BATTLE OF THE WARES AT THE CHRISTMAS FAIR

Hi everyone,

It's Christmas time and what precedes Christmas? Christmas fairs. There's Soup on My Fly has been out for about a week and a half or so and since then  I've  been on the go. About two days after the books came out Mom told me that  she had booked  me half a table.  I was like, "what?' half a table of what?"  She explained that she booked  half a table for me at a Christmas fair, where I could sell my books.   My first thought was, What  good is half a table with two legs? I mean, really, seriously, was I going to balance part of  the table on my lap? What would happen if I needed to take a leak? Alternatively if she meant I would be sharing the table, with whom would I be sharing the table? I mean I certainly couldn't be sharing one with a massage therapist, that's for sure.

Well, what she actually meant was that she had booked me a small table for me at a  Christmas fair, one of the many Christmas fairs that have been going around town. Yes, I know we're supposed to be in a global recession, but when it comes to shopping, Singapore's the Consumer Capitol of SE Asia.

Anyway Mom had a friend who would be selling her wares too so she thought it would be good fun if I tried to try selling the book there before I commited to a sole distributor  So without knowing what I was getting into I headed off  to the grand ballroom of the Orchard Hotel, where there would be over one hundred vendors, vying with one another to get customers to part with their hard-earned cash.

One benefit was the fact that I would be the only children's book vendor at the fair, or so the organizer assured me. Most of the other vendors would be selling jewelry etc. Well, at least I won't have any competition, I thought. Then two days ago, the day before the fair, the organzier called, offering profuse apologies, another author would be there, a children's author, a teen author and a novelist and one who is known to be extremely effective when it comes to marketing her books...Oh crap, I thought...(To Be Continued)