Smut & Sip Book Fair at Page 42 Bookstore in Spokane, WA!
My First Table Setup: What Worked
(and What I’d Change)
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I made it back!
I am officially back in the trenches at home, heavily caffeinated, and staring at the evidence of my belated-packing whirlwind. My house is still littered with the aftermath—empty shipping boxes, packing wrappers, and a mountain of event gear waiting to be sorted. Trying to transition straight from my first book fair back into the beautiful chaos of managing a home with two wild little humans is a serious kind of whiplash.
Below you’ll find a quick recap of our adventure followed by the things I thought went well and the borderline failures of our trip. Scroll past the selfie below to skip to the booth notes!
If you haven’t already, check out Page 42 Bookstore’s website to see their upcoming sales and events!
The 10-Hour Road Trip
The adventure kicked off the second my sister and I packed the car to the roof. We braved a 5-hour drive there (and by ‘we’ I mean she drove the entire way because she gets carsick. I’m not used to being the passenger princess, but we made it work.) Let’s not forget that we had a 5-hour drive back, excluding the necessary survival stops. Road-tripping with her was the perfect, chill preamble to the book fair itself.
We made sure to break up the trek along the Columbia River Gorge, stopping in Hood River for a delicious meal at Full Sail Brewing to fuel up. And because no proper road trip is complete without a little indulgence, we obviously had to stop for chocolate at Edeske Patisserie on the way back to the car. The box had a gingko pattern on it! I’m literally obsessed. Have I mentioned I love Ginkgo? I have a ginkgo tattoo, if you needed convincing.
We spent one night in Spokane after arriving late in the evening. The next morning, we were up early and ready to hunt for Page 42 (our first time visiting the store). There were already people setting up which was so intimidating as a first-time-vendor, but they were all welcoming and made me feel like I was meant to be there. After our high-energy day at the fair, we turned right around for the trek home. Literally, fifteen minutes after the show ended, we were packed and back on the road with a goal of reaching home by midnight.
If you stopped by my table, grabbed a bookmark, chatted with me about dark fantasy, or brought a copy of Bound to Shadows to be signed—thank you. You completely filled my creative cup and made every single box, wrapper, and mile of that drive worth it.
There were so many beautiful sights on this trip! Our hotel room was on the 14th floor overlooking the river. There were walkable gardens nearby that (if I’d planned for more time) I would have loved to explore!
Once we actually arrived and unloaded all those boxes, it was time to bring the aesthetic of the Eclipse Realms Saga to life in a physical space. For a dark romantasy author, your table setup is everything—it’s how you signal to the right readers that your book is exactly what they’re looking for. I was most excited about my banner, and felt like it would draw people in, but a surprising number of attendees were curious about the silly moss cloth! It did the job.
I wanted my table to feel mystical, dark, and a little bit cursed, but thoroughly welcoming. Here is the breakdown of how the execution went.
Book Fair Table Setup: What Worked (and What I’d Change)
The Living Room Test
If there is one piece of advice I am so glad I took, it was doing a complete mock-up setup at home before we left. Staging the table in my living room ahead of time helped me visualize the spacing, crate the dark floral and celestial vibes, and ensure I actually had enough room for the stacks of Bound to Shadows. It took away a massive amount of the pre-event anxiety because I knew, in theory, exactly where everything belonged. The downside? This was a massive setup in the middle of my living room so I was surrounded by kiddo chaos and cats. Despite the number of fake flowers my cat ate, I found this so beneficial.
This is as raw as it gets. This is the picture of my setup in the living room. You can exactly how different it ended up being in the final version.
The Reality Check
...And then I actually got to the venue. As helpful as the home setup was, the reality of the event space meant I didn't end up matching my living room process exactly. Between the actual booth footprint, the lighting (ie the sun), the way the aisles flowed, wind, and the energy of the space, I had to pivot on the fly. Did I mention the gravel? Not a big deal, but also something I didn’t anticipate. Lesson learned!
