We arrived at the Bethesda North Marriott and Conference Center around 8:00 Saturday morning and wheeled our big pile of books inside.
We got quickly to the business of setting up our tables. For the first time, instead of one, we got two, which meant that we had two sides of a corner.
The Idiots’Books side:
And the Bobbledy Books side:
The Bobbledy Books side was haunted by an unpleasant woman who spent the entire weekend eating stale muffins behind the banner.
We had a baby products nook:
A Ten Thousand Stories debut section.
Some case-building signage.
And some other signage making it clear that we are rather open minded when it comes to compensation.
It all combined to form one colorful and rather schizophrenic corner of SPX.
Which suited us just fine.
As surprising as it may sound, I was inspired to jump.
At 11:00am precisely, the doors were opened.
And SPX was under way.
Early that morning, we had opened a fresh case of Ten Thousand Stories, excited at the prospects of selling it for the very first time. As noted in the last post, we’ve been wondering for some time who the very first person to buy a copy would be. As it turns out, we didn’t have to wait long.
A few minutes after SPX began, a rather nice woman named Linda (with truly exceptional taste in reading material) handed us a small plastic card and left with a copy of our book. Please forgive the blur. My hand was surely trembling with excitement.
Moments later, we sold a second copy to these friendly folks. I was so happy that I didn’t even notice the searing jealousy I must surely have felt toward this fellow on account of his admirable beard.
Not long after, a third person bought the book, but he was so tall and muscular that we didn’t want to ask him to take a photo with us. Throughout the day, lots of people came by and flipped the panels and smiled at the book.
Meanwhile, people browsed our other books as well. The Bobbledy collection was a point of great interest to folks who have heretofore known us only as creators of “odd, commercially nonviable books for adults.”
And the baby books worked like a tractor beam, bringing people in with their irreverent titles. As it turns out, almost everyone knows that, in spite of popular mythology, babies are really pretty vexing. And they appreciate having an opportunity to vent through the safe veil of laughter.
For her part, Robbi spent most of the day hiding out.
On Saturday night, we hopped on the Metro and headed into the city.
We had dinner with our good friends Dahna and Sarah.
We had breakfast with our good friends Dahna and Sarah.
On Sunday morning, we hauled ourselves back up to Bethesda.
If Saturday’s theme was blistering commerce, Sunday was for good conversations and unexpected encounters.
For example: Robbi was presented with the challenge of making an “invisible sketch” in a book make out of recycled panda poop.
The blank page was unnerving. Especially since it would be remaining blank as she drew. The request was that she draw a picture with invisible ink.
Which would only be viewable beneath an ultraviolet light.
Robbi’s tired cognitive machinery strained to take it all in.
But the woman doing the asking was so earnest and so eager, Robbi found it impossible to say no.
Robbi did the sketch, and our new friend took it to the darkest corner she could find to examine Robbi’s handiwork.
What did she draw, you might be wondering. I cannot tell you. To tell you would defeat the purpose of the invisibility. Now you feel bad about asking. That’s ok. It’s a common mistake.
While she was huddled in the darkest corner, Robbi signed yet another copy of Ten Thousand Stories for our friend and subscriber Lindsey Boyle.
For the record, we love Lindsey Boyle. And not just because she brought us the most astonishingly indulgent chocolate chip cookies we’ve ever experienced.
And while we’re on the topic of people we love, we also had a chance to visit with illustrator Natalie Andrewson, who we first met at ICON last summer.
Be sure to check out her site. Her work is amazing. And she’s a very nice person.
Truly, this is what SPX is all about. Amazing work and great people. So why didn’t you go? You only have to wait a year to find out.
