It's a new year and with a new year comes a whole new schedule of craft shows you can sign up for! Finding local craft shows is essential for making a living via your creative biz. Selling at shows puts you in front of buyers who want to support you and fellow makers whose community you can join.

But where do you start? How do you find out about craft shows in your town and near you? How do you determine if you want to travel to out-of-state shows? How do you even FIND out of state shows? Here are a few ways:

TALK TO OTHER CRAFTERS

Ask other crafters what events they participate in and which ones they do NOT participate in. Word of mouth is a great way to find new fairs and glean details about existing ones.

GOOGLE

Google is a great way to find fairs in your city, state and in other states. Here is an image from a quick google we did and look at all that popped-up in Kansas City:

And here is a google from Missouri which came up with lots of fairs in the state:

FREE ONLINE...

We're sure you know, craft shows can be hit or miss. They can be a great way to get your products in front of new customers, get feedback on what is popular and of course start generating income for your business.

Even slower shows can have their benefits (meeting future fans, growing your following, meeting other makers, learning about great shows in the area, getting crucial customer feedback, etc.), but picking the right shows can help you grow your business faster and save you lots of time.

We have a few tips for choosing the perfect craft fairs for selling your amazing maker goods!

ATTEND:  Visit potential shows to see if your items would be a good fit.

COST:  Determine how much booth fees are for each show.

SHOPPERS:  Consider the audience demographics.

VENDOR ATTENDANCE:  Find out what vendors have participated in the past.

CUSTOMER ATTENDANCE:  Ask the curator or past vendors how many shoppers attend.

ONLY HANDMADE?:  Find out if...

It's the age-old question? How much product should I bring to a craft show? 

Ideally, you want to recoup 8 to 10 times the booth fee and bring double the amount of product to make that happen. You also want to make sure you're spreading your inventory across several price points.

A lot of variables exist that can effect the amount of stock makers bring to craft shows and art fairs, but there are some equations that you can use to help you determine how much product to bring.

First, you'll need to determine some very important numbers.  

Once you have determined the numbers from the graphic above, you can use them in this graphic to figure out how much product you should bring to shows to meet your profit goals!

 OF NOTE:

You don't want to bring ONLY the amount of products needed to meet your profit goals or else your booth will be completely bare by show's end! Make sure you bring DOUBLE that amount so you can restock and sell more. Shoppers love browsing full...