Hello everyone,

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be a vendor at Same Page Art Book Fair. This has become one of my favourite yearly fairs as it’s such a good event that balances decent sales with lots of social time.

At very large book fairs, it can be very hard to have a decent conversation. The crowd and sound and volume get in the way, and my desire to make sure each potential customer can see the books means I rarely want folks to come to the table and talk for an hour or so. Sales are the priority.

These are my favourite fairs, if the sales are good. By far the most energising thing is when products are selling and people are loving what I’ve got.

At small book fairs, the lack of sales can be very demoralising and I often inherently don’t feel very conversant because I’m often wondering ‘is this worth it?’.

A medium-sized fair is good for both, and Same Page is a great size for lots of chats and good sales. This year I predicted I’d sell $2500 worth of goods and that was achieved.

Sometimes people ask me ‘how’s it going?’ which is a less direct way of asking ‘are you selling?’. I find this a hard question to answer sometimes because anything less than ‘this is the best day ever’ people interpret as some form of dissatisfaction. But having a prediction and meeting it is good - not great, not terrific - but good. Just simple and good. I’m glad to meet the prediction as it shows that I’m getting better at business planning.

I really love book fairs. I get so excited and turn up way too early, and then after I set up I sort of race around being annoying to my friends as THEY set up trying to see everyone. A book fair is one of the few times I can actually talk with my peers and it’s really fun to do so.

The first sale of the weekend feels amazing, and the clapping and congratulations for pack down is really fun.

Thanks to everyone who has ever come to a book fair, even just to wave and say hello. They really keep me going.

I also want to share that I’m sort of very run down and I think that’s coming across in the email today. It’s more scattered and all over the place. Sentences are shorter and there’s a heaviness that is perhaps legible.

I think this is just as I’m juggling three jobs, being a Dad and being a boyfriend and it’s just reaching the point where, gosh, I could use a few days off. At the end of this week my high school substitute work finishes (thank god), and next week I have much more time to myself.

Next weekend it’s also Overprint Art Book Fair in Sydney which will be a really interesting event to share with you all. This is the second book fair that I’ve founded and, I think, will be significantly better than the first one (MEL). I’m keen to share a bit about how the first event goes, both in terms of meeting the broad hopes for the event (well attended, good vendors, etc) and sales for me in Sydney.

If you’re in Sydney please come out.

Anyway, this is one tired and flat publisher. Wish me luck with my two Year 9 Geography classes today.

Matt