The First Spring Book Fair

John and I were sat relaxing one day, looking at our mobiles and I commented that, I thought it was easier for authors who write in English if they live in England or the US, Canada etc. My reasoning was based on the fact that, for instance, a famous author would organise a nationwide tour, with events in all the major cities. A less well-known author could organise events in all the towns nearby. However, living here in Spain it is not so easy, as the towns with English speaking inhabitants can be a bit sparser. His reply was, well organise an event yourself, perhaps one in Mojácar and one in Arboleas. Each of these towns have a high ex-pat population.

Well, somehow, from his comments, I progressed to organising, not just myself going to these two towns, but making it into an event with other local authors. And so, the Spring Book Fair was created.

My first move was to find out if other local authors would be interested in participating, I therefore put a post on Facebook and got quite a good response. I also contacted other authors I had heard of, and once one of them said they were on board, I asked him if he knew any others. The other author I knew was spending a nice holiday in Dubai at the time, not jealous, honestly!

Now I had six authors, I had to determine an exact date and a venue. I had suggested to our group of authors the 18^{th of} April, then we realised that that day was Good Friday, so we decided on the following Friday, the 25^th. The first event was to be in Mojácar, so I contacted their ayuntamiento, or town hall and started to talk to the representative that dealt with such matters. She suggested that I visited the Salon de Usos Multiples (literally the multiple use hall) and also the library, to see which venue would best suit the event I was organising.

Now I was in a quandary, as the library was definitely too small, but the hall seemed rather big. However, I decided on the hall, and thought that if we did not use the stage the space would not seem too big.

Next, I asked my digital marketer, Citlalli Orozco of Libélula Marketing Digital, if she could design some posts with which I and the other authors could advertise our event and, as always, she did a wonderful job, and we were all delighted.

I designed some notices with the name of each of us with a brief description of our writing, to stick on the front of the table where each would sit. I explained to them that I would talk first, introducing each of them, then giving a little five-minute talk of my writing and books. Then I would pass on to the next, and so each would talk for a while, then the intention would be that the public could then approach the table of that author/s they wished to ask a question of, or buy their books etc.

The event was organised to start at 8pm, but we had access to the hall from about 7.30, so that we could arrange the table and chairs, and set up our books etc., which we did, with a few rows of chairs for the audience. Then we waited for the public to arrive.

In a way the evening was disappointing, as so few people attended. However, in another way it was really good, as none of us authors really knew each other, we were able to network and get to know one another. Listening to the other authors, I was just like a member of the public, as I found their talks interesting too.

We shall keep in touch, and I intend organising the next event in Arboleas, with the help of two authors who came to the fair, who are going to talk to the town hall on my behalf.

It was a valuable experience, and despite the poor turnout, well worth doing.