Hello y’all! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jesseca, and I blog over at Whimsical Writings for His Glory. Rebekah and I are going to be getting together for a conference later this week, and she had the great idea of guest posting on each other’s blogs ahead of time. I thought it was a fantastic idea!

I’ll be talking a little bit about what goes into planning a booth from my point of view, and y’all can read Rebekah’s post on my blog!

I’ve attended the TPA convention in Wichita for as long as I can remember, but actually planning to sell at it was a whole different ball game. Instead of being the person who walks around and buys things . . . I was gonna be the one selling things. Getting registered wasn’t too difficult. (I promise, professional emails are not as hard as they sound!)

(Also, just a quick tip for anyone who is interested in selling at a convention; ask about reduced rates for homeschool students/homeschool graduates. Most homeschool conventions have a program for that, and it helps a lot in making the price affordable.)

In this instance, I’ve been the one working on coordinating things and making sure everyone is on the same page. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with wonderful friends who are willing to work around different schedules and the like, which has made it easier. None of us live in Wichita, so that’s been a bit of an added challenge.

One thing I’ve had the hardest time with is the fact that I just tend to be a super organized person who needs to have everything planned out ahead of time. And while planning ahead of things is a good thing, there is such a thing as over planning, (i.e. Planning for every natural disaster that can possibly happen) Okay, maybe I wasn’t quite that bad. But close. 😉 So yes, if you do such an event, plan ahead. But don’t be a perfectionist about trying to get every moment of it planned out. Even if you do that, unexpected things will come up last minute. So expect the unexpected, and do your best to just enjoy the experience. (Yes, I’m still working on this part. ;))

Ordering books was also a bit difficult because, having never done any sort of event like this before, I had no idea how many I’d need. Other Indie authors and readers became invaluable in sharing what they have done in the past, and what they tend to buy when they’re at conferences. Having a bunch of people willing to answer the questions I’ve had have been awesome.

So yes. So far I’ve been busy planning, emailing, and organizing. But the best part is still ahead!

I can’t wait till we all get there together and set up and just enjoy the experience! The Conference is on April 13-14th in Wichita. If you’re planning to come, I’d love to see you there! We’ll be at both #7. 🙂