Kaelyn Buzzo's Blog

Books, Readers & Sunburns: My 2025 Cocoa Village Book Fest Recap

This past weekend was unreal. I headed to the Cocoa Village Book Fest hoping for a great day—and left with a sunburn, a nearly empty inventory, and a heart full of gratitude. Not only did I connect with amazing readers, but I also made nearly double what I earned last year. That’s right—your support turned this indie author’s booth into one of my most successful events yet.

Despite the shady cover from the trees, the sun had a mischievous streak and kept finding me. By the end of the day, I was a crispier version of myself (worth it!). But even that couldn’t wipe the smile off my face from talking to passionate readers, swapping stories with fellow authors, and watching the place come alive, especially with all the colorful pups that livened up the square like they owned the festival.

Behind the Booth

This year, I went all in on making my space cozy and creative—complete with signed copies of In The Dark and His Haunted Footsteps, some fun bookish merch, and a layout that let people linger. Nothing beats the moment someone picks up your book, reads the back cover, and says, “Okay… I need this.”

I even had readers show up requesting a signature on their copies from when they bought my books at the local coffee shop, River Road Coffee & Popsicles. (Seriously… what a surreal feeling!)

The Moments That Matter

I got to chat with aspiring authors, shy bookworms, and enthusiastic fans who had already read Kalea’s journey and came back to tell me how deeply it resonated. One return reader even brought a friend and insisted they “had to buy this book.” Cue my internal happy dance.

Every conversation, every smile, every “I love supporting local authors” meant the world. These events remind me why I write—why I pour my heart into every page and share my quirky stories to the world.

A Heartfelt Thank You

To everyone who came by, picked up a book, shared a laugh, or simply said hello—thank you. Supporting indie authors isn’t just about buying books (though we love that too). It’s about keeping storytelling personal, diverse, and deeply human. You helped make that happen.

If you grabbed a copy of In The Dark or His Haunted Footsteps, I’d love it if you left a review—it helps more than you know.

Missed the fest? You can still order signed copies on my website or shop the Kindle versions anytime.

→ Find out more on my Goodreads!

What’s Next?

Keep an eye out—I’ll be announcing the next local author event and maybe even a fun giveaway soon—or even a potential release date for a book I’ve been working on! Until then, thank you for showing up and showing love.

See you at the next one (hopefully less sunburned ),

– Kaelyn Buzzo

AmazonYouTubeInstagramGoodreadsFacebookSpotifyTikTok Related Products His Haunted Footsteps – Ebook $7.99 Add to cart Related Products In The Dark – Ebook $6.99 Add to cart

The post Books, Readers & Sunburns: My 2025 Cocoa Village Book Fest Recap appeared first on Kaelyn Buzzo.

How I Successfully Set Up for an Author EventJanuary 21, 2025

Although I have hosted book signings before, my first author event was in April 2024. To be completely honest, I was absolutely frazzled and out of sorts on what to bring, how to decorate my table, how many books to logically bring (and carry), and so on. I ended up selling the most books I’ve ever sold in a month in one sitting!

For my fellow indie authors, new and veterans, I wanted to share some tips on how to set up for an author event and what helped me, along with how I want to do better the next author event I attend.

What to Bring

I’m a big fan of lists because I don’t trust myself to not forget something I will for sure need to be successful on an important day like an author event. When I Googled author events, I went through the search and image results to get an idea of what other authors had at their tables, how they set up, and what they offered potential new readers. With that information, I did more research to see what I could offer my readers at my first author event!

Stickers

I don’t know about you, but I love the artwork and little doodads that personify a book’s special moments, symbols, settings, or characters. It adds so much flavor, giving the book, the story, and the characters more life.

Tools I used to create my products:VistaprintOnline printing service that offers countless options for printable products like bags, cups, bookmarks, stickers, and much more. CanvaGraphic design tool to find cute and cool designs and adjust sizing for printing on Vistaprint. MidjourneyAI tool that can be used to create characters/settings from your book.

*to be clear, I’m not a fan of AI, and I heavily debated using Midjourney, but I did not have the finances at the time to pay hundreds of dollars for an artist to create one design for a bookmark, let alone multiple.

For my stickers, I used a site called Vistaprint to print my products and Canva to find the designs and ideas for my stickers. On Vistaprint, depending on the sticker type and size you choose, you can adjust the sizing of the sticker design on Canva and then print it on Vistaprint.

Ideas and examples for stickers:Side CharactersIn my case, I did the griffin, Knight, in my first book, In The Dark.Symbolic ObjectsKalea’s, the main character of In The Dark, favorite flower is the sunflower, so I used a sunflower design for one batch of stickers. Character RepresentationIn my second book, His Haunted Footsteps, there are various yokai (Japanese monsters/demons) characters, some of which are in humanoid form while others are not. For example, Shingo is a tengu in humanoid form, but I printed out the popular tengu mask commonly seen in festivals.

