Some day I will learn to take a decent photo with a cellphone. You'd never know I've been a semi-pro photographer (with real equipment).

The anticipated outdoor festival with music and dancers was prudently relocated to 3 internal floors of the Altoona, PA library, and when the skies opened in mid-afternoon, we were all very glad. On the one hand, the venue was rather less pleasant; on the other hand, no one's books were soaked. Considering this was the first occasion for this particular festival, I thought the organizers rose well to the challenge.

The 8-foot tables were expansive (many authors were geared up for 6′) but, alas, I forgot my props to make the display more interesting.

There were 51 local authors (regional to central Pennsylvania), which covered a surprising number of genres, and both traditionally as well as independently published writers, at various stages of their careers.

Quite a few people attended, and there was traffic all day long. Though I wasn't surprised to see a couple of people I had encountered from other activities (speaking at a local writers' group), I was stunned to meet 3 local readers who actually recognized my name or the names/covers of some of my books. There was even one who spoke to me at length about an audiobook (and I have some idea just how unlikely that was, considering its obscurity.)

You meet people at book festivals that are a different cross-section of potential readers than you deal with the rest of the time. A great many did not do ebooks. Except for kids with indulgent parents, not many carried around armfuls of purchases. Budgets were in evidence everywhere (lots of proposals to do book swaps). In fact, I had a purchase after my books were boxed up and on the dolly at the exit door from someone who had wanted to buy the book earlier, but only just had a sale herself so she could now afford to do so. (Bless her — hope she enjoys it!)

Even when these affairs are barely profitable, they are useful for other reasons, particularly networking. I spoke with several people about indie publishing, got a good lead for where I can consign excess inventory when I change the covers on the Chained Adept series, and (best of all) found out about a distributor who would be a good fit for me at unusual outlets like gift shops, truck stops, etc. (once I figure out how to make a physical book catalogue of the right quality without paying a fortune).