Using Square for Book Fairs and Online

[Alan]

Hi,

I have been invited to participate in a Local Author fair at the main branch of the Phoenix Public Library. In order to be able to handle card or tap sales I've signed up with Square. While I'm not totally inept when it comes to navigating things online, I found their setup to be less than intuitive, but I managed to get through it. Now I'm trying to setup a very basic online presence using Square and I'm finding their setup process to be pretty close to aggravating for someone who just want to be able to offer a few books for sale.
Does anyone have any recommendations for true non-techie author friendly website homes? Or, if you've had experience with Square, any tips on how to get things to work?

Thanks.
Alan

[Anna]

I don't have anything that takes card sales. I keep meaning to do something about it but in the meantime, when people buy books from me, I send them to the next stall where the other bookseller has a card reader; he's very helpful.

I realize this is not very helpful but if you can't get it sorted sufficiently well on the day, it'll be good to have a card reading friend as a backstop.

[Soren]

Alan wrote: "Hi,

I have been invited to participate in a Local Author fair at the main branch of the Phoenix Public Library. In order to be able to handle card or tap sales I've signed up with Square. While I'..."

Hi Alan,

I saw your post and can definitely relate. Navigating the tech side of being an author can be incredibly frustrating when you just want to focus on the books!

You asked for recommendations for non-techie-friendly website homes, and I'd be happy to share what has worked for me.

For my own author website, I used Canva. It's incredibly intuitive and visual, with a drag-and-drop interface that requires zero coding knowledge. They have a great free tier, and you can build a beautiful, professional-looking one-page site in an afternoon. I was able to connect my custom domain to it without any trouble.

If you need something even simpler, just for linking to your books, a service like Linktree is also a fantastic and very easy-to-use option.

As for Square, I've found that for in-person events like book fairs, it's often easiest to bypass their website builder entirely and just use the simple Square Point of Sale app on your phone with one of their tap/card readers. It handles the transactions perfectly without the headache of setting up an online store.

Hope this helps! Wishing you the best of luck with your author fair.

— Soren K. Blackwood