Tucson Festival of Books 2024

The NM Book Association recently participated in the Tucson Festival of Books, held on the University of Arizona campus on March 9-10, 2024. The festival is a major annual event in Tucson and draws over 100,000 attendees. This is our third year in a row of exhibiting at the festival.

Our total sales this year were a little better than last year’s, but, as usual, they varied greatly, and many authors sold only one book or none at all. However, this isn’t conclusive: We handed out dozens of flyers with the QR Code and website address for our online catalog, as well as NMBA business cards and SWBDA contest brochures. Authors and publishers may hear from potential customers in the future, and NMBA may gain contest entries and new members.

Shirley Melis and Noemi de Bodisco Photo by Frank Hirsch

Jordan Jones, Paula Lozar, and Susan Weeks Photo by Shirley Melis

Some general observations:

It’s impossible to predict which books will sell and which won’t. Last year we were asked for books in a couple of genres that we didn’t have. This year we had them, but they didn’t sell!

Authors who volunteer at the show have an advantage because they can bring extra copies of their books to sell. Our best-selling authors were volunteers who sold out their original 5 copies, and a few more. But all our volunteers did their best to sell everyone’s books, not just their own.

Participating in the Indie Author Pavilion is a good way to boost sales. This requires a separate application through the Festival website, and costs a small fee, but NMBA shared the information in advance of the deadline.

In general, customers like to interact with authors who are enthusiastic about their books and willing to talk about them, so going to a show is always a good idea.

Emails have gone out to everyone who participated. Authors who sold books at the show received a summary of their sales, and they can choose to be paid through PayPal or to receive a check in the mail. As for books that didn’t sell, we can store them for our next sales event, or, if notified in advance, we can bring them to our next in-person luncheon.

Eric Paul Shaffer, Shirley Melis, and Susan Weeks with customers. Photo by Jordan Jones.

Many thanks to the volunteers who worked at the show. A special shout-out to Roxanne Howe-Murphy and Jack Meyer, who helped to load into the booth on a rainy morning (luckily, we had beautiful weather for the rest of the weekend!), and to Jack, Shirley Melis, Jordan Jones, and Leslie Stalhut, who packed up the booth while the Booth Chair was stuck in a long line of cars trying to get in. And thanks again to Anna Sochocky for collecting books before the show, Jordan for designing the booth banner and tracking entries and payments (and just about everything else), and Frank Hirsch for moral support.