Some things shifted, a few items got rearranged to better balance things, and it taught me a valuable lesson: do the mock-up for peace of mind, but leave room for the venue to dictate the final magic.
What Worked
The Vibe: Even with the layout shifts, the aesthetic did exactly what I wanted it to do. It caught the eyes of readers walking down the aisles who instantly recognized "their" vibe. I had so many people tell me how much they loved the greenery and that the mood was clear, so that felt like a win.
QR Stand — Initially I was planning on getting an acrylic printed QR code, but I’m glad I went the simple route. This frame is straightforward, just acrylic and a weighted base. I printed my QR code at home and mounted it on a glitter background. It drew attention and did exactly what I needed it to!
Mossy Tablecloth — Even though most of my display was just a basic black tablecloth, the mossy cloth had such an impact. My only frustration is that I wanted more!
Battery Operated Candles — I had a combination of two candles on my table! Black, and white candlesticks. At first I thought it would be overkill, especially in the bright sun, but it was actually pretty rad. Candles in 80 degree weather? Why not. Vibes are vibes. To make the candlesticks have various heights, I also got some cheap little candlesticks.
Tiered Stand — The 3-tier stand was so necessary to create elevation for both my books and the candles. Especially because I only had one book to sell, I needed to make it feel full. My only complaint is that I have to reassemble for each show. Ah, but I lied, my second complaint is that I couldn’t hide my coffee behind it haha I should have brought a black board or something to hide my junk. But that’s not a fault of the stand, that’s just me being silly about keeping it on the table instead of at my feet.
Outer Decorations:
Hanging Flowers — These were a game changer! As soon as I hung them, it immediately turned the shabby canopy into an oasis. I wished there were more because my pack only had 10, but that’s a small problem and easy to fix! The stems had wire, so we just made a little hook shape and stuck them right into the frame of the canopy.
Curtains — I actually got a 4-pack of sheer white with gold accents at Ross, but I wish I’d gotten something darker or more solid. The white curtains made it feel light and airy, but it also revealed all my ugly boxes and carts that I would have preferred to hide. This is something I would rather use. It was nice to have the backdrop, but it’s because we were against a fence. Had I been back to back with another author, I think it would have felt cramped and kind of rude.
Bungee Cords — Okay, I realize this is such a simple thing, but it was so easy to hang the curtains! Mine were terrible green and would have looked so much better if they were black. This pack is what I’m using for the next show. Not only for hanging the curtains along the back and sides of the canopy, but also to hold weights down on all corners of the tent. Most will come with weight bags, and these make it so easy to clip the weights on.
The Dual-Soul Hook: Having a quick, punchy way to explain Kaziel and Ya'varen's dynamic (two distinct souls sharing one body) worked like magic. The moment that concept clicked for a reader, they were hooked. The 6 foot banner was a must-have. Pointing to that artwork by @kindcannibalism and explaining “How they are pictured here is actually an impossibility in the book. The two of them share a body, so Helyria technically can only be with one of them at a time.” was so much fun. I could see the gears turning in everyone’s head and most everyone was excited about the concept. Only a few scrunched their noses in confusion.
These items I would print again:
Bookmarks — I used canva to print mine. After pricing out on Vistaprint and a few other vendors, I ended up going with Canva’s native print service and it worked great. We even had a printing error and they fixed then sent a whole new batch for me. I’ve used Canva for years and don’t plan on changing that any time soon.
Banner — Once again, I did my research to find the best prices and quality, but Vistaprint took the cake. I’m usually wary of the standard print companies, knowing I can find cheaper products through back door print on demand companies, but in this case, Vistaprint was the best deal.
Mini Book Covers — This was a labor of love for sure. The books were 3d printed by a coworker. Each cover I scaled down to fit the 1” size, then I printed on an adhesive label sheet. I’ll go into a tutorial for these in another post! Anyway, I made the covers for all four books in the series with a QR in lieu of the blurb. Some people took one book, others snagged the whole set. It was a great attention-grabber!
