Tackling Outdoor Events

For most people, summer provides an opportunity to head out into the great outdoors. For authors, it’s the CANOPY TENT season.

Compared to book festivals, library visits, and bookstores, the summer street festival season allows authors the opportunity to meet humanity by the thousands—but it also comes at a great cost if not properly prepared.

Finding the Right Lake

With around 16 weekends during the summer, there are about a dozen town festivals to choose from on any given weekend. Most do have good traffic, but will they have readers? I’ll give you a metaphor: Fishing. Just like with fishing, an author has to have the right bait and tackle to find the elusive keepers. However, just like the events equate to fishing holes, some of these events just have the wrong type of fish. For me and my “historical fantasy” genre, that’s akin to fishing for musky. There aren’t a lot of them swimming around out there, so when one swims by, I’d better be ready to set the hook, right? Crime readers, in comparison, are the bluegill readers—they’re tasty and plentiful. But Musky? That’s a 1 in 10,000 casts kind of fish.

Some events will be shoulder-to-shoulder with carp, the non-readers. One after another, they will swim by without even nibbling on your bait. It becomes exhausting after a while because you keep snagging these fish that don’t eat (read). Even if there was a musky swimming by, the carp often get in the way of your bait.

However, there is another metaphoric comparison to fishing. When one fish bites, all the others will suddenly show up. Seriously, forty minutes can go by with countless carp swimming by, and when you get one keepers—suddenly it’s a feeding frenzy. As soon as one person picks up a book, several others are drawn in, which means you better get the fish off the hook and in the livewell before the fishing cools off again.

Dealing with Weather

A canopy tent needs to be ready for all conditions.

Sunny? Piece of cake. That’s what a canopy tent is for.

Rain? Most tents have zip on sides, which are great at keeping out the rain, but as soon as you do so, you’ve essentially created your own greenhouse of heat and humidity.

Wind? This is your true nemesis. A canopy tent is basically a large umbrella kite waiting for a gentle breeze to send it up, up, up and away.

For example, in White Bear Lake this summer, two storm systems collided, sending gusts of 40 mph winds through the park. Unsecured merchandise went flying and some tents were swept right away. The folks beside me were holding onto the support bars to keep their tent from flying away also.

Street vs. Soil

If you’re lucky, dog stakes and ratchet straps can secure your tent in even the strongest gusts, which saved me in White Bear Lake. Many festivals, though, will put you on a street, which doesn’t provide the same security. I’ve seen people with concrete filled tubes hanging by the tent posts as well as sandbags and concrete blocks. My choice is to have refillable 3 gallon bags, which strap to the feet of the posts and can also be ratcheted to the canopy. When done, you can pour them right out.

Location, Location, Location

Your fortunes can largely depend on WHERE the organizer puts you. Just like with fishing, there are some predictable places for finding hungry fish. If you’re the first author that readers pass by, jackpot! If you’re the 4th, it’ll be a hard sell. If you’re put at the end, many are done shopping or have spent their money. And neighbors? Many are a joy but some can be a buzzkill during an 8 hour shift in a tent.

Filling the Space

What I love about canopy tent season is the ability to fill up the space from top to bottom. With metal rafters and posts, you can empty your tackle box of marketing to create that eye-appeal for hungry readers. The space behind the table can also give you room for food and entertainment.

Even though I have a few outdoor fall events, canopy season is pretty much behind me now, meaning I’ll have several months to find ways to find the newest lures for my ever-growing tackle box.