I've been doing art festivals for 6 years with off and on success. After reading this book I have already had 4 consistent shows in a row!
My display looks better, my sales are up, my previous collectors thanked me for contacting them and they came to buy my stuff, just like Maria Arango said in her wonderful marketing tips.
The things I learned are too many to mention, little changes in my display made a huge difference, the section on traffic flow, well, just never occurred to me to figure it out. I booked a corner for the first time ever, just one of many suggestions. I revised my pricing scheme.
Just too many things to say here but I must say this book covers absolutely everything there is to know. I also found that this book more accurately reflected my experience in art festivals than any other, not that there are that many! But I could totally relate to Maria's experiences and the fact that she is hilarious helps makes reading the book a pleasure.
I will go along with everyone else here and thank the author for taking the time to write this very complete, helpful, informative and entertaining account of the art festival life. And NO! she didn't even ask me to write this, lol.
Thank you, Maria!!!

I was toying with the idea of selling some of my sculptures and went to a couple of art festivals. I asked people and searched the web everywhere for information on how to get started and several people recommended this book. I'm not really a book person but I got it anyway.

WOW! I read cover to cover in one sitting because the author is sooo entertaining. My husband and I were traveling to our first festival and I was reading outloud. We used some of the display advice, we followed the pricing suggestions and the sales techniques and we not only made a profit on our first go around but we won a booth award!!! All we did was follow the advice in this book.
Other artists couldn't believe that this was our first festival.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I have read it again since that first time and I believe this book has saved us countless hours of searching, asking and trying. We are forever indebted to this author and we found that she is readily available to answer our questions!

We are planning a successful second year for next year and believe that this life is for us, largely thanks to this book and all the information that we would have never known.

agree with all others
festivals are my life and this book says it all
i learned so much from this great book and the author was very nice
i had some questions and she emailed back right up
all the help i needed was there in front of me
i have had six great shows since i got the book and it all true
like others here, i thank the author too for telling the truth and giving so much information that takes years to get without book
thank you

You must read this book if you are even thinking about making a living or even doing a couple of festivals a year. EVERYTHING any artist needs is right here.
As a long time promoter and former festival artist, I can recommend this book with my highest rating. Just get it and I guarantee you will save money, time, headaches, trial and error, and shorten your learning curve to hit the ground running with the best of them. Get it, seriously.

All the answers I was looking for to start my business in crafts are here. The people i bought my tent from recommended this book and boy were they right. This book already saved me money and told me everything I needed to know. I emailed the author and thanked her and she even answered right away and told me she would answer questions. The website for the book is great too because you can see pictures of what everything is supposed to look like and that helped me a lot.
I think I will probably succeed because of this book or at least will have a great person to guide me behind the lines.

The best section I thought was on everything you need to get and then on the sales part too. That's what I needed most and I am also getting another book on art sales that this author recommended in the back. Also how to set up your booth and pricing my craft items for the people that go to fairs.

Excellent excellent excellent!!! Good luck, thank you, hope to meet you someday.

Deb

This book is terrific. It's terrific even if you are not doing festivals. I've done a few and she approaches the subject with an informed humor. A great romp through the whole process. Buy it!
Carol Chapel
Corvallis, OR

Four festivals ago I should have had this book, wouldda save me some headaches. There should be more pictures of setups and stuff at festivals but I understand it would be more expensive proably then.
Great humor btw, sure can relate. Great job.

I found Maria's writing style very down to earth and accessible. The wide range of information was helpful for someone like me starting out in the festival business. The personal stories helped to make an overwhleming task seem attainable. The reference section was also helpful for obtaining equiptment and show information.

Probably the best book I've read on art festivals, most others are more directed to little craft fairs. This book covers EVERYTHING to get started and beyond. Thank you to hte author!

just got my book, fast shipping! the info is great, I never knew all this stuff and I've been doing craft fairs for a year wow, great book, I'm impressed Thank you!

I just started doing art festivals last year and had an ok year. I wish I would have had this book BEFORE I started! It really covers everything I wanted to know. I showed to my friend that has been doing festivals for a while and she even said it had a lot of useful information. I will be using it for reference as I keep doing festivals. Especially the sections on sales and promotion are awesome. Great tips on how to set up my booth too! Must read if you are an artist doing festivals or starting out.