Nerdology 101: Bound & Bottled

Hiiii! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato—indie romantasy author, anime nerd, kinda gamer, mythology and history freak, and all around menace. We’re here today with our 32nd post to discuss my recent exploits (Nope! Not that kind. These ones are more author-y, lmao). Yesterday, I attended Bound & Bottled, a bookish event in Vienna, Maryland, as an author. Copies of my newest book, The Fate of Angels and Demons, filled my table at this fabulous affair and I’m here to give you all the elicit details of how it did at it’s first live event. So, let’s get into some Nerdology.

The Stakes

First, I want to talk a little about what live events like these can mean to an indie author. Selling at events is often more effective than social media marketing for those of us that are masters of the algorithms—not that live pitching your book to readers is easier, but it is a face-to-face interaction that gives you opportunities to connect that may not work as well on socials. So, these live events can be a source of income and outreach that helps us build community more effectively. For that reason, I’m grateful to everyone who came out last night. Whether you bought my book or not, you’re awesome! I’m sure your support made a huge difference to any authors or vendors you did buy from.

The Outcomes

For me, last night was great. I brought 4 special editions and 19 paperbacks with me to the events for a total of 23 copies. One of the special editions I had already planned to give to an influencer who was attending the event at no cost because she had filled out my Influencer Request Form. It’s a type of ongoing marketing program I have for The Fate of Angels and Demons where each month I give out 2-3 free copies of my special edition to influencers so they can read, post, review, and so on (that has had a wonderfully high return so far, an overwhelming majority of the influencers who have requested have also followed through on posting about the book). So, that brings out total to 22 copies, 19 paperback and 3 special editions. Of those 3 special editions, none of them went. For the paperbacks, 4 did, which means about 21% of my paperback stock sold and 18% of my total stock did. Those aren’t bad numbers. It’s enough that it covered my registration for the event, gas, the food I had while I was there, and left me a few dollars—so I’m not complaining.

Here’s the AWESOME part, though. One of those 4 paperbacks I sold was bought by a bookstore owner who also attended the event as a vendor. She wanted to consider it for the shelves at her store. She has placed an order for her store, adding another 5 sales to the overall number of sales related to this event (if not actually at it) and making the total 9 sales and about 40% of my stock. Needless to say, that alone makes this event a huge success for me because that one sale may now have created a long-term partnership that leads to more sales in the future.

Another really cool thing that happened was that the author whose booth was next to mine, Sill Bihagia (you should def check out her book, Red Demon), also added sprayed edges to some of my paperbacks that match the pink ones from my special edition. While, of course, the special edition has other features like character art and a playlist, the sprayed edges are the most eye catching part of it’s external features. Having some paperbacks with them is nice. I posted that the next few paperback sales from my website (this website, STORE page) are going to come with the sprayed edges at no additional cost (Only 2 left now because some of them went to the bookstore order since the copy I originally sold her had them).

All in all, I think Bound & Bottled was well worth attending. If you’re a reader, indie author, or other human on the Eastern Shore, I definitely recommend checking out Ashley, the host of this event, and keeping an eye on her page for future ones.

Conclusion

So, that’s about that for this weeks segment of Nerdology 101. I hope you all enjoyed my little update. I’ll be sure to drop some more as things continue to progress. My next live appearance (currently scheduled, who knows if more will come up before then) is at The New Romantics Bookstore in Orlando, FL on August 29th from 12-2PM. Can’t wait to meet some readers in the area! This will be my first Flordia signing.

Of course, until then, people from anywhere in the world are welcome to stop back in. As always, the Nerdology 101 will have new segments every Friday at 3PM EST. Until then, have a nerdy week!