the latest version with a new graphic and it's now seven chapters long instead of five. 




FREE Today, tomorrow and Sunday!



I realize not all of you will have a Kindle, but Amazon.com does offer a free app here Free App for non-Kindles  With this app you can read your ebook on a PC, laptop, Ipad, Iphone, etc...

Enjoy the ebook and please please please review it at Amazon! Have a great weekend!

KABAM Book Festival

Now that we are in spring and the snow birds are leaving our fair city in droves, it is time for one more major book signing event in the city of Kingman (about an hour's drive from here).  Kelley and I (as well as other members of the LHCWG) are driving up there to attend the event again this year. There will be lots of authors to rub shoulders with, food, entertainment and one more chance to promote Realmwalkers before the heat turns my attention to swimming and writing indoors.

The festival lasts for days, but we will be up there next SaturdayApril 6th from 11AM - 4PM
Mark your calendars! If you are in the area, stop by!

315 West Beale Street
Kingman, AZ 86401
Community: Kingman
 

View Map | Get Directions

KABAM Book Festival Info and Event Schedule


Renaissance Festival Book Signing

Greetings Good Friends!

I am back from my trip to Phoenix and Apache Junction where I was invited to have a book signing at the 2013 Arizona Renaissance Festival, thanks to my friend and fellow author, Ann Chamberlin.  Here are some photos as promised.

 
 I worked up to the day before the trip sewing and getting last minute items to complete my costume.


At the motel Saturday morning before driving to the festival.

The morning was really nice, cool and sunny.  My husband, Lee, and I has stayed the night in Phoenix and then drove to Apache Junction where hundreds of cars lined up on US60 to enter the festival parking lot. Once inside the renaissance village with my rolling crate of books and book signing necessities I got to work setting up the table located outside Lady Ann Chamberlin's Book Shop.


You can see the table with the red and white tablecloth at the front. I was so glad it was shady there as the day got hotter as time passed. It was hard to believe it was winter as temperatures rose into the mid-seventies.


Passer-byes grew steadily in number until the road in front of me was filled and sitting at my table became impossible. So many passed by without stopping as there was so much to see. It was steep competition out there with so many talented merchants and entertainers vying for people's attention. I read that there were over 200 merchants and thirteen stages of entertainers plus a large variety of eateries and rides at this year's Renaissance Festival.

I stood to stretch out my hand and called out to grab people's attention. "Smile and sound excited," I kept telling myself. My aggressiveness paid off.  One person led to two, then three and more. People began to circle around my little table as I showed them my drawings and books. It was a good place to sell "Realmwalkers" and despite the competition and despite the fact that I am a new and unknown author, I sold eighteen (yes, 18!) copies in the six hours I was there. The only time I got to sit down was for signing the books and my poor feet were killing me. The throbbing still haunts me just to remember. Anyway, it was a good event and I met many people who enjoyed medieval fantasy books. Ann was pleased with how well the event went. 


The left photo shows my little feather brooch on my black velvet hat. I even took links from my belt to make the hoop earrings and hat brooch. If you look close enough, you might be able to see how the sides of my black surcoat are laced up with red/green ribbons. I almost lost a thumb while hammering the grommets into place. LOL! I was warm and comfortable while I pitched my book to the many visitors there that day.

Lee stopped by to check on me and brought me some lunch. He strolled the faire and even passed out some business cards. My friend, Vince, suggests I get Lee to wear one of those sandwich signs to promote the book signing next year. HAH! I don't think so. After the book signing, he helped get my rolling crate back to the car and despite my aching feet, I spent about a half hour wandering around the faire to see what was new.

There were the same events and artisans I have seen from previous visits. There were souvenir shops, rides, jousting, dancers, comedians, performers, and artists. I saw artwork there that made my drawings look like doodles. Such talent! I drank some cold Pear Cider and felt right at home in my scribe costume. It was a wonderful time!