So...What Does A Vendor Table REALLY Look Like?

Today Fyrecon 2 began in Layton and I was fortunate enough to be involved. It's a testament to people's hard work and a desire to give writers and artists the tools to succeed in creating art. This convention, like many I've attended, have a vendor room, and my book is one of the items you can buy.

Vendor rooms are great. They're like an entirely different world--a different show--from the regular convention. Of course, many of those on panels and teaching classes can be found in the vendor room hoping to sell their books, or art.

And in each vendor room some things are the same. One of those things are the vendor tables. At least, the tables where I've had my books always seem to be the same. I noticed this as we sat and chatted at our table. I even snapped a photo.

If you look carefully, it's the little things that make this a classic vendor table. There's places for each of the books we're selling--everyone has a little bit of space. We've got our bookmarks and business cards, too. And, because we're at a convention with access to the green room, there's snacks and the remains of snacks. And if the green room is poorly stocked (unlike Fyrecon's...), it seems someone always brings granola bars, licorice, and bottled water. You know, the basics.

There's things you don't see in the photo, like not having enough leg room because underneath the table are boxes stacked on boxes of books waiting to be sold. You don't see that there's never enough chairs for everyone, or even if there were enough chairs, there's never enough room for all the chairs of everyone who wants to hang out at the vendor table.

I suppose I've been lucky. I've always been around a lot of people at these events. It's one of the things I enjoy most--just sitting around and talking to friends about books, writing, movies, other conventions, and why we gave our kids the names we gave them (among other things...).

The vendor table--I don't see it going away any time soon and I don't see it changing, either. Now, if we can only get all those books sold...

We'd have more room for snacks.