Portland Book Fair...

Well, the Annual Portland book fair was today and was great fun (but for the heat and humidity…which was painful). It is the only annual book event here in Maine, so a number of the local dealers who might not otherwise attend an event of this size, etc. go in order to support the community and all that good, heart-warming stuff. It was the second year I attended…again with little hope that I would sell anything, but looking forward to seeing the people who show up and the local marketing value is substantial.

Set-up was Sat. afternoon (hotter and moister than Sun, as it turned out). Suzanne was out of town, as I mentioned earlier, but Aidan helped me set up. For the record, Aidan was wonderful. That a 7 year old would not go stark raving made in 90++ heat and humidity, surrounded by a bunch of tedious adults, all of whom are a bit testy and playing with books he has very little/no interest in is remarkable…that he would be charming and wonderful to everyone and helpful to boot made me remarkably proud of him. To be fair, having a GameBoy helped a great deal.

We actually sold one book on Saturday, a 100% increase from last year and above what I anticipated for this year…so the registration was covered and all was good with the world. More importantly, it appears I lined up a cataloging project out of it and a new client who may well keep me busy for years. So overall, it was a great event for us. We sold a book, secured work, caught up with old friends and made one or two new ones. Good times were had by all.