Imagine a thousand books, and hundreds of authors all gathered together in one small, quaint town. Now take that by ten, and you have the Decatur Book Festival.  Every bibliophile’s dream.

To be honest, the only festivals of any kind that I’ve attended have been in Indiana in a field, so that was what I was expecting. I could not have been more wrong!

We were up and moving shortly after seven o’clock on Saturday morning and I was amazed at the charming college community, with three lined streets, and already positioned booths set-up everywhere.  By ten o’clock the group from my publisher, Southern Yellow Pines Publishing, had our books displayed, our banners up, and were ready for businesses!

We had been asked by Terri Gerrell, the owner of SYP, to engage and interact with people as they passed by, and if you know me very well, you know this is my forte.  My first question was always “what type of books do you like to read?”, to which almost everyone said “everything “. With a few more questions I was able to lead them to a book in their favorite genre, and if the author was with us, I turned the buyer over to them, and went back to selling.

Thruthfully, there were times when so many of us were in sales mode that it probably became a little overwhelming for the people passing by on the street, but pretty quickly we found our rhythm, and were able to help people chose just the right books for them.

Sales of kids books went extremely well, and with Author Christa Blaney and illustrator, Mark Wayne Adams on site, a lot of children and their parents left happy.  Their newest book, Eddie That’s Spaghetti, was a big seller.

Of course we also had Sam Staley and his pirate series with us, and William Mark, a real Florida policeman who writes a police series. Pat Stanford, author of Fixing BooBoo, a book about caring for someone with traumatic brain injury, Rocky Porch Moore, the sweetest woman you’d ever want to meet with her Southern Gothic Horror Books, and Marina Brown who writes Literary Fiction.

Charlotte Luce and I were there as well, and both Lottie Loser and Call Me Charlotte sold well. In fact, all but one copy of Lottie was sold over the weekend. Not bad for my first big sales event.

If you ever have an opportunity to attend a Book Festival  I urge you to go. They’re fun, and filled with everything a festival should have, and who knows, you might just meet your new favorite author there!

If someone we’re to ask me, “what’s your favorite pastime”, I would have to say “reading”.  Books take me to places I’ve never been, and introduce me to characters I might never meet in real life.

So today I hope that you can find a quiet place, and a good book, and let yourself get lost in a story. It’s the best way to enrich your mind and encourage your heart.

Blessings,

Dana L.