Actually, the real halfway point between the start of the year and Halloween is the first of May, so we have crested the hill and we’re starting to pick up speed.

Yeah, yeah, it’s still too early to put out my decorations, but what do you want from me? It’s 48F with a wind that makes it feel like 33 and it’s drizzling. It feels like I should be setting up for Halloween.

Or camping.

Of course the big event for me this week was the Halfway to Halloween Expo. More on that in a bit. It was a great time, but phew that wind! It took the better part of an hour to wipe off all of the wind blown dirt!

The show, as noted in previous posts, was open 7pm - 11pm on Friday, then noon - 7pm on Saturday. I hate to admit it (not really), but 11 is way past my usual bed time. By the time I got home and wound down, I didn’t fall asleep until around 2. Then another full day of selling. I spent the majority of Sunday just trying to catch up on sleep.

The really amazing thing was that I managed to not break the bank. Halfway to Halloween always has some amazing vendors with some great stuff. Usually I drive in on Saturday with a car full of merch and display material and then drive out on the same day, hopefully with less merch but still with a full car. This time, since the show lasted two days, I had an empty car with the seats already down on Friday. Points to me for not filling it up with Friday shopping.

Listening To: One of the benefits of driving out to do shows is that you have some time for audiobooks. I started and finished Autopsy of a Fairy Tale by Nicole Scarano over the weekend. While not as “fairy tale-esque” as I assumed, it was a darn good murder mystery.

Currently Reading: The ARC of In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts and the proof copy of Hollywood is Dead.

Current Obsession: Trying to get both dogs to snuggle at the same time.

Welcome to a rare, second hand Pupdate. While I was out selling stuff at the Expo on Saturday and crashed out on Sunday, The Mrs took the puppies out for some extended socialization. She started on Saturday morning at the Brighton Farmers Market, which she said went well, but by the end she “felt like that guy in the Red Bull commercial who gets tied up by the leash.” She then brought the kids to meet their grandmother, then to her brother’s house to play with their cousin. Sunday the three of them went on a two mile hike at the nature center.

And I missed all of it.

We had a great time at Halfway to Halloween over the weekend, despite the strong winds blowing the dirt around outside. One got a definite sandstorm vibe when heading out to the bathroom. It was a little concerning, sales-wise, as there were a lot of people who were looking and then moving on. Fortunately, the majority of people who said that they would come back to make a purchase did.

But that’s the past and we have to look forward to our upcoming shows.

Our next two appearances will be at the Historic Howell Theater. Come join us on the 22nd of this month for a special Friday night presentation of The Midnight Creature Feature Picture Show and one of the goofiest martial arts movies ever made: Gymkata. Then come back on the 13th of June for Weng Weng in For Your Height Only.

Unfortunately, it looks like GLAHW is going to remain on the waiting list for this year’s Motor City Comic Con. If you do attend, there are plenty of friends of DRP to support including author Peggy Christie and cover artist Don England.

We have added one additional show to our June schedule: Frankenfest. We will be outside at the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse in Port Huron on 27 June.

This weekend I was reminded that it’s always good to have choices when it comes to setting things up for conventions.

Our set-up used to be extremely straightforward—books on Gibson Holders (those foldable wire book stands) directly on the table. As our stock grew we started moving upward, using magazine racks to accommodate more books in the same space. The problem with that was that the display only allowed for the book in the front rows to be seen in full. We were paying for all of this gorgeous cover art and nobody could see it! This, and the increased number of titles that we are carrying, lead to our current use of free standing book shelves that collapse for easy transport and storage.

Over that same decade and a half we have had a number of other changes. We went from carrying our books in multiple cardboard boxes (usually the boxes they were shipped to us in) to large plastic containers. Recently we switched from those back breakers to multiple smaller containers (HDX brand in case anyone was interested—they’re stackable). This made them a lot easier to lift plus we were able to divide the books up by author. This comes in handy when there are multiple Dragon’s Roost Press authors with their own tables at a show we are doing as happened this weekend.

Another change was from a very study but very heavy and space consuming convertible hand truck to one which is smaller, but folds completely flat. We also added one of those foldable wagon things this year, but only because it was super cheap.

Naturally, being me, none of this stuff has every been thrown out. This is good, because recently, some of it has made a comeback. We’ve been doing a much smaller display at the Howell theater so we’ve been back to the single rack, or even books right on the table. Occasionally we will fish out one of the big storage bins if we are bringing a specific selection of material to a show (although to be honest, most of those are now holding Halloween decorations).

What made me think of all of this was that last weekend’s show saw the return of the big hand truck. Set up was very easy on Thursday, I was the first person in for Building F and no one showed up while I was there. I was able to pull up right to the door, unload, and set everything up. I knew that the chances of repeating this on the way out were slim. With almost 200 vendors, hearses, and food trucks, parking was going to be at a premium. I could have shown up super early and grabbed a spot behind the building I was in, but I probably would have had to be there around 8am. As noted above, I hardly got any sleep Friday night as it was.

Instead I opted to park out in the boonies with the big hand truck in the back. Granted, I had to hose it off, as I had been using it to move the burn barrel around the back yard. After the show I moved as close as I could (into a spot recently vacated by one of the hearses). The much bigger tires of the older cart made moving across the gravel, a nightmare for the smaller wheels of the collapsable cart, extremely easy.

What’s the point of all of this? I don’t know. Don’t be afraid to adapt as your business grows but be willing to go back to what is tried and true if needs be?

Yeah, that.

It sounds a lot better than “horde everything and never throw anything away.”

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