Only THREE WEEKS

First of all, well done to all those that have put in a fantastic effort to set up your exhibitor profiles. The directory page looks brilliant. Almost everyone now has a proper profile on the website.

If you haven't studied it yet PLEASE READ al the info on the Exhibitor Centre page. It has everything you need to know - I'm STILL getting people email me asking about things like parking... It's ALL there on that page.

PROMOTION, PROMOTION, PROMOTION

Right now, the book fair team are working on promoting the event.
We're running paid ads on Facebook targeted directly the kind of people that we hope would come along and have recorded over 12,000 views of the ad in the last two weeks.
There's an event posted on our FaceBook page to prompt people, as well as an eventbrite page.

Visits to the website are double what they were this time last year, so there's certainly plenty of interest.

If you go to the Exhibitor Centre page, you'll see a selection of pre-prepared social media graphics to post online as well as an A5 flyer. We're getting 1000 of those printed to distribute.
Our helpers will be out in force around town and outside the venue on the day sporting some very striking looking backpack-flags and handing out flyers. (I'll see if I can get someone to model one of those for the next newsletter when they arrive).
We're also putting two huge static flags outside the venue and have ordered two 2-metre vinyl banners to place at strategic spots.

We're even resorting to common bribery (not really) to get people through the doors. Visitors who sign up to the newsletter at the door or to the eventbrite page will have a chance of winning one of five £10 Amazon vouchers (not open to staff or exhibitors I'm afraid).

There's all kinds of other promotional things going on, but I'll tell you about those later.

SO...

SO...
We need YOUR help to promote the book fair too. Get on the social media, like and share posts, talk to people, post on your Facebook writing groups, reddit, instagram... everything!

Here's a checklist of some of the things you should be doing right now to make sure you're ready for the big day. The sooner you get these done, the less stress you're going to have as time moves along.

Start letting people know you'll be at the book fair
You should be posting on your social media every day now. Let everyone know you'll be there, what you'll be selling. Why not post about your preparations, show off the boxes of books ready to sell, the new posters you've got, how excited you are to meet the visitors.
We've prepared a media pack at the EXHIBITOR CENTRE for you to download with pre-made social media adverts, flyers etc.

Plan your table.
You'll know what the dimensions of your table are, so why not plan how you're going to use that space now so that you can set up perfectly, and quickly when you arrive. So much less stress. Take a photo of it on your phone for reference - share it on social media!
Don't forget to put a covering over the table to make it look nice - remember, this year the tables are 3 or 4 smaller tables pushed together. NOT trestle tables.

Book some additional advertising
Were going to be running videos on large screens all day long. If you'd like your book or business to be shown on the big screens then visit the ADVERTISING PAGE to book your advert. But do hurry as there is only limited space on the showreel due to the time it takes to organise.

Read the exhibitor info!
Everything you need to know about the day and for preparation can be found on the EXHIBITOR CENTRE. Please read it as there are some VERY important rules on there. Come back to it from time to time to look for new information.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow us on Twitter at: @oxindiebookfair
Post your books to the feed and tag us, don't forget to include links to BUY it. Send us your photos of your table prep, what special things are you going to be doing on the day?

VIDEO SCREEN ADVERTISING
For full details, visit the ADVERTISING page. We're able to take your book cover or graphic to add to the showreel. We'll also add a little text if you like, or for something a little bit special, we can do a simple animated segment or use your own animation. Bookings for advertising will close a week before the show.
We've had some brilliant entries so far, so thanks to all those that have signed up. By the way, as things are SO busy we'll only bill for that when we get closer to the actual event.

ANY QUESTIONS?
Check the FOR EXHIBITORS section first. We've compiled a set of instructions, videos and FAQs. If you can't find the answer there then get in touch at this email address.


AND FINALLY...
A MASSIVE thank-you to all the amazing supporters and sponsors who have donated their time, resources and MONEY to help make this, our BIGGEST event so far a reality.
You'll see a growing list on the website!

All the best,

Andy, Sylvia, James, Shona, Ray, Felicity.