The Big Book Fair report + next steps
Hello everyone!
I’ve just returned from the USA and I am buzzing - a combination of good sleep on the plane, a good coffee at home and getting a bunch of stuff done means I am just in the mood to share.
Since the last email three things have happened:
Melbourne Art Book Fair
Los Angeles Art Book Fair
Big progress on the next books
Let’s have a look at the book fairs.
Melbourne cost us $250 to attend. I was unable to be there, so my friend Kyra graciously tabled the event for me. Over the weekend we sold 26 titles and, after costs, netted $1100. Not bad for a fair where we had a small table, I wasn’t there and we didn’t put much effort into.
Los Angeles cost us $4400 to attend - the airfare and fair fee were big costs. However, over the fair I sold 59 books to customers, 15 books to stores and 15 prints. After all the dust settled (it’s still settling as I have some cash I need to exchange) I walked away with $4000 or so. Which is a slight loss.
I want to unpack some thinking here and some lessons I’ll be taking forward.
a) We’re at the point where ‘just turning up’ makes money if our costs are low and doesn’t if our costs are high. Let’s say I’d gotten a local friend to man the table at LA and it had cost $2000 to attend, well even if sales were slightly lower that’d be a clear profit.
b) I’m starting to work out how we can increase profit for these international events. It’s crucial that TPP is represented there, as we’re never going to have massive international sales through stores - but increasingly I think that it’s worth finding friends to table OR setting up big events. For example, I’m planning on being in NYC later this year, and if it goes the way I’m hoping we’ll have two-three new books, a launch, a satellite event and connect with some stores. I’ve also applied for a free table. So if the costs are lower AND there’s more selling that should be great. On the other hand, if those extra events fall through, I think having a local friend be the table worker will be the move.
c) There’s a book I published a few years ago that we can just not shift. I’d heard from a few people that they thought it’d be great in the USA and, despite dropping the price super low, we just sold like 2 copies. So that hope is dashed. This puts me in a tough spot: do I continue just to sell 5-10 per year and see where we get to? Or do I quietly recycle most of the remaining copies, write it off as a loss, and move on with lots learned? As a business person this is a crucial decision, but as a collaborator I don’t know. If the artist found out how would they feel? What’s the relative value of a tax refund (money in) compared to destroying something everyone worked hard on?
d) Having variety and a wider selection IS resulting in more sales. A year or so ago I had this lightbulb moment where I thought ‘well if I only have 4 books for sale, it’s not as if we’re going to sell 20 of each all the time’ - and I hoped that as our catalogue of products grew, more sales would follow. That has turned out to be 100% true. I think the next steps here are to bring in merchandise (more on this later) AND shorter run publications/prints. At the LA book fair, I sold 15 prints - these were just old a4 and postcard sized prints I had left over from events and, although they weren’t big earners, I think that I saw about $250 or so just from those which, for fuck all effort, is a pretty nice return. Especially as I have a pretty good printer at home, I can make these for about $1 each, which is nice.
So, now that manic May is over (the manic part, not the month) I enter into the next phase. Here’s what I’ll be doing over the next 6 weeks or so.
Working a lot to bank up savings. I’ll be smashing the substitute teaching 3-4 days a week.
Preparing for our second book of the year - tomorrow I go to the printers and we hit print on this one. We have a BIG calendar of events with this book too - I can’t say too much as a few things haven’t been finalised, but I am so stoked to share in 3-4 weeks.
Getting merch made. I’ve been working with a designer to bring out a cap, a tee shirt, a tote and a sweatshirt. These are all designed and now it’s time to get them made up. I am so excited to see these out in the world.
Making some hard choices - I have three exhibitions lined up, and one has become really hard. I want to write about this next week and share some of the ups and downs and my final thoughts about if it’s worth it. I also likely need to cancel or delay a book, that’ll be a tough conversation.
Running some workshops! Along with creating a new workshop format. I want to work with folks who are planning on making a book for 2026 and offer them a multi-week program to build a great book, a great business plan and connect them with important collaborators, which will take a few weeks of designing and marketing.
Working on my dingo work. I’m printing it all tomorrow and starting the work on turning it into a book. Gotta get this one done - I have a book launch confirmed for early 2026.
Connecting with printers in Indonesia, India and Myanmar. As I continue my quest to find great work and good prices I’ve had a few folks recommend some people working in India and Indonesia and Myanmar - I’m keen to work with smaller countries and in places where hand work is more affordable. I’m not sure where we’ll get to with these, but I’ll keep you updated :)
Applying for relevant fairs (do I have someone local? are we bringing something exciting? can I keep costs low?)
It’s down time, but it’s not dead time.
Thanks all :)