Where did the time go?

This year certainly did not go as planned.

High on the successes of 2024, I signed up for twice as many vendor events, which required twice as much product and effort. Since a lot of the shows were craft fairs that required at least some handmade products, I spent a lot of the spring and summer making jewelry and knick knacks to sell alongside the books. I enjoy crafting, but it’s getting hard on the hands and eats up a lot of time I’d rather spend writing and editing.

It started off well enough, with an amazing book fair where I sold out in 2 hours, followed by a wonderful anthology release and signing with my first full-length novel author. Then came another book fair - this one outdoors - where we also did quite well. But, once we got into the summer months, the tides began to shift.

Book Fair on the Square, Petersburg, IL

We are all in what I can safely term “interesting times”, so the low attendance and reluctance to buy is not unexpected, but it is still disappointing. Overall, I still sold a decent amount of books, but it wasn’t the increase I had been hoping for. That is no fault of the readers and not from lack of effort; it is simply a reflection of the economic times.

Fae Folk Art Fest, Springfield, IL

But I trundle on. Storytelling is in my soul, and I partner with other passionate creatives. We believe in our work, and believe our readers will get enjoyment from what we produce. I never started this company to make money - just to entertain.

In all honesty, the purpose of selling for Chaos and Ink is only to make enough money to fund the next release, and so far that is holding.

HallowThankMas, Springfield, IL

I might be made of Chaos and ADHD, but I still plan 2 years ahead, and do my best to stick to that plan. Some flex is required, of course, but it serves as a good goal marker. For 2026, we are slowing down our vendor event efforts and focusing more on the writing and release aspects. We have 2 novel releases slated for the summer, as well as 2 anthology releases in the Spring. There is a soft goal of another collection in the winter, but that one may get pushed depending on if we can stay on schedule.

After 2 years of hitting every craft fair in a 2-hour radius, we are adjusting what events we sign up for. For 2026, we are attending book-focused events only, and a couple of select Arts fairs. So far, we are confirmed for Imaginarium 2026 (located in Louisville, KY), and will be putting an application in for Archon in Collinsville and Midwest Toy and Comic Fest in Bloomington, when the applications open. Likely, we will be in attendance at the Fae Folk Art Fest in September 2026 for their Literary Tent, and are eyeballing a couple of other places, notably the book con in Minneapolis. We have our eyes set on GenCon’s Author’s Row for 2027, and our business manager is pushing to get us in at DragonCon in 2027 or 2028. That truly would be the dream. 

There is also a Youtube channel to maintain, and the launch of the Chaos socials as we attempt to make promotion an active part of our daily operations.

You’ll hear more about upcoming projects and releases, open submissions, and all the shenanigans we’ve been up to in the coming months. If you want to read insider news first and get sneak peeks at our WIPs, subscribe to our newsletter. I also wouldn’t say no to a subscribe on any of our other platforms. If you have any questions, whether it be about the business side, book production, writing, or attending events, please leave a comment. We are all about connecting and helping the community in any way we can.

Until next time,

Happy Writing!