I attended the Live the Universe and Everything symposium. These are notes from one of the panels. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

• Plan on what events – conferences you’re going to attend. Some will see you at one conference but will buy your book at the next conference. If someone says I want to buy your book, tell them I’ll be at the next conference.
• If going to an event that is at a bookstore. The staff will put you anywhere they want, including putting you in a genre that doesn’t match your books.
• Added convention talk to the office around you see what they write. If people stop by your desk and tell you what they want and is not your work then recommend them to authors that were near you. As you start becoming friends with those around you they will sell your books when they see you sell bears. Be willing to promote others besides yourself.
• What challenges are there when going to an event? You need to see how you can leverage a standalone bookstore visit. You need to advertise. If you ask 100 people to calm only about 10 will come. You need to use your own word-of-mouth to invite people to come to your bookstore event. See what resources are already there. Other writing groups in the area, and contact them invite them to come.
• One strange benefit is relocated near the bathrooms or the food court. People are standing in line so you have a captured audience. You can go up the line and of every five people asked them what kind of books do you read? The other four people near that this person can hear you what you’re saying.
• When you go to an event. Have a realistic expectation of how many books to bring. You can have extra books in the car if needed. We had a smaller event don’t bring as many books. When people see a large stack of books on your table they will think that those books and not selling well. Consider having a low pile of books.
• MG: maybe have a picture of a book with the pitch printed on cardboard so that people can read the pitch of each of your books.
• Have a barcode on your table set people can scan it.
• You want to be the person who stands out. There may be restrictions at an event that you can’t push a table against the wall. But if you can. Move the chairs to the other side. People will want to sit down to rest and that gives you a chance to engage them. Maybe have three chairs. One for you and to for others. Only the fourth chair for a slip something come to the table and look at the contents of your table. That way chairs are not restricting access to your table..
• Set yourself some goals of how many books you want to sell. Adjusted while you’re on the site. Determine how many books you want to sell. If you achieve your goal then set it for a higher number you can sell more books than expected.
• When going to a convention research work on the audience will be there. Consider going to conferences that are not fiction but other topics such as quilting or a Farmer’s market. That way you don’t have competition with fellow authors non-fan or writer conferences usually have less expensive costs.
• If you add a quill conference then know your audience and alter your pitch to match the interests of the audience.