Book Fair Australia
Last weekend (7/8 Nov) I was at Book Fair Australia. This is a large exhibition in Sydney, Olympic Park and runs for two days. It's crammed full of authors with stalls, and retailers selling book-related bling (book bags, candles and stickers). Traditionally published authors there have signing stalls, and there are panels that talk about topics from author ideas to the AI controversies.
I was last at BFA in 2024 where I had two books out, and now I have five. (BFA ran in Melbourne in 2025 rather than Sydney). I shared a stall (about 1m square for a half space) with another fantasy author, Sean MT McShannon. He had twenty books, mostly novellas, that catered to different age ranges.
My half-stall was on the outer edge, near the stage and the signing area. I was next to a popular romantasy author (Megan Gilbert) who attracted massive queues. I'd registered my books as fantasy, since that's their primary genre (technically the primary genre is grimdark contemporary fantasy in a secondary world but that's a bit niche!) The stall area was also swamped by queues of Jay Kristoff fans (author of the Empire of the Vampire series). Over the entire weekend I sold 22 books, which was pretty good for my expectations. I met fellow authors and readers who'd picked up my books from Booksirens or other ARC programs. I always think these people are on the far side of the world, and was surprising to see them local.
Many people had crate trolleys they wheeled around, all laden with books. I met lots of local authors, including some I didn't even know were local, including fellow SPFBO XI contestants HL Moore and finalist Michele C. Shaw (no relation).
Takeaways from the convention:
- Tell your friends that if they aren't book-mad, they won't enjoy BFA. I had friends who showed up for an hour, but didn't find it that exciting. You must enjoy books and bookish accessories!
- Hardbacks are a waste of time. For some reason I got some nice hardbacks of my two new books, but everyone went for the paperbacks. Now I have a box of hardbacks.
- Cool covers are a must. I re-covered the books of my newest series for a more dark fantasy vibe, and I had people come over to check them out. One woman asked if The Demon's Peace was a spicy read, and I said no. No one seemed interested in my first series, with a more conventional urban fantasy cover of Person With Magic Coming From Their Hands.
- I think next time I will get a double stall. With a half-stall, the demarcation between you and your booth buddy can be a bit awkward especially as if people hear one pitch, they want to drift away and not listen to the other half-stall owner's pitch.
- Not sure about how to decorate a double stall though. Some romance authors had everything from character art to candles. The romantasy author next to me had trope map posters on her wall made people stop and read them.
- Cards or bookmarks with your website or details are important, as browsers often do a sweep and come back later on. They use these cards to remember who you are and what your book is. Some customers had pockets bulging with cards and bookmarks. Someone told me she doesn't buy anything on the first day, does research and reads reviews all night, and buys books on the second day.
- Having a friend to run your stall while you take a break is a good idea.
- Having a short pitch is good. My booth buddy was good at this: he could pitch his books like "It's Treasure Planet meets Hunger Games" to get the interest of customers.
Let me know if you've got any tips for Book Fairs or handselling events.