Duck Pond Day

Yesterday was my favorite event of all the events I do throughout the year. Not only is Duck Pond Day my local celebration, it's also one of the first I ever did as an author (I think I sold 11 books that first time) and as a bookseller. I go every year, with tables full of Echelon Press books and literally hundreds of litttle rubber duckies. Lately, I've been selling more of the duckies than anything else. A couple of years ago we sold 218 ducks before we sold one book! I finally had to start giving them away with the purchase of a book before people got a book. Now that's my standard promo, and it's amazing how many people will buy a book, just to get a duck.

This year's event was extremely damp, drizzle most of the day, fortunately not a lot of wind. We kept the books in little plastic bags just in case. The turnout was a bit low as well, but we sold about half as many books as last year. Maybe the fact that there were fewer vendors as well had something to do with it. We still sold what must have been about 200 ducks, though.