Last spring, I was invited to be a part of a new book festival in Sacramento. It was a modest effort – about 20 authors under 10×10 canopies, tacked onto the end of a local farmer’s market. It was a success – we all sold a decent number of books, and some folks came 200 miles for the event.
A month or two later, we decided to do it all again, but for real this time, and launched ourselves into a nine-month odyssey that comes to fruition this coming weekend.
So I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned in the run-up to the festival. Next week, I’ll share what we figured out from the day of the event itself.
- It’s All About the Planning: One of the things I tell my team all the time is that something is going to go wrong. It always does, and usually in the most unexpected way possible. But each of those things offers a teachable moment and a chance to do it better next time. Still, we can anticipate and plan for what we think might happen, and each one that we can anticipate will help the event run that much more smoothly. It’s important to listen when my team surfaces a possible issue, and then to do what we can to mitigate it.
- Watch Every Dime: We’re running our first full book festival on a shoestring. It’s mostly coming from table fees, with a few swag sales and a small grant from our city councilman to make it all work. So we’ve had to get creative: Borrow things instead of buying them. Do what we can within the committee vs. spending money on someone else’s services. Ask for prize donations. And most of all, lean heavily on our great team of volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible.
- Everyone Loves a Quick Reply: When you’re running an event with more than 150 participants, there are gonna be questions. We do our best to be proactive and address these via our newsletter, social media, and website ahead of time, but there are always folks who miss the explanation, or who come up with questions we never even thought of (remember those teachable moments above?). I’ve found that getting back to people as quickly as possible to address their concerns, even if I don’t have a final answer for them, does wonders for making them feel heard and appreciated.
- Our Team Members are Crucial: I took this festival on because I really wanted to see one happen here in Sacramento. There was a moment early on when it all could have fallen apart, but we banded together and pushed through. And when we pull it off, it will have been because we have a great team, each of whom has thrown themselves into the task, heart and soul. Each has taken on an area of responsibility and made it their own, and has made this a multidimensional festival that will appeal to a wide array of readers. Without them, there wouldn’t even be a festival.
- Organizing Takes Time and Effort: There are so many moving pieces to an event like this, which makes tight organization crucial. We started with two simple Google Sheets that everyone could access (you can also use a teams tool like Trello). One sheet was a master to-do list which included a short task description, a department (operations, promotion, programming), a person or persons on the committee to who it was assigned, a due date (subject to constant revision), a long description, and notes. The other was a sheet with links to all the other sheets we were creating – Volunteers, Attending Authors, Flier Locations, Grants, Schedules, Signs, and on and on. In the end, we created 22 different Google sheets covering all the various aspects of the festival. Then we held regular biweekly meetings, and all the information from the meetings was fed back to the committee in the form of email reminders, and into the Master List as needed. It’s been a lot of work, but has paid dividends – we are well prepared and not scrambling (too much) with five days to go until the event.
- What Other Events Taught Me: I’ve been to many festivals, pride parades and other public events. I picked up a few things from them that were very handy here. The scavenger hunt idea – a way to get everyone to visit every part of the venue and sign up for our mailing list in exchange for a chance at some great prizes – came from a local holiday market we have right here in River Park. And the vendor appreciation bags we hope to give out came from Placer Pride. But we also reached out directly to the folks who run the Great Valley Book Festival in Manteca and the Tucson Book festival, and their feedback and ideas were invaluable in helping us plan for our own festival.
- It’s Way More Work Than You Think: When we started this adventure, we figured “how hard could it be? Pick a place and a date, invite folks to come, and get a little publicity. Easy!” But then we had to decide if it should be indoors or outdoors. How much should we charge for tables? Besides the venue and licensing fees, what other expenses would we incur, and how would we pay for then? What kind of signage would we need? How much load-in and load-out time? How would we reach authors? Volunteers? Readers? Where could we borrow traffic cones and sign boards? And how in the heck do you hire a food truck? We’ve literally spent hundreds and hundreds of hours preparing for the event, and there’s still more to come over the last frenetic week. Before committing to an event like this, you should know that it will devour your life.
- People Are (Still) Basically Good: My faith in humanity has been tested over the last nine years. But seeing how people have come out of the woodwork to help make the Sacramento Book Festival a success has really warmed my heart and given me hope. With enough will power, luck, and support from friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers, we still can build something bright and new.
So… was it worth it? I think so. I hope so. In the last five days, we’re facing challenges with parking, with the weather, and with all the last-minute details, questions and decisions that come up when your event has a thousand moving parts.
In the end, we will have created something new, an amazing event that with luck will last. And we have have learned so much that we can put into play in 2026.