renaissance faire

Mind on My Store

If you have never been to a Renaissance Faire, I strongly recommend finding one close enough to you to attend the next time it comes around. Dressing up is a blast – but not required – and you can always pick up a piece or two for a future costume each time you go from one of the amazing artisans vending.

To make a day of it, you should plan out at least a few shows to stop and watch. Between the shows, you can then shop, get a pickle or meal, or simply people-watch and see all the costumes, cast, and crew. There is a great deal of work going into the production of a faire, and I was impressed with the improvements made for participants of the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire this year.

For me, as a vendor, the faire was not great. Five weekends became more exhausting as time marched on. We also did not have a good location for selling books. Traffic was less, and we were a bit too close to the front. As a result of sales being lower this year from last, I have a fair amount of extra inventory taking up space in my storage area.

Selling Signed Copies!

Having an online platform to sell signed copies of my books has been an idea on the thought shelf for a while. Part of my hesitation has been not wanting to purchase and store inventory to facilitate efficient shipping. With that issue addressed – despite my best efforts – I am one step closer to executing online sales.

The remaining challenges are related to generating demand and the cost of the sales platform. Both of these aspects also take funding, which is more limited due to my journey into entrepreneurship. I’ll probably go with Square/WordPress for the platform. I would just need to upgrade my subscription and integrate the two. Generating demand is a bit (enormously) more complicated.

Demand requires either time or money. I could increase my advertising, or I can try to find the right place and level of social media presence and content. Both approaches will require research, as I’m not naturally good at either and will probably dabble in both.

I’m part of the MySpace/Facebook generation, and I didn’t have an account with either until I was about twenty-three. If you know of any good groups or places or have any ideas, send them my way. I could use all the help I can get on this front!

In the meantime, if you are interested in a signed copy of my books and you live in the U.S.A., keep an eye out for the notification for when my store goes live!

Stay frosty, my friends!

2023 Ren Faire Moments

The Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire is the first three weekends in August. While this might feel a bit premature to highlight some of my favorite moments, I will probably do a full Ren Faire review next week after it is all over. I’ll include any additional excitement in that one.

The Superfan

A young person working at a food stand for the fair walked past the first day just after opening. We snagged her with our stellar sales shouts, and she spared a few moments before her shift to come over and chat about my books. She was excited about them and said she would talk to her dad about getting them.

I underestimated the level of excitement, though. Over the first two days of the faire, she stopped by a few times, as did her dad. He works at the faire and wanted to make sure we would still be there other weekends or at least have enough on Sunday for them to buy a set.

He made a brief stop on Sunday and paid in advance so I could sign them for her when she came by after her shift. With her personalized books in hand, she stuck around for a while longer to chat and talk about how excited she was to read them. Sticking around could be problematic, but she did a wonderful job of letting us continue to sell and interact with other customers.

All respect for this young lady, and I hope she enjoys them even half as much as she anticipated.

On a Mission

I mentioned this one on Facebook already, so act surprised.

Having just finished a sale and signing, I turned to the next person in line holding one of my books. I thought it was the one my husband had been using to wave at the passing crowds. We tend to hold a copy of Hidden Memory so we can hand it to people for them to read the back.

“What are we doing for you?” I asked.

“Oh, I was just hoping you could sign this,” she replied, holding up a copy of Hidden Promise.

It took my brain a moment to process the sequence of events and associated possibilities. Did someone hand her the third book by accident? What did she mean by just the signature? I recovered quickly enough with a big grin.

Someone liked my books so much they did not want to wait for the faire to get the next in the series, but they still wanted the signature. That someone would bring a book to an event specifically for me to sign made me feel, for a little while, that I had made an impression.

Real-Time Feedback

During the days of weekend two, a few people who purchased books during the first stopped by to tell me how they, their friend, their child, or another person for whom they bought the book was loving it and could not put it down. A handful of people have also messaged me on social media with similar messages. One told me she regretted only picking up the first while she was at the fair, and that she already ordered book two.

Another two reviews have also already come in on Amazon, and I hope to see a few more. I’m up to 45 on Hidden Memory, which is so close to my goal for the year.

More to Come

I also got my hair braided, braved the extreme heat, and shipped a lost book to the person who bought it from me. Someone turned the book into lost and found, so that was wonderful of them. I will try to do better at getting some pictures next time, but no promises.

Stay cool out there, friends!

Renaissance Faire 2023

My blog posts are going to be a bit sporadic this month. During the week, I’m covering for some people out at work. On the weekends, I’m putting in twelve-hour days in Monroe selling books at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire.

Due to a horrid confluence of logistical nightmares brought upon by the increasing popularity of the event, it moved up north to Sky Meadows Park in Snohomish this year. The location is larger, and the event will only use a portion of it this year and next with plans to grow. It has closer freeway access to simplify the in and outbound traffic. Finally, they capped ticket sales and are not selling onsite to prevent exceeding safety capacity.

There remain challenges. The walkways could use some straw laid down and dampened each morning. They have a water truck drive through in the mornings, but the dirt paths are dry again by midday and the pedestrian traffic kicks up a fair amount of dust. People are still complaining about the food lines, but there are more vendors this year, and I would estimate the lines are about the same during peak times with more downtime to take advantage of.

As of this week, all remaining days of the faire are sold out. Hopefully, there will be more capacity next year, and anyone left out this year will look to buy tickets early. I’m excited to see the coming growth and to be a part of it.

With that, it is back to work for me. I will try to get some pictures this weekend and share some moments sometime next week. Maybe I will even post my first TikTok video in nearly a year from my tent.

Huzzah!

Upcoming Updates!

