Last week, I attended the Arkansas Library Association (ArLA) to display books and talk about researching elementary nonfiction.
I usually go to several conferences each year, but in the past, I’ve focused on the school librarians. In Arkansas, that’s the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media (AAIM), and the Arkansas School Librarians (ArSL). I add in the literacy folks with the Arkansas Literacy Association (formerly the Arkansas Reading Association). The focus on educators and librarians has worked well for me, but I wanted to add the ArLA conference to talk to public library folks. They are indeed a different sort of consumer of children’s books.
When I attended the AAIM conference, my session was full of teachers and school librarians interested in my books. I book-talked all my STEM books, and they seemed to love it. One person suggested I talk about researching the STEM books. So, that’s what I proposed to the ArLA team, and they accepted.
At ArLA, I only had six people in the audience. They were enthusiastic and interested, but the numbers were small. In the vendor hall, I sold few books. Librarians kept saying that by October, their budgets were spent, and they couldn’t acquire books until January. The only sales I had were individuals for Christmas or birthday gifts.
What Makes a Convention Successful for an Indie Publisher?
Still, I consider it a successful conference. Here’s why.
1) Know Your Goals. Before I went, I thought about my goals. I decided that I wanted everyone to receive a one-page promo for Mims House that included a QR code to download my catalog. If the timing was wrong, they could refer to the catalog later to order books. It turned out to be smart, because the librarians weren’t there to buy books, but were interested in information for January. Or, often the person at my book wasn’t in acquisitions at the library, but they said they’d take my sheet to the correct person.
2) Invitations to speak. I have spoken at public libraries in the state before, so I had some contacts. Two of them stopped by and when they saw the new PUBLISH book, they wanted me to plan a visit to talk with other self-publishers in their community. While there, I’ll also be able to promote my children’s books.
3) State library awards. One session I attended was about the Arkansas Children’s Book awards, the Diamond Award for picture books and the Charlie Mae Simon award for novels. In the past, I couldn’t submit titles for consideration because both author and illustrator had to be from the U.S. I often have international illustrators. But that rule has been relaxed: now either the author or illustrator must be from the U.S. Great information. I followed up later and recommended two books to the committee for consideration. See a list of awards by state.
4) Summer reading programs. In 2026, the theme of Collaborative Summer Reading programs in the state will be Unearth a Story (TM): Dinosaurs, Archaeology, Paleontology. For librarians, they have a catalog of materials. Click the image to see the range of materials and support they offer for the summer reading program.
My series, A Little Bit of Dinosaur, should be high on the list for libraries. I’ll try to do some promos early in January, when libraries are planning for summer reading.
Planning for future years is already in progress. Other topics include:
2027 - Mysteries Await at Your Library (TM), Mystery/Detective/Suspense
2028 - Libraries are Legendary (TM), Mythical Creatures
2029 - Nature
Start planning now for how your books will fit into the themes for Summer Reading programs. Reach out in January to selected libraries to plan for summer.
5) Networking with other vendors. One of the other vendors was the local Mid-America Science Museum. I visited with their staff several times throughout the weekend, talking about their outreach programs, thinking about that, and then suggesting books that might fit their needs. They reach preschool audiences, which isn’t my audience. But they also reach elementary grades with hands-on projects, and my books do fit that niche.
Information
Overall, I was looking for information. What topics do the public libraries resonate with versus the school librarians? What events are coming up, such as summer reading programs, where my books might fit? What are they worried about and hoping for? We are in uncertain political times, and events are impacting libraries. I wondered how they were being affected. The only way to gain such information is to be present, to chat with folks, and to try to understand their point-of-view.
Networking
I also looked for ways to network and work with folks to make them more successful. Certainly, self-publishing is growing, and librarians want solid information to support their patrons. I could speak to those people from a place of successfully self-publishing for thirteen years, something valuable to the librarians. But also, I talked with other vendors about where they found success selling books. One vendor crisscrosses the state with booths at craft fairs, goat fairs, Christmas fairs, and so on. She was a wealth of information on the most successful events. For example, a Christmas fair about 70 miles from me was her top recommendation for selling books. It featured reasonably priced booths, and an enthusiastic crowd.
ArLA has set the date for next year already! Will I attend? I’ll look at the dates and the mix of events surrounding it before I decide. But it was a great conference and I would like to go again. I have the dates on my calendar!
Great information and conference/outreach strategies! Thank you for sharing your experiences and thought process, I learned a lot!
I think you need to wear one of those inflatable dinosaur costumes to promote "A Little Bit of Dinosaur" at conferences. You'll make so many connections!