I’m a newbie bookseller, and I’m signed up for a table in the hucksters’ room at MileHi Con this August.
Question: Where the heck can I get some reasonably-priced break-down bookshelves?
Also: Any advice? Suggestions? Etc.?
Most cons I ever worked (UK, in the 70s & 80s, mainly) almost everyone made do with the dealer tables provided. Sometimes we took a couple of cardboard dumpbins so we could put new hardbacks face out.
Pier 1 has some decent folding shelves. That’s what at least one bookseller used for her cons and shows. You might want to stack the books on their sides, rather than having them upright, in order to fit more books in.
Good luck.
When I was selling books at cons I used folding shelves similar to the ones Lynn linked to, except I bought mine at Target (IIRC) for about $30 apiece. The three-shelf folding bookshelves had the advantage of being easy to pack, and they could be stacked to make six-foot tall shelves. I only used them to display hardcovers and trade paperbacks; for mass market paperbacks I made custom shelves 32" high and 24" wide that held four rows of books much more efficiently that standard bookcases.
If you’re looking for low-cost and low-tech, there’s cinderblocks and two by four planks.
You can do that in your living room. Dong it in a commercial selling environment is very different. People do judge you on looks. Also set-up and take-down would be a bitch.
I’ve sold at several Worldcons. Over the years I’ve learned some basics. Presentation is far more important than many dealers seem to realize. The bigger the con the more important it is to look professional. You’re competing against people who set up stores. The ones who stick with tabletops are usually amateurs. Good for the OP in starting out right.
Here are several sizes for folding bookshelves. If you order online, always Google for a coupon/promo code, because you can save a bunch of money!