What makes you buy things at craft/Christmas fayres?

[JollyHollyChristmas22]

I have name changed as fear I may be recognized by other posts.

I just wondered what makes you decide to make a purchase at a stall at a craft or Christmas fayre?

I often don’t get many sales at these types of fayres and wondered if I am wasting my time or if I just need to do something different.

I decorate my table nicely with a nice table cloth, fair lights etc and my products are clearly displayed and nicely presented. (Children’s books I write myself).

I charge a few pounds less than what they cost on Amazon and they are all signed. I take cash and card payments.

What would you pay for a children’s book?

What makes you decide to buy or not buy?

All tips welcome!

Things that make me approach a stall:

• A crowd already there
• Big price list
• must be clean/well laid out/displayed
• owner busying themselves with something
• Easily identifiable merchandise

I agree with all the others who say there’s nothing worse than the stall holder just sitting there, hopefully, staring at you or giving the hard sell.

I'd buy them if I had kids that age!
If they look professional and unique - I don't want stuff that I see at several different stalls, things poorly made and look like they'll fall apart, items that are at same as retail prices. If the maker is manning the stall even better!
Last thing I bought at a market was stained glass Christmas ornaments sold by the maker - he was making the angels up at the stall.

This.
I love a Christmas fair or craft fair but do feel uncomfortable being scrutinised by the stall holder. I don't linger if they are watching me.
I generally buy things I can make myself but avoid home made cards, ribbony things and general tat.
I don't have small children but if there was an author selling their books I wouldn't buy without reading reviews
I went to one today and bought charity cards, cakes and a crocheted bauble.

I wouldn't buy a self=published book either. I would wonder why it wasn't good enough to be properly published. Maybe the only time I might do so would be if it could be personalised but not sure how you'd do that at a craft fair.

Wondering if you were the author selling their children's book at a market I was at recently... I definitely felt awkward once I knew the stallholder was the author, and felt obliged to politely look through it when offered. The problem for me at that stall was that I had no idea what age range it was for and once I'd flicked and realised it was too young for ds, I felt I had to make awkward excuses.... 😂

I'd probably avoid saying you were the author unless asked, or after you'd made a sale!

I tend to only buy things which I can see clearly what they are and the cost FROM A DISTANCE. I don't like browsing while the person who made them is watching closely. Feels awkward.

So in your situation I'd need a couple of the books displayed open and on a stand (like a music stand) in front of your stall so I could see them at a glance.

Do they have cafe's or refreshment areas at these fairs? I'd mark up 3 copies on the front with a big label saying " available to buy from stall X" and ask if you can leave them on the refreshment tables. People have time to look at them without pressure or embarrassment.
The other think I would do is see if you could get some poster size prints of some of the pages from your book ( pick the most exciting/interesting ones) and use them as a backdrop for your stall. People can inspect bits of the book from more of a distance.
You could also maybe create a bit of a reading corner with comfy beanbags and inspection copies and suggest parents can sit and read with their children.

I'm another who would feel rude not buying a book if I had picked it up to look through in front of the author.

To encourage people to read my books I would display pages from my books on a large board and direct them to Amazon to look at reviews there.

I'd then also have stocking filler priced items (which both tie into the books and can be used independently) available to look at in front of the display boards, along with business cards people can pick up if they want to look at your books in future.
The stocking filler items should increase your takings, helping to cover the cost of the table, so you can use the fair as more of a marketing tool.

For me that removes the pressure to buy which strangely would make me more likely to buy something.

This! Mega awkward.

I reward the stall holders who keep their distance, and provide clear pricing. You want to remove "friction" from the sale - if someone likes something but feels under pressure, they'll back off.

Maybe a sign saying "Browsers Welcome".

Those who want to chat and ask questions still will.

I buy something whether I want it or not, just to support school. If I don't want it I gift or donate to charity.

I want to push back on this a bit, because getting published is a wildly hoop-jumpy, marketing oriented exercise.

There's plenty of pap that gets published, and plenty of good self-pubbed stuff.