I did a lot of scouring the internet for ideas on what to display my stickers with, especially since space was limited with the table size. I ended up buying a few different options, like this one and this one.

Bookmarks

Every reader needs a bookmark because all the other ones they have ever owned end up disappearing into thin air!

For my bookmarks, I did end up using Midjourney to create character designs (as close as I could manage with AI). These character designs, which I personally thought ended up looking pretty stinkin’ cool, give readers an opportunity to see what you, as the author, imagine your characters like. Other than character profiles, I also did some setting and background options, too.

On one side of the bookmark, I did a design for the book, and on the other side, I added the book name so readers could never EVER forget where they got it from (*insert maniacal laughter*). Marketing scheme 101 – if a friend or passerby notes the design, likes it, and asks where it’s from, they now know where to look!

Postcard

For my second book, I experimented with Kickstarter for the first time. Many of the products I used for the author event I also used for different backers for my Kickstarter.

One of my ideas was a postcard that also acted as a thank-you card to my backers. At the author event, I gave a postcard for free with any book purchase until I ran out.

Payment Device

If you plan on making any money at an author event, you need to bring a payment device. I’ve seen some authors offer Venmo, Cashapp, Zelle, cash, etc. One of the more popular options now is using a device like Square or Zettle. On these devices, they offer different payment options like Tap to Pay, cash calculations, credit/debit cards, and so on.

Miscellaneous Items

Other times you may need require less of an introduction or explanation like the bookmarks and payment device.

Here are some miscellaneous items that you will need to bring to an author event:

Table:The table size needed will be determined by the regulations provided by the event coordinator. Check the information provided when you sign up for the event to make sure you bring the correct table size. Some events will have tables set up for you, though this is not as common. Table Cover:Bringing a table cover can add some extra flavor to your setup. Table covers are super cheap at Walmart, so you won’t break the bank buying one, and you can match it to the color scheme(s) of your books. Some authors will purchase a designed table cover for these events. It’s not a necessity but it can add an extra flair to your table set-up. *Tip – If your author event is outdoors and wind is an issue, tape the sides of your table cover to the the underside of the table or the legs of the table, depending on how long the cover is. I received this super helpful tip from a fellow author at my first event. The wind was blowing like crazy! With her help, we taped down my table cover so it would stop smacking people’s legs whenever the wind gusted by. Chairs:Don’t forget a chair or two for you and your helper, if you have one, to sit on!Pens:More often than not, when new readers purchase a book, they want their book signed by the author. I always make sure to ask to give them the option, just in case. Bring extra pens as a precaution.Rolling Cart:As most events are hosted too close to the parking lot and you’ll be carrying a boatload of books, I advise purchasing a rolling cart like this one or, if you like more room, this one. How Many Books to Bring

Since this was my first author event, I was really unsure how many books to purchase prior to bring to the event. Also keep in mind, that you’re going to need to purchase hard copies in advance for them to be printed and shipped to you in time. And, hopefully this doesn’t happen to you, but it did happen to me, but to also make sure the quality is good. I ended up getting about ten or so copies that had crinkled or misprinted covers (no bueno).

Surprisingly, I believed I’d sell more paperback copies since they’re cheaper. The opposite happened. I sold more hard cover with dust jacked copies than paperbacks!

I also typically sell more of my In The Dark books than His Haunted Footsteps (I’m guessing because of the cover) but in person I sold more of His Haunted Footsteps than In The Dark!

The motif is don’t assume and prepare to have enough of all your books.

Survey the event and how popular it is to get an idea of how many books to bring. Or, try reaching out to an author that has been to the event before. For my local author event, I believe I brought about 20 books per hard cover and paperback version of each book. By the end of the day, I had run out of hard covers for His Haunted Footsteps.

Final Thoughts

All in all, such a super fun day that rejuvenated my love for writing. Getting to meet all the fellow authors on the same journey as me was inspiring. Having new, interested readers purchase my books, seeing the spark of intrigue in their eyes as I gave them my book marketing spiel, was truly such an experience that I’m thankful to have had.

God truly works in mysterious ways and through this event He helped replenish my downtrodden spirit through people and new and old relationships. Such a fun day! I hope this blog post was helpful for any new or experienced authors setting up for their first author event. Don’t hestiate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns about your first big author event day!

AmazonFacebookGoodreadsInstagramPinterestTikTokSpotify

The post How I Successfully Set Up for an Author Event appeared first on Kaelyn Buzzo.

Not going to lie, I suck at naming things. Funny thing, that I’m going to officially be an author with the publishing of In The Dark coming up (Is this really happening?! Okay, don’t freak out.) and I struggle with words (thesauruses are the best!). 

