My 15 Minutes of Fame

The Wisconsin Book Festival attracts thousands of attendees every year and all events are free to the public.  It is THE event for authors.  This year the Festival is showcasing indie authors with two events over two weekends.

On October 3rd the Middleton Public Library hosted 21 authors in a single day.  On October 9 and 10th the Pinney Library will host 25 local authors.  The organizers of the book festival are providing an unprecedented number of authors the change to have an audience.

I was selected to participate in the event hosted by the Middleton Public Library on October 3rd.  The format was the most unique.  Every author was given 15 minutes to present whatever they wanted and or to read from their work.  After three authors presented there was a 15 minute break and we moved to another room for an opportunity to meet with audience members and sell books.

I have been giving presentations for two years and have developed a series of “talks” based on the make-up of the audience.  I am very comfortable on my feet and enjoy question and answer sessions during presentations.  To be honest I was terrified of the 15 minute format.  How could I possibly condense 30 to 60 minutes of material to 15 minutes and allow questions? 

I asked several author friends; including one who was participating in the Pinney Library event what they would present.  The answers varied widely and didn’t provide much guidance.  I put myself under a great deal of pressure and the thought this is your 15 minutes of fame lodged in my mind.

I was able to cover the material I wanted, read for a few moments and responded to a few questions with my 15 minutes but I stumbled several times and suffered those terrible “blanks” when the brain freezes and jumbled words drop out of my mouth.

Moving to the separate room to sell books was a disaster.  Not a single person came to meet me, ask more questions or buy a book.  It was 15 minutes of hell.  Of the three authors in the room one woman, writing chick lit, sold about 3 books.  The other two of us didn’t sell a single book.

The pairings of three authors was very odd.  In my segment was a chick lit author, an author on childhood food allergies and me with historical fiction we had absolutely nothing in common.  Would the chick lit reader want to sit through a presentation by a historical fiction author?

The event at the Pinney Library has the same odd mix of authors.  One pairing includes political nonfiction, women’s fiction and medical nonfiction.  Really?  What were the organizers thinking?   

Another unique aspect is that the authors received a generous stipend for participating.  This is the first and I expect only time I will be paid for speaking to an audience.

I hope that the Wisconsin Book Festival continues to support local authors but I hope they ask us for our experience so that we can improve the format in future years.

How did would I characterize the event?  I’ve had my 15 minutes of fame – it was ok.