As I'm preparing to embark on what will be my fourth promotional campaign since I started producing Eye Witness, I made the decision that to figure out how to maximize my time on the road to sell the most book directly, verses wholesale...since natch, I make more revenue this way and get a chance to personally promote the books to more people.So this summer I'm adding a new component into my travel mix, which for me, will be replacing many of the book signings I've did in the past (re: Borders and Barnes and Noble etc...*). I'm referring to Christian summer music festivals!There are many of these events which begin taking place in May and run right into the early fall months. Doing my homework on these events, most are fairly reasonably priced for vendors ($300-$600) for the weekend. Most run 3-4 days. And most importantly, most garner anywhere from 40 to 100,000 attendees....the large percentage of which will fall squarely in the demographic most of us here target (teen to 20-somethings---who enjoy reading comics, manga and graphic novels and are Christian or seekers).Let that sink in for a moment. 40-100,000 young people, or approximately the number of people drawn to an event like Comic Con, but the large majority of which are Christian young people! Sounds like a match made in heaven for us, heh?Well, I'll be adding a handful of these events to my schedule this years, spinkled around comic conventions I'll be doing. The only negatives I can see for these events at this point are: A. the setups are in tents outside for the most part, so one never knows what the weather will do (re: 4 days in a humid 95 degree temp. could be interesting); and B. the vendor areas for these events are open on average 12+ hours a day (ex: from 10am to 12midnight), so for someone like me who operates many of my appearances lone wolf, this will be a test of endurance.But, right now I'm excited about the potential of these events.If you'd have an interest in following my lead on this, shoot me a return message and I'll let you know the events I've researched and their websites for you to see if you'd like to join my on this epic quest.bob-www.headpress.info
I hadn't personally researched that one, since it doesn't fit my schedule...but I got a head's up on that one through Scott Shuford (Front Gate Media) who are doing some marketing at this event. he's got a page here on CCAS.
Thanks, Bob! I'm particularly interested in the Atlanta Festival since it's closest to me, but I'm not finding much on it on the web. Any more info on that can help with the search?
Comments
Here’s a list of the festivals I’ve come up with:
Cornerstone Festival 6/28-7/3 Bushnell, IL
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/
Sonshine Festival 7/14-7/17 Wilmar, MN
http://www.sonshinefestival.com/schedule/
Creation Northeast 6/30-7/3 Mt. Union, PA
http://www.creationfest.com/ne/
Creation Northwest 7/21-7/24 Enumclaw, WA
http://www.creationfest.com/nw/
Lifelight 9/3-9/5 Sioux Falls, SD
http://www.lifelight.org/festival
and just for good message:
Christian Community Fair 11/12-11/13 Twin Cities
http://www.christianfair.com/pages/exhibitor_opportunities.html
…and here’s some more I hadn’t did my homework on yet, since they didn’t fit into my travel plans.
Atlanta Festival, GA 6/16-19
Alive Festival, OH 6/23-26
Hills Alive Festival, SD 7/17-18
Thanks!