So, to be honest, as I was writing In The Dark, there was a moment while writing a piece of Kalea’s dialogue where I was feeling this striving empowerment from her as a character. A character that had suffered so much trauma, so much darkness, away from those she held dear, fighting it all seemingly alone in a one-man (or one-woman, in this case) battle against the world, against evil while they tortured and maimed her physically and emotionally. 

This girl, this woman, Kalea, decided that she was tired of being pushed down and smothered by her pain, by her traumatizers, by the ignorance that would not be bliss if she decided to remain indifferent and hide away from the rallying of evil uniting behind the scenes. They would come for her and it would be up to her to be either prepared or defenseless when that time came. 

And so, I had a sort of epiphany moment while writing, where the words, “in the dark” came to me (Thank you God! He knows how I struggle lol) and I knew it was meant to be the title for my book. Honestly, I’m pretty thankful that I didn’t have to sulk for weeks, rummaging through my brain for a title for this book, the start to my very first series. Usually, I have difficulty making decisions with anything. Do y’all realize how hard it is deciding between the pastel blue flower pot and the pastel pink flower pot? What about deciding between sushi or red curry at a restaurant? Splits me in two it does. Anyways—I’m too good at getting side-tracked *sighs*—that is how I came up with the title for In The Dark! I hope you give it a read and a review, and as always, thank you for the support! <3

The post Why I Choose The Title “In The Dark” appeared first on Kaelyn Buzzo.

WHY I STARTED WRITING MY SERIES— 🌻IN THE DARK 🌻

After graduating college (B.A. in English (Creative Writing, of course) and a Minor in Nutrition), I was so LOST.

I thought a job would just fall in my lap after I graduated college. And one did, but not one that pays the bills and lights that fire of passion inside me. While all of my friends went off doing big kid things, I ended up getting a job as a server (and I LOVED my job and my environment), but something was MISSING. 🧐

I discovered a new coffee shop that had opened up nearby. I had only recently become a coffee lover (8 AM college classes do that for you) so walking in there was like tiptoeing on eggshells only with the scent of freshly ground coffee instead of eggs (1000% better in my opinion, but no judgment here). I had no idea what to order! What’s the difference between a latte and a mocha? A cappuccino? Coffee and espresso?

Thank the Lord for baristas–home girl helped me out and that’s how my addiction to lattes began (NO JUDGMENT HERE).

I sat down in a wooden chair, rather uncomfy for my bum if I do say so myself, and set my notebook down and started writing down the stories swirling around in my head waiting to spill out. Thankfully, I learned that a laptop was more efficient for me to get out the words, I was a much faster typer than I was a penman. My writing professors would be so offended if they ever found out (that’s why they’ll never see this post 😉). 

From that point on, I would travel over to that coffee shop and write my little heart out for hours. And do it over again on my next day off. When I went out of town to visit friends and had to wait for them to get off work, I’d try out a local coffee shop and write. I was utterly lost in my writing and I LOVED it. 

I’m just thankful there are people out there that are interested in reading my stories. That girl 3 years ago, the one slurping on her iced vanilla soy latte, had no clue what this journey had in store for.

And the woman writing this? She’s sipping on a HOT soy vanilla latte working hard to get this book published and out to the world. 💝

The post Why I Started Writing My Series “In The Dark” appeared first on Kaelyn Buzzo.

✍️Where I first started writing In The Dark ✍️

I first started writing In The Dark (at the time I had NO clue how in-depth this writing gig was going to get, but look at me now!) at a local coffee shop that had just opened up called Bold Cup. 

I don’t believe in coincidences. I firmly believe there is a reason for everything. The name of that coffee shop, Bold Cup, truly resonated with the move I was making–being bold in making a change in my life and the desperation for coffee in my system for me to do it (LOL). 

One of the baristas there ended up opening her own coffee shop, River Road Coffee and Popsicles, closer to my home base, and I ended up migrating over to her coffee shop to write and become a regular (well-known for my iced vanilla oat lattes 😉). 

Through this journey of writing, I’ve been to quite a few different coffee shops all over Florida (west coast to east coast) and enjoyed countless different vibes and aesthetics that have all helped motivate me to write my book and continue my story. It’s been an interesting journey and it’s not quite done yet, but I’m thankful for all those family-owned and independent coffee shops that deal with me sitting in a corner smiling and frowning to myself like an absolute weirdo as I write (BE the emotion you’re writing, I tell you!) and me getting up every 20 minutes to go to the bathroom because the coffee is reallllly doing its job (TMI, sorry LOL). 

And on that note–

Support your local coffee shops and businesses! 📣

The post Where I First Started Writing “In the Dark” appeared first on Kaelyn Buzzo.