What you see above are (almost) all the author’s copies I have of all the published fiction I’ve written. Why am I taking stock of all this now? Well, at Clockwork Alchemy, this happened:
I sold many, many other copies of my books and a solid dozen copies of FROST MOON – nearly cleaning out my stock of my first novel. I’d ordered twenty when LIQUID FIRE came out, but between that dozen, a few for a shelf at work, and a box that I sent to BayCon, I was left with just two of them. Time to order more.
I’m in the writing game for the long haul, so I generally order 20-30 copies of any book or anthology that my work is published in (less or more if the publisher has a deal on sending a specific amount). Generally, north of 20 is a good number – I just sold out of 20 FROST MOON, but it can take a few years to sell out of 30 copies of an anthology. Your mileage may vary.
Along with the books are piles of swag, postcards, t-shirts and various display materials which I organize into boxes so they can easily be taken to conventions. After several iterations of this, I’ve grown to keeping the stock in one big box, the swag in another box, keeping an empty “useful box” for extra copies on the first day of a convention (or a few copies for a smaller event like a signing) and all the oversized books and display materials needed at a full table in another box.
This way if I want to go to a con, I can just grab a couple boxes and go. If I want to go to a con where I’ve got a table, everything I need is in just a couple more boxes, all of which fit in a couple shelves (more or less) in one bookcase.
For a local con where I have a table, like Clockwork Alchemy, I go all out, so I need a couple more boxes of props, a display stand, and some tablecloths and an antique easel on loan from my wife. But the results, I think, are impressive.
At least, thanks to my helpful assistants (thanks!) …
… it helped me sell a lot of books, and hopefully, make a lot of new fans.
Time to order more FROST MOON …
-the Centaur
