Creative Bulletin n.272
For five days, we had our stand at the Turin International Book Fair. A heartfelt thank you to the team (Sara, Chiara, Fede, Fra, and Lino) who made it all possible ❤️
What do you gain from it? One of the questions I was asked most often this year was: “Is it worth going to the Fair?” To be completely transparent, we just about broke even (and it’s the same every year). What we sell is more or less consistent, and the costs are very, very high 😅
“So you do it to be seen, for brand awareness?” Sadly, I have my doubts about that too. There are so many stands, so much going on, that I’m not convinced being there just to be seen is a worthwhile investment.
The real gain. Paradoxically, I think the Fair is a moment for us. A chance to get to know each other better as a team, to spend time together under extreme conditions (both joyful and uncomfortable 😂).
It’s also a chance to better understand what we’re doing. Are we selling tools? Just trying to make the numbers work? Or is it something else?
One person came by to thank us because they published a book using Fabula. Another was feeling completely stuck and bought The Creative Ambush. Publishers and authors approached us to ask how we do our marketing—they saw us on social media and want the same kind of independence…
🌈 Creative takeaway: the courage to stop struggling and just look at ourselves
Over these past days—while I worried about making enough money, about picking the wrong spot at the fair, about not having grown in six years, about… about… about…—I stopped, looked around me, and realized that over these years we’ve created something incredible. Not enough? Who cares.
Sometimes it’s easier to focus only on what we haven’t yet achieved, to point a finger at ourselves and shake our heads.
It takes real courage to look at the good things—the ones we admire in ourselves, the ones we care about, the ones we’re proud of—and admit: “Wow.” And get a little emotional about what we’ve brought into this world.
With ❤️,
Matteo
*** Sefirot’s Creative Bulletin ***
In this bulletin I tell you how we run an independent publishing company.
🕰 If you want to read past Bulletins, you can find them here https://blog.sefirot.it/tag/creative-bulletin
🚀 If you want to share it with friends, please do!
🐝 If someone shared it with you and you’d like to subscribe, follow this link
🔮 Did you know that we also have a Telegram group where you can connect with other creatives?