Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival

Selling at fairs and 'the early bird catches the worm'

As mentioned in my recent post, on Saturday, I took part in the annual Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival. It’s not just for national celebrities who fly in, perform, allow the audience to touch their clothes and then fly away to the rarefied atmosphere where I presume they all live. They were the main attraction, of course, but local writers also had a chance to set up stalls and to sell physical copies of their work to visitors.

I admit to never trying this before.

It was a marvellous learning experience and I have taken several lessons to heart. First, I did sell some books – hooray! I also distributed a fair number of flyers. So we’ll see if internet sales pick up as a result of that.

The council selected for us an empty unit at the top of the main shopping centre in town. They warned that there was no WiFi and internet access is patchy for most mobile phones. They might also have mentioned there are few shops on that level and little reason for browsing shoppers to wander that high. To illustrate this, I counted more hopeful authors in the unit than potential punters coming through the door in the five hour period.

Helpfully, from my point of view, some of us were allowed to read our work out loud. A space had been cleared and chairs laid out on the floor below so we could entice and amuse an adoring audience.

By far the most successful part of my day followed my public reading of 'Baked Beans Revenge'. At first, that area of the shopping centre was deserted. Holding a microphone, I faced forty eight unoccupied chairs. So I took some of my twenty minute allocation to hail passers by; inviting them to put down their shopping, take the weight off their feet for a bit, give their credit cards a rest. And then began the story...

When it was done, one young woman approached and asked if she could buy the book in which this story appears. So, I had to explain it was a separate story, but set in the same time and place as ‘Saved by the Bull’. She then bought the whole set of four paperbacks - £50 worth of books! What a star – she was extremely patient when my card reader refused to link properly with my telephone – so I gave her an extra discount.

I have to try this again, elsewhere. I’m certain there are other Literary events in the South East of England. And fairs which are not necessarily associated with books. To be investigated!

Have you ever tried to sell at a fair? How did you get on?

In other news, I seem to have attracted a little band of helpers to tackle my Slug Invasion: there was an article recently noting that the number of starlings in the UK has declined rapidly since the 1980s. They are now a Red-Listed bird of high conservation concern.

Seeing a massed gathering of these birds, wheeling and turning and forming amazing shapes in the sky was a common sight when I was younger. The term for the gathering is a ‘murmuration’. It is becoming rare, but if you are lucky enough to see one, it is quite magical.

I read that starlings like shorter grass, so they can keep a wary eye out for predators but also forage effectively for their food – which happens to include my nemesis – slugs. After I had cut the grass, half a dozen starlings were crowding along one lawn edge, early yesterday morning. I believe chasing the last of the night’s slimy visitors. Go guys!

The old saying suggests an early bird catches the worm – or the slug. Perhaps starlings were the source of this aphorism

.

Starling bird fighting with a slug