The Merch: Bringing unique, tangible elements to the table gave people a reason to linger, touch the books, and chat. The tiny books drew everyone’s eye and I was so excited to contribute to tiny bookshelves! These are listed above, but I would absolutely invest in the little handheld goodies again. I also invested in swag to include with each signed copy. I’ll be posting separately on these items because I think it’s worth elaboration.
Generic Bookmarks — I specifically wanted ones without my brand on them. Yes, I love my character art, but I realize everyone has different tastes. Sometimes a simple galaxy-themed bookmark is just… nice. I got leather heart bookmarks as well as magnetic galaxy bookmarks. I’m obsessed with both!
Stickers — All related to books, coffee, and cats (of course) — These were a blind buy but I was so glad I did. They came packed full of random quotes and graphics but they all fit the vibe. I knew I could close my eyes and reach in, finding something relevant to the crowd of readers shopping my books.
Pens — I had two; one pen that matched the color scheme of my book, and a second with a printed quote from the book that I also sign with my name. The ink isn’t anything special, just a normal ballpoint, but I was glad to have them. They felt luxe.
Starry Bags — Nothing more than little mesh goodie bags but the color scheme fit the series.
Exclusive Signed-Copy Character Stickers — I used Feel Good Stickers Inc. for these. I love that they have a visual built into the website that shows you exactly what your sticker will look like. It lets you skew to adjust the spread or bleed and let me know if I needed to change something on my file. It took longer than I anticipated to receive, but other than that, they were fantastic.
Review Card — This maybe wasn’t necessary based on how everyone reviews nowadays, but I felt like if nothing else it was a good reminder. Some people like to fill them out and take pictures with them, so if one of my readers does, great. If not? Use it as a bookmark or something.
The best part? I got to assemble them with my daughter!
What I Would Change Next Time
Box Logistics: Bringing everything in heavy, mismatched boxes made the pack-in and pack-out harder than it needed to be. Next time, I’m investing in clear, plastic bins. I had a tote that was a nice size, black with a yellow lid, but I’ll tell you that thing was ugly in my backdrop. Something stackable like this would have been fantastic with a handle, just in case.
The Wheels: I did spend money on a rolling cart, but didn’t factor in the event being on gravel! Next time I’m going to use a pull wagon like this so I don’t experience dumping my product when I hit a rock (or twenty).
Heights: While the layout looked great, I noticed that adding even more vertical height to the book displays would make the novels pop from even further down the aisle. Not only the table surface, but the table legs could have been higher off the ground so people didn’t have to stoop. The canopy was also too short and when I stood it cut my head from view.
Stickies and Weights: The wind was nonexistent at first then was wild by the end of the show. I can’t tell you how many times I picked up the candles and signs. A few of my candles were damaged actually. Thank goodness my canopy didn’t fly away, but I’ll tell you, the banner nearly took flight a few times. If I’d held on tight, it probably would have taken me back home. Zip ties literally held us together. I should have used weights, and my friendly vendor neighbor suggested using 2 liter bottles of water instead of sand. Genius! She also had plate weights, and the two in combination made a lot of sense. I also would have used adhesive for the goodies on the table so the wind wouldn’t knock everything down.
Signage: I didn’t list my prices anywhere. A total oversight on my end, so I had to verbally tell every customer. Next time I will make sure to have my pricing ahead of time and bring extra gear to make signs on the fly as needed. A simple chalkboard would have been totally fine. A little table baby like this, or something larger like this that I could stick a QR to, if needed.
Inventory: Never did I imagine so many people would want hardcovers! I don’t know why, I had this idea in my head that it was going to be too expensive for a quick book fair purchase. I was wrong. I only had 5 at the event and they sold so fast. Oops! I’ll definitely stock up before the next show. The last bit of inventory is that I wish I had brought swag to purchase! Water bottles, jackets, and other bookish treats. Next time I plan to have bags at minimum.