Let's Run the Numbers

Twin Cities Book Festival Edition

Photo by Rain Taxi Review

Last Saturday, History Through Fiction set up shop at the Twin Cities Book Festival —and wow, what a day.

I’ve been going to this event for years, but this one felt different. From the moment the doors opened, there was a buzz in the air. By late morning, the aisles were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with readers. I barely had time to take a sip of water between conversations. For a bookseller, that’s the dream—steady crowds, real interest, people stopping to talk about stories and history and art.

And here’s the part that really amazed me: we sold 48 books, more than at any festival we’ve ever attended.

Now, selling books at an event like this isn’t just about the immediate revenue (though I’ll get to that in a minute). It’s also about long-term impact. Some of those readers will tell their friends about us. Others will find our books online, borrow them from their local library, or listen to the audiobooks. A few might even be writers who later reach out to submit their own historical fiction manuscripts. That’s the beauty of events like this—they plant seeds that keep growing long after the tables are packed up.

Still, I know some of you like seeing how the business side of things works (and honestly, so do I). So, let’s run the numbers.

The Costs

Being a sponsoring exhibitor at the festival costs $500.
Parking: $8.
Labor (a huge thank-you to Hannah for helping all day): $100.
Book printing and shipping? On average, about $6.50 per book, which comes out to $312 for the 48 we sold.

All told: $920 in costs.

The Revenue

We sold 45 paperbacks at $18 each and 3 anthologies at $5 each—for a total of $825 in sales.

Now, the less-fun part: deductions.
Sales tax (9.88%) = $81.51.
Transaction fees = $15.03.
That brings our net revenue down to $728.46.

Then we’ve got royalties. Twenty-seven of those sales require no royalties (either my books or our anthologies), but the other 21 do. After some spreadsheet gymnastics, I landed on $98.00 in total royalties owed.

That leaves us with $630.46 in real revenue.

When you subtract our total costs of $920, we end up with a loss of $289.54.

So... Was It Worth It?

Absolutely.

Yes, we lost a few hundred dollars on paper—but what we gained is much harder to quantify. Dozens of new readers discovered our books. Dozens more walked away with a new understanding of what History Through Fiction does. And every time we hand a book to someone who loves stories rooted in the past, it strengthens the whole ecosystem that keeps small presses like ours alive.

Independent publishing isn’t about immediate profits—it’s about connection, discovery, and endurance.

So, yes, the numbers might show a loss. But the reality? It’s a win.
And as long as we can keep the lights on and the books flowing, we’ll keep showing up, tablecloth and all, ready to meet the next reader who’s waiting to find us.