I would buy a kids book based on the style of the illustrations and look of the cover, plus a brief description of the plot - I wouldn’t care if it were self publish or not for a kids book.

I would pay around £10 for a nice 32 page picture book.

I just wouldn't go to buy books so don't think I'd even think to come up to your stall. And agree with others, I would buy a book I can read a few reviews of and flick through. We usually get books more as presents than buying ourselves or if not, cheap from the works or Amazon. I'd always go for a more popular or classic author if I was buying for someone else as a gift. Sorry, but I think selling via kids groups might get you a better audience.

It's a really tricky product to sell in a circumstance like this.

Could you give out business cards with QR codes that let people look up the books and reviews?

Or add any reviews you have clearly so they're prominent (quote them, display the star rating etc)?

Finally, instead of a traditional Christmas stand could you look into doing book readings instead and letting people buy these books on the back of that?

i haven’t seen many food self-published books though, especially not targeted at young kids. There’s so many published books out there the market it swamped so would just buy those.

Good self published books not food.

An experienced stall holder will have some crates or display stands to sit behind to avoid this situation ,makes all the difference.

Definitely this

Could you go and do readings at schools?

I don't buy much from Christmas stalls as so much is overpriced but I know people who love it

If it is an unknown book by an unknown author, the cover would really have to catch my eye

My DC have more books than we know what to do with, so I wouldn't buy for them.

As gifts, I can see the attraction of it being a book they are unlikely to have read already!

But agree with pp that a) books aren't something I really associate with craft fairs and b) I'd want to read through the book without you watching me while I did it.

Price is perhaps an issue too as you can get a Julia Donaldson on Amazon for under a fiver

I used to do a lot of craft fairs before I had children. I-Had the prices marked very clearly so people didn’t need their specs on. The stall was high at the back to maximise space but also meant I wasn’t staring at people.
People need to be able to see what’s on the stall at a distance but also have to come closer to see what’s on the stall.
A few other related items if people don’t want to buy the book. Book mark, greetings card or postcard etc using the illustrations. Generally you need things a different price points so £2, £5 and the book.
You are probably going for the granny market as most people don’t take small kids to craft fairs.
You could try agricultural/country shows, artisan/craft/makers markets ( whatever they call them in your area)

Have some stickered up with "Look Inside Me!" as it's hard to buy a book without opening it. Some pop up banners or boards with artwork/ extracts of good bits or "Follow Daisy Duck on her forest adventure full of surprises" or whatever. Have some postcards / bookmarks and a QR code, and mention "party bag bundles". Agree to make the age range and price very clear.

It's a tough market and you are up against the supermarkets unfortunately. But they sound lovely. I like to support small businesses but the quality has to be there, a mum at my DCs school brought out a collection of books, they were OK but she was no Lauren Child.

Do you have a price list on display. I hate it when you have to ask and it's more than what I'd expect so I don't normally ask unless I'm really interested

Some great ideas here OP, esp post from @ConfusedBear

I have been to several craft fairs int he last couple of weeks. I like to buy from the maker so you tick that box. I agree it is good if they are busy then there's no awkwardness (so the crocheter is crocheting).

Things that make me buy:
samples (food is easy but yy can you sample the book in some of the ways suggested
Individual things I cannot buy online
Things that are made by the person who is there
Low price - I am spending a max of £20 for an item (so lots of the jewellery you see is OUT as it is far too much ££

Yesterday at a very very big fair I bought:
Three jars of sauce (random! but the seller had yummy samples and was really helpful) £11
a felted sheep made with wool from the seller's own sheep £16 but felting takes AGES
cheese from the creamery's own stall £3.50
a lavender bag made with fabric woven by the seller £8

hmmm a theme there! In all cases the stallholders were helpful but not pushy. Some are so keen to tell you how this diffuser is so popular and so many people blah blah and it has essential blah blah JUST LET ME LOOK

Sounds like your prices might be OK but not sure if it is the right venue. No booksellers yesterday and there was EVRYTHING inc a lady who made fabric animal heads (! but ace) and Christmas decorations made from beaten copper.