There are three parts of my life, and I’m not talking physical, spiritual, and essential this time (if you get that reference, thank you for reading my books and leaving a review!). I have writing, my personal life, and the job paying the bills. In that order, I write progressively fewer specifics about what is happening.

On the job front, this week was rough. I feel overwhelmed, wrung out, and a bit dejected. Feeling this way in one area tends to bleed over and make me feel behind in others, so I will keep this week’s post shorter to help me “catch up.”

For your reading pleasure, here are a few highlights and upcoming events:

Cover Reveal!

The book cover is complete! It will be shared here and on social media in two to four weeks, but it is going out in the newsletter today! You might have another hour or two, as of this writing, to sign up and see it first.

My new artist did a wonderful job of aligning with the feel of the other series covers while bringing his own artistic touch. The art is beautiful, and the scene gives you the tiniest glimpse into the fairy sanctuaries.

Events & Book Signings!

I have three events lined up to sell signed copies of my books already this year:

Dragon Egg Hunt – Tacoma, WA – 4/30/23
- Put on by the charity org Wizards of Washington, and it’s free to the public. They have a variety of vendors and will be hosting an egg hunt!
- I will have a booth where you can buy signed copies or bring your own copy for me to sign!
Spring Fairy Market – Tacoma, WA – 5/20/23
- This is an annual event hosted by Crescent Moon Gifts. They are “Washington’s largest metaphysical gift shop and healing arts center,” and this event brings in vendors both metaphysical and fantastical.
Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire – Monroe, WA – Aug 2023
- The faire is moving to Monroe this year after outgrowing the previous location in Bonney Lake. I hope most of the regular faire goers can still attend at this new location as well as many additional people with the expanding capacity.

Hidden Promise Release!

I have eight chapters to polish this weekend and most beta adjustments are complete. My editor is prepared to receive the manuscript on Monday, and I only hope I don’t have to stay up too late Sunday to get it to her. I’m on schedule with some buffer time to give the editor corrections a good review as well, so we are on track for the June release.

The release date listed is for the ebook. The paperback will take another week or two, depending on how many fixes I need to do to the formatting based on my test copies (once they are shipped and received). You can preorder the ebook at a discounted price now. It will go up after release. For the paperback, I can’t do preorders, and pricing and such all depend on printing costs. More to come.

Thank you!

This post ended a bit longer than I expected, but there is a lot going on! I also wanted to say “thank you” to everyone who has left a review on my books. On Amazon, I am currently at 38 reviews for Hidden Memory and 21 for Hidden Sanctuary. My goal is to hit the magical number of 50 this year, and I can’t do that without your help and support.

Have a great weekend!

Renaissance Faire Pt. 2

The renaissance faire was an awesome experience this weekend. Despite breathing in a pound of dirt, sweating in the hot sun, and wearing my poor feet out, I loved meeting so many wonderful vendors and fairgoers. I was floored by the reception to my book. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my tent to hear a little about me and my work.

First, I want to say another thank you to my sister and husband for working my tent with me this weekend. They showed me the ropes learned from last weekend and stuck around in the blazing sun to help make the event a success. We easily found our rhythm, and their passion for my books matches mine. Without a doubt, I could not have managed without your support.

Impressions and Surprises

The biggest surprise for me was how the day flowed. Nine hours of standing around plus two of set-up and prep sounds like it would drag on endlessly, but you move quickly through the day. An hour of unpacking and set-up, and then you have an hour to relax. Other merchants would often come over to chat with us, or we would roam around chatting ourselves. Before you knew it, the gates were opening.

Showing off my book from in front of my tiny tent!

During the first hour or so, most people were drifting around scoping out the offerings or heading to the first show at eleven. We saved our voices for later, mostly nodding to people and showing off the book. The handful of early customers helped us warm up our book summary skills and gain energy from chatting about something we all enjoy.

The joust would let out, and a wave of people made their way through the aisles. It was always fun to see someone perk up when they heard my husband shout out about “fantasy books.” That would be me passing by and hearing someone call out to the reader in me. I immediately had something in common with everyone talking to us, which was a relatively new experience.

From there, it was a flurry of activity and trading off lunch breaks until around two in the afternoon. The late-lunch-lull allowed us to trade another round of short breaks and reapply our sunscreen. Things would pick up again between four and five. We caught our breath then, until the final rush in the hour before closing. Then, it was time to pack up again.

With short breaks and talking about books all day, the time flew by much faster than I expected. Based on this experience, I 100% want to come back next year. I now have this dream of standing at my tiny tent in 2023 and having someone call out, “Oh good! You did get a tent again this year!” #authorgoals

Closing down and packing up after a wonderful weekend!

After Hours

I have still never been to the evening events the fair also offers at the taverns on Saturdays. Instead of attending, we joined the cast and crew D&D session Cleric Games hosted after hours. They ran a little two-hour session for people who wanted to join.

I played a barbarian for the first time. Before this, my paladin was my favorite. My style is to “run in and hit things,” so melee works for me. Barbarian might be my new favorite. I would have to give it more than two hours of play before I make that decision, but raging is very “Tiffany.”

Final Note

Welcome to any new readers checking out and signing up for my blog here after meeting me at the ren faire. If you are here because we talked about my publishing journey, click on the “publishing” tag (by the little tag symbol) below and start with the oldest posts.

If you are here because you loved the books and want to keep in touch, I encourage you to follow my blog by subscribing at the bottom of this page for weekly posts, my newsletter by subscribing on the homepage, or any of my social media accounts. You can find those via the links at the bottom of the page.

As always, thank you all for your support, and I hope to continue sharing more books with you all in the future!