Book Fair and Exhibition Stall Essentials for Authors + Free Checklist

If you’ve ever hosted a stall at a book fair or exhibition, you’ll know how much it pays to be organised. Running a stall involves a plethora of essentials and equipment that will promote, distribute and engage potential customers in your work, helping connect you to an audience that loves books as much as you like writing them. Whether it’s your first time hosting a stall or you just want a refresher, we’ve compiled an all-in-one checklist of everything you need to organise and print to ensure your stall runs smoothly and your books sell plenty. 

How Many Books Should Authors Stock at a Book Fair Stall?

First and foremost, the most important part of getting your book stall up and running is organising copies of your book to sell. While this may seem a little obvious, the real challenge is knowing how many copies you’ll need to print and bring along with you. 

We recommend a minimum of 50 to 100 copies of your book, however it’s helpful to keep in mind that busy events - like Book Fair Australia or other popular exhibitions - can attract over 1500 attendees, meaning that authors can sell up to 50 books a day. Thinking about how many days you’ll be exhibiting is vital in planning how many books to print, and how many you can feasibly transport to the event. You’ll also want to think about the current trends of the book market - if your book falls into any one of these, you might expect to move your product a little quicker than others. 

For self-published authors exhibiting at book fairs, a good rule of thumb to organise your stock is printing a little more than you need. This way, you won’t have to turn away any curious customers if you run through your stock. And if you don’t manage to sell it all, then you’ll already have a head-start on the next time you host a book fair stall or sell your self-published book through other means. If you’ve written more than one book, remember to bring a diversity of products to offer your customers. It’s much easier to sell multiple different books to the one customer than multiples of the same book!

Stall Materials to Help You Stand Out

There’s more to your stall than just the books you’re selling. As book fairs and exhibitions are such high foot-traffic events, you’ll have the opportunity to attract and connect with a whole range of customers. However, you’ll also be competing for shoppers’ attention alongside the range of other stalls and sellers on the day. To make sure you stand out from the crowd and make an impression, it’s smart to think about the ways you can organise your stall for the highest impact on the book-loving passerbys.

Posters are one of the easiest ways to secure the fleeting attention of someone walking past your stall. There are a few different ways you can design your posters, each having a different intention and impact on the viewer. Maybe you just want to grab a customer’s attention with a quick logline for your book or imagery that complements the text. Or perhaps you want to use the poster to provide more information on the context of the book, like the kind of world it’s set in or the genres it touches on. 

Stand-up mini posters, mini pull up banners or table tent display flyers are also great materials to print in preparation for your book fair stall. While larger posters and banners work to draw customers in, smaller versions of these allow more information to be on display at a lower level, like on your table alongside your books. As customers walk around book fairs or exhibitions, they’ll also be keeping their eyeline low and focused on the covers of books as they walk by. Draw them in even more with a show-stopping mini poster, and then provide them more information about you and your product with flyers that they can easily pick up and take with them.

If you’re an author with multiple books under your belt or a growing following on social media, it’s helpful to think about your book stall from a branding and marketing perspective. You’re not just selling your books - you're selling the story of who you are as an author. Printing materials like pull-up banners and large-format backdrop displays that can characterise your stall and brand it as your own is a good place to start. Think of your writing talent and author profile as the primary product you're selling, and your books as the secondary. If you can get readers along for your journey as an author, they’ll stay with you long after a single book is over.

What to Offer Your Customers Beyond Books

After you’ve organised all the materials to brand and design your stall, the cherry on top to your set-up is making sure you have some special merchandise handy to sell or hand out as freebies to customers. 

It’s easy to make these items book-specific too, with merchandise like bookmarks, candles, art prints and branded notebooks both useful products that your readers will love, while also doubling as a branding exercise for you and your book - extra points if your website or contact details are designed into these products! Plus, something relatively cheap and easy to print in the lead up to your stall - like a bookmark - works well as a freebie for potential new readers, as well as a way to spark conversation with your readers. 

A book fair or exhibition can be an overwhelming place for first-timers. The more organised you are going into the event - like making sure all your materials and books are printed and packaged in the lead-up - will set you on the right path. After that, it’s all about connecting to your customers and bringing them with you along for the ride.

Keep This Free Checklist Handy

• 50 to 100 copies of your book (depending on how many days you’re exhibiting)
• Posters
• Table display flyers/Stand-up mini posters
• Backdrop displays or pull up banners
• Bookmarks and other branded merchandise
• A few pens (for signed copies!)

To learn more about our printing services for book stalls and events, or simply to get started on your printing journey, get in touch with our team today. We're here to help you navigate the evolving world of printing with confidence.