Conference season is upon us. Ready or not, here readers come.
Last week’s blog post detailed what you absolutely need for your author table. And you can absolutely stick to just those basics and be fine. Everything discussed in this blog post will be the extras—the personal touches you add to your table to make you and your books more memorable. If you have limited room in your suitcase, you’ll want to take the essentials before you focus on the aesthetics!
Below, I’ve outlined a few tips for the five most popular fiction genres, but please, do not jump straight to your category and skip the others! Every idea can be remixed to suit another genre. All it takes is a little creativity. I have bolded the tips that I give each genre for your convenience.
For Romance Authors
Romance is consistently the bestselling genre, so as long as your covers are enticing, you can be guaranteed that at least a few eyeballs will gravitate toward your books no matter the conference. (Though, of course, we don’t recommend attending a horror convention if you’re writing sweet romance.) It would be natural, then, to include classic identifiers of your genre, especially if your sub-genre isn’t one that has easy identifiers—cowboy romance authors can wear a cowboy hat, for example, but curvy girl romance authors might have a harder time signaling that they’ve got curvy romance books, especially if their covers don’t immediately make that clear. Easy identifiers of romance are roses in a vase as your table’s centerpiece and lip prints stamped everything. Basically, if you’d find it in a Google search for “romance clipart,” you have something to consider including.
But especially for romance, if you can, I would also advise you to do what every marketing guru advises and heavily play up your sub-genre. If you write beachy romances, scatter seashells around your books. If you write Christmas romances, place your books on top of a layer of teddy bear stuffing spread out to look like snow and weave battery-powered twinkle lights around them.
For Mystery & Thriller Authors
I think my most favorite tip for you authors of the mysterious sort is to trick out your table cloth. You can have a lot of fun with this! If you write darker stories, splatter dark red paint on a white table cloth to look like bloodstains. If you write lighter stories, buy a pad of black stamp ink and use your fingers to create the paw prints of your sleuth’s furry friend. You could also do a chalk outline of a body, or forego a traditional tablecloth altogether and instead use a victim’s clothes laid out as your table cloth!
But what should go on top of that cool tablecloth? Place decor that doubles as selfie props. The toy section in a big box store or your local Halloween store will have everything you need. Think about what your character would wear or use. An oversize magnifying glass might be the first thing to come to mind when you think of mystery props, but if your hero(ine) is a cop, a toy officer’s badge would also be fitting. Encouraging readers who make a purchase to get silly and take a picture together with these props not only helps you stick out in their mind, it also gives you (and the reader!) something to share on social media and get the word out about your book. Just make sure you have their permission to share the picture!
For Historical Fiction Authors
When it comes to decor for historical fiction authors (a club which I belong to!), I have found that less can be more, and that it’s the details that make all the difference. For this, I recommend that you alter or swap out the items that already take up space on your table. Let’s use the paper to capture reader email addresses as an example. It’s going to take up about 8.5 x 11 inches of precious real estate, so make it more visually appealing and adjusted to your aesthetic by dying the paper to look old with tea or coffee. You will need a pen for readers to write their email addresses, too—what about a feather ballpoint pen?
Of course, this is all highly dependent on the time period and the sub-genre you write in. An author writing books set during the Regency era will decorate their table differently than one who writes re-imaginings of Greek myths. Circling back to the second and third tip I gave the romance authors, you will have to take a hard look at your genre—and your own books!—to come up with ways to decorate your table.
For Fantasy Authors
Because you have such a fantastical genre, you may find it difficult to think of table decor that matches your exact vision. The wands used by the witches in your story don’t look like Harry Potter’s wands, but that might be all you’re able to find. What’s an author to do?
The answer is, get crafty and creative! No company will make something that perfectly matches what you wrote, but you can. Pick up some rocks (or plastic Easter eggs, if you’d like to include a piece of candy and a business card or a QR code to download a free story and sign up for your newsletter) and paint them to look like dragon eggs. There are also plenty of kits sold (admittedly, they’re marketed to children, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work!) that allow you to paint your own unicorn, horse, dragon, mermaid, fairy, gnome, tea set, you name it. You can use these kits as templates to recreate the creatures and items that appear in your story. You don’t have to limit yourself to the paint-your-own kits, either—jewelry-making kits could be used to produce a likeness of your chosen one’s amulet, for example.
If you are not the DIY type, maybe what you really need are cooler toys to play with. Many libraries now open up the option to 3D print figurines and other decor for your author table. Search sites like Thingiverse to find designs that are ready to go, or commission an artist on Etsy to create a design for you that exactly matches your specifications.
These kinds of props will make great conversation pieces at your next conference. Use them to introduce your characters and the world to every reader who passes by and tells you how cool your prop looks. And, at the end of the conference, have your decor double as giveaway prizes that a reader won’t soon forget!
For Science Fiction
I have only one word for you and that word is metallic. You’re welcome.
Just kidding! While many of the tips listed for fantasy could be reworked to fit the sci-fi genre—paint moon rocks instead of dragon eggs; 3D print figurines of aliens instead of mermaids—it’s the power of technology that really makes sci-fi stand out, isn’t it? Then let’s use it!
Whether you have one of your own or will have to look into borrowing one from a friend or local library, use an iPad to display unique-to-you visuals: the view from outside the ship in your space opera, a map of your solarpunk city, dystopian versions of today’s big cities, and so on. You won’t even need to commission any artists for this if you can’t afford that expense right now. Here is a list of tools to help you generate the art you’re looking for in just a few clicks.
