This weekend (Sept. 19-20), I took part in the Independents’ Festival in the Franklinton area of Columbus. This area is familiar to me, since I often parked my car here during my years with the Ohio Department of Education. Alas, Franklinton’s appearance hasn’t improved in the years since I retired from ODE. Cracked sidewalks, broken windows, and weed-filled vacant lots are still in abundance. But for two days, the arts reigned supreme here. The featured arts included graffiti, crowd-source paintings, human-sized Foosball, and music from bands such as Egotronic and Lonesome as Gold.

I was in the Ohio Author Tent on Lucas Street with six or seven other authors. In some ways, I was at a disadvantage since Fast-Pitch Love currently exists only as an e-book. But on the other hand, my flyers and bookmarks took up less space than the trade paperbacks that most of the other authors were trying to sell. The flyers featured the cover of my book along with the Amazon and Barnes & Noble addresses where it could be purchased. Even before the festival, I had Clean Reads reduce the novel’s price from 4.99 to 2.99 to enhance its marketability.

The weather was the biggest challenge. It rained for a couple of hours on Saturday, forcing us to close the sides of the tent. There were also strong gusts of wind that blew away anything made of paper. I used various items – stones, pieces of candy, an apple – to anchor my materials to the table.

Another challenge was the fact that the author tent was not exactly a big attraction for most of the festival attendees. So I made a point of going outside the tent and speaking to people who were passing by. I didn’t speak to just anyone but rather focused on individuals who looked athletic or who had a sports-related hat, t-shirt, or other garment. I emphasized that my royalties were going to girls’ softball programs in central Ohio. That point was well received, even by people who didn’t take a flyer.

When not marketing my book, I talked with other authors at my table. Doug and Betty Montgomery I already knew from Writers’ Ink. Valerie Douglas, author of 23 self-published books, and I had a spirited discussion-debate on the relative merits of publishing one’s own work as opposed to publishing through a small press like Clean Reads.

Was it worth my time to participate in the Independents’ Festival? Maybe. I passed out some 15 or 16 flyers during the event’s two days and noted at least one sale through Amazon on Saturday night. I’m hoping other sales will follow. Prior to Saturday, no one had purchased a copy of Fast-Pitch Love for nearly a month. As Betty Montgomery observed, “selling books is hard.” How true.