Back in January, I made a push to get us to as many shows this year as possible, with the help of Arizona Authors Association, or rather, sponsoring us being at the events. While sponsoring can cost a wide range, buying a booth is often cheaper. Which is fine, when you just want to bring in local Arizona Authors to one of the largest book festivals on the West Coast.
The Tucson Festival of Books is a free annual book fair held in Tucson, Arizona during the second weekend in March. According to Wiki, the first annual of the festival featured around 450 authors and welcomed over 50,000 regional visitors. The largest Festivals in 2018 and 2019 reached an estimated attendance of 140,000, and the most recent iteration almost returned to pre-pandemic levels with an estimated 130,000 visitors in 2024.
But, I didn’t know that. Not at that time. As it got closer and I started prepping for the event, I realized that the scale was akin to the Phoenix Fan Fusion event, and I knew that was massive. I began to panic. Were we in over our heads? We booked our hotel, and headed down to Tucson, stocked full of books, flyers and pens. Setup, and let the day progress.
And…. It was massive. While I didn’t get to look at the entire event or partake in any of the events (which is fine, I was there to interact with everyone, rather than watch), the vendor area ran the length of University of Arizona. It was chock full of authors, vendors, publishers, bookstores, and everything in between.
I met some amazing people and got to help support the authors within the Arizona Authors Association. Would I do Tucson Festival of Books again? Absolutely. I can’t wait. I just hope I can get some new offerings out before then!