When starting out, many authors wonder how they should promote their books, and many are disappointed when they hold a book signing and no one shows up. An author may sign books at a bookstore in his hometown and have a dozen friends and family, but then the second book signing in a neighboring city can be a failure with only one or two books sold at the most. Book marketing experts have long said that a bookstore is the worst place to sell a book. I don’t think that’s true (authors sell most of their books in bookstores over time), but bookstore book signing is usually a colossal failure for most authors.
What makes an author event effective? The author’s participation in terms of dissemination of the event is an important factor. You cannot trust the bookstore or organization to promote your event. You may not get a crowd of people yet if you do, but the more effort you put into publicizing the event yourself, the more likely you are to draw a crowd. Here are some ways you can help promote your event:
- Send invitations through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
- Send an Email Invitation to Your Email List – Remember that not everyone is on Facebook, and not all of your