End of May Already?

Boy, howdy, has it been a busy few months!!

Things are really starting to happen over here at The House of Chaos! Between writing, producing an anthology, my design projects, and reading through novel submissions, there hasn’t been a dull moment. Thought I’d take a moment to force myself to breathe, and catch you up on everything that has been happening in my little goblin-y corner of the world.

Pop-up market, Calftown Cafe

From June 2024 to January 2025, Chaos and Ink appeared at 6 events and brought in a little over $1600. Not bad for the first 7 months. We started off with just the barest dip of a toe by appearing at a pop-up market in Quincy, IL selling only 2 copies. It was a completely unmarketed event and traffic was extremely slow. I think we got 10 lookey-loos total that day. I did not pay a booth fee for this event.

I wasn't really prepared for this event since I was still in the process of editing Grymveil Tales and only had one book in stock, and that was from another publisher. But I made due with what I had and it gave me a chance to play with table display.

Big River Steampunk Festival

Then continued our slow build with the Big River Steampunk Festival, selling 8 books as a guest of the Hannibal Writers Guild, no booth fee. That corner of Missouri in late August is a sweltering, humid hellscape. All the fun could not make up for the sun and heat, especially when you're wearing petticoat layers and a corset.

Fae Propaganda Arts Faire

Then came the Fae Propaganda Art Faire in Springfield. Sold 29 books and chatted with countless people. I think they estimated around 5000 festival-goers attended. I shared a tent with 5 other authors (again, no booth fee) and we all did pretty well. I was still running low on stock at that time due to a shipping snafu, so I made flyers to hand out in case I ran out of books. They also served as pretty reminders to interested readers who weren't quite ready to commit.

This event really helped me gauge local interest. Springfield is very active in the arts and there are tons of events throughout the year to support artists of all kinds. It has been the most welcoming community I have lived in yet/. I have met so many wonderful writers, poets, painters, and makers of all stripes. And that supportive community has resulted in growth for me personally and professionally.

LLCC LitFest

After attending Fae Prop, my local area started to remember my name just a bit and I was invited to participate in the Lincoln Land LitFest, which had taken a 5 year hiatus due to Covid. It was a very soft re-launch with just a handful of vendors and a folk band. I only sold 2 books at this event, but considering only a very small number of people attended, I still consider this a win, especially since I didn’t have to pay a vendor fee and it was only a 15 minute drive from my house.

The events director stated she'd love to hold the event again in 2025 with more promotion and pre-planning. I really hope they hold to that, especially as my son is currently a student there.

Quincy Christmas Market

I took a bit of a break until December, when I braved the Quincy Christmas Market. Now, this did cost me $100 in fees, and it WAS NOT my target audience. I brought some little crafts I do on the side to qualify as a “craft table” and only sold about 20 books. I did make back my booth fee and a little profit, but not enough to justify the 4 hour round-trip car ride. -10/10, would not do it again.

 I was all set to give up for the season when a local poet friend invited myself and several other local writers to vend at an adult book fair his aunt was holding at her tavern/venue hall. This was a very well marketed event, no vendor fee (just had to bring your own set-up) and over 2000 very eager readers packed into the party room to browse the 14 authors in attendance. 

I SOLD OUT, raking in $1000 from this event alone! I even had to sell my display copies that still had the price sticker on them. It was wild and I loved it.

The sales I made at the events was enough to restock and add some swag into the mix to get ready for the next season. I was lucky to only have to pay 1 vendor fee between all those events. Most actually do charge, with $40 being the lowest I’ve seen (most of your small, local market events), and $1000 (DragonCon) being the highest. The free events are usually hosted by small business owners hoping to lure in customers with the event. 

For the year of our Goblin 2025, I am already signed up for 3 events: Steampunk Festival again, Fae Propaganda (renamed to the Fae Folk Art Fair), and a book signing at a favorite coffee shop. I’m sure more will present themselves last minute. If not, we have big plans for 2026! 

This went on a bit longer than anticipated. I’ll share the other news for next time. Trust me, there’s a lot more to say!

Stay Magical!