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.

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!