Go to this salon, it’s awesome! A fantastic living room!
So it had been months since I applied to get a stand at this show where all the feedback was glowing and finally, I received my ticket! With Julie Legrisson, we each had half a table, or 1 linear meter, because many authors had made a request and we therefore experienced the adventure together. Not only did this allow me to reduce my accommodation costs since Julie willingly hosted me, but we were able to pool our travel costs by only taking one car: it was good for our wallet and the planet. And above all, it allowed us to have incredible synergy throughout the duration of the show! Between the very friendly atmosphere with our stand neighbors (hello C. Jodile, Carole Schiaratura and Rose P Katell) and the adorable exchanges with all the visitors who stopped at our stand, it was awesome!!! Frankly, the Belgian public is so cute: people have a smile, they respond when you start a conversation and are open to discovery; every author’s dream. In addition, there were a lot of people there, especially on Saturdays, with an eclectic audience eager to read and I had the chance to meet columnists who came and looked for me in the living room! My little heart did somersaults every time someone came to see me and said “I follow you on Instagram, I follow…”: I still can’t believe that people travel miles just to talk to me and I am grateful as you have no idea. Exchanging via booksta is a very nice thing but IRL, it's crazy! They have such energy and kindness that it’s a real boost for the author in me. A big thank you to Siobahn and her brilliant mother, Mysticline, Book and tea lover, Biblio de philote (a double heart since there are two of them!), Lysiane, un jour une histoire, Julie's little workshop, Ynowe (special mention seeing as she came under death threats from Aurore) and in love with books. Well, I hope I haven't forgotten anyone and if that's the case with my goldfish memory, please, don't blame me too much... Especially since I have no memory of faces ( yes I know, I'm team ball).
As for the readers, it was a crazy thing with great encounters each time: I hope that their crush on one of my novels will be as great an experience for them as it was for me. What can I tell you more than the smile and the stars in my eyes when I talk to them about my worlds is what is most beautiful for me? Seeing them laugh or raise an intrigued eyebrow when they read the summaries and ask for more information is frankly amazing. In terms of figures, I made around fifty sales over the weekend spread across all of my titles – with a first podium for my Christmas fantasy romances undoubtedly linked to the period – and I am extremely happy with these results: that reimbursed me the cost of the salon and thanks to my reduced costs, I even made a margin. Only +++ in terms of balance sheet. What could I have done better? Prepare myself a little better in terms of stock because I found myself short of volume 1 in my series and as a result, it hurts sales when people don't know them: no one will buy volume 2 without having read volume 1. Furthermore, with 1 linear meter for 8 titles, the reduced space did not allow for a nice set-up but by observing the stands of other authors, I could have provided small shelves to set my table part apart. Finally, I could have prepared small labels to better “sell” each of my novels and attract the attention of passers-by who did not stop: some went straight to authors whose “genre” corresponded to them at first glance. 'eye. These are the areas of improvement that I want to work on for the next one, because yes, I intend to return to Belgium if I have the opportunity. However, a living room is boring. Especially one as huge as this one. There are people, noise and nothing, this adds to the fatigue of the journey, the handling of books and the intense days. So I will also try to plan for recovery time after the show rather than having a 1-page To Do List the next day…
But what a great experience!!! Look at the photos, I think you can feel the energy and pleasure I felt during these two days.
