📌 Building An Author Event Kit
The goal is to have a toolkit that suits school and library visits, bookstore events, and book festivals.
I suppose the main indicator that I’m a chronic overthinker is that I usually worry I’m under-thinking things. 😂
One such case is my author event kit, which I have been slowly assembling since my book's (June 3!) launch date was assigned.
Here’s what I’ve got so far—and mind you, I haven’t done ANY events yet—so I’m just as likely to be making a mess of things as not. BUT, you have to start somewhere!
Here’s what I think I am aiming for:
Very portable, both in terms of weight and overall bulk.
Multifunctional and flexible. Not everything will be suitable for every event, but the goal is to have a toolkit that suits school and library visits, bookstore events, and book festivals.
Not the “paper” parts yet. I’ll discuss promo pieces, which are primarily giveaway and decorative items tied to a specific book, in a later post.
Things I bought:
An adjustable, two-sided white board with “easel pad” hanging hooks. I will use this to draw on and/or do writing activities with kiddos.
Raccoon hand puppets. I bought three Folkmanis puppets—a ridiculous purchase and extremely book-specific (so you can see how easily I ignore my own guidelines), but I guarantee the kids will love them. Plus, we've already made great use of them for our unboxing video!
Wooden book stands. Josh Funk recommended these, and they are as awesome as he said they would be. I’m using a few around the house rn! (Finally—a way to display my kid’s salt-dough topographical map nicely!) They weren’t extremely cheap, but they weren’t expensive either, and they are multi-use, easy to disassemble, durable, and lightweight.
A few outfit items. Namely, some second-hand raccoon shoes (they are Kate Spade and so cute!). These were also used in the unboxing video.
Half-size pencils and chopped copier paper. I ordered some small favor-style pencils to have on hand for kiddo drawing activities. Who doesn’t like appropriately-sized materials?
Things I scrounged up/crafted in other ways:
My usual laptop.
A clicker set for projected read-alouds. It turns out that my partner, a business school professor for many years, had one sitting around. Score!
Ultra fine point Sharpies for signing. I came across a new box of them for $1 at a Saturday yard sale, and they work great on the book’s paper! Done!
A few other outfit options. My friend Shira gifted me a pair of enamel raccoon earrings, and I created a miniature book charm to wear from my stash of miniature-making and jewelry craft supplies.
A faux-book-within-a-book mask box. I found a suitable “book box” for free at a yard sale, and gussied it up to look like one of Freddie’s books.
I love crafting; can you tell? Two USB thumb drives. I put a digital copy of the book on each one—that way, if my laptop ever has issues, there are two backups. Probably overkill, but these *are* old drives, so.
Things I still need to consider/figure out:
I need an easel pad or two. They seem expensive for what they are, so I might end up asking NextDoor if anyone has any they don’t want anymore before shelling out.
I haven’t bought myself a mic yet, but the bookstores I’m doing events at first both have them, so I can take my time with this. The same applies to a projection screen; if I end up thinking that would be nice to have, thankfully, the store also already has one (though I could probably project onto the whiteboard in a pinch, and I’ll definitely test that option out).
I need a mini digital projector. So that will need to be figured out.
Badge maker. Eventually, I want an American Button Machine to make my book-related pins (maybe even AT the event), but I can’t financially justify it yet. (There are cheaper ones, but the reviews make it seem like that would be throwing my money away.) Still, I’ll keep my eyes on Craigslist and at the art thrift stores!
Seasoned authors, what am I forgetting? Newbies, what am I forgetting, for that matter? 😂
Your “in any event” friend,
Elayne
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