ORFOB Signing & A Table on a Budget!

Whew! I am wiped. My fellow introverts will understand that despite the ridiculous amount of fun I had this weekend at the Ohio River Festival of Books, all of that social interaction drained me. LOL Here's a quick recap:

4:30 a.m. - I woke up, cursed the world, and put on enough makeup to cover my undead look.

5:45 a.m. - Since I sold my car for $100 to cover my book swag, I was lucky that my dad was willing to drive me to West Virginia. My sister joined us to play the role of my assistant. They rock. :)

Side note: My mom rocks, too. She volunteered to puppysit!

9:00 a.m. - We pulled into a parking spot a few seconds before Tara Tyler zipped in beside us. I was still disoriented from the car ride, but quickly came to when she burst from her vehicle and started yelling, "GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!" LOL I love her.

9:10 a.m. - We couldn't find anyone near the entrance who knew where we were supposed to be, so we wandered in. Finally, at the far end of the ballroom, someone started waving me down. "Carrie! You're right here across from me!"

My first thought was, "Wow, West Virginians are friendly..."

Turns out, it was Casey L. Bond! Haha :) She follows me on Twitter and participates in #NALitChat. We became fast friends.

Ignore the fact that I still look half-asleep.

9-something a.m. - Someone was running late. I won't say who...

On a completely unrelated note, I got to meet Elizabeth Seckman! LOL I'm just teasing, she was there in the allotted window of time for set-up. She and her husband are awesome. I love them.

10:00 a.m. -  The festival started, and people began to trickle in.

The rest of the day until 4:00 p.m. - I was a couple of tables down from Tara and Elizabeth, so I used my ninja skills to sneak over whenever there was a lull.

Here are some other awesome things that happened:

► The Cabell County library expressed interest in buying my books.

► I met an awesome author named S.G. Redling.

► My dad and sister were their usual hilarious selves and made friends. 

► A woman complimented my book covers and ended up taking Forward Authority business cards for her writing group.

► I conned—I mean talked—Casey into doing an audio interview with E.J. and me.

► A woman stopped to look at Strength, squinted at it for a while, and then checked her phone. After a few minutes, she laughed. "I thought this looked familiar. I bought it last week!"

► I took home books and autographs from my writer friends! ♥

Plus, people stopped by to compliment my table—which made me feel good since I didn't have the funds to do it up as I imagined. That's why I thought I'd dedicate the second part of this post to...

9 Tips for a Signing Table on a Budget:

1. My postcards and business cards were multipurpose. For example, my Strength card had ways to purchase the e-book on the front and a signing blank on the back.

2. Arcylic display pieces are an investment for all future events and are a great way to make your literature look professional.

3. It's less expensive to purchase your books directly from the source, i.e. Createspace, if you have the opportunity. The only downside is longer ship times.

4. The puffy stars decorating my table were made from folded scraps of paper, thanks to my sister's scrapbooking skills.

5. My gold runner was a clearance item and cost less than two dollars.

6. The banner was a Black Friday purchase from Staples and came in around five or six dollars.

7. Candy is less expensive when purchased in bulk.

8. My giveaway entry slips used to be my outlining index cards—you know, before Scrivener.

9. My dad made my Dum-Dum tree and its height really helped balance out the table.

Question of the Week:

Do you have any tips for table decorating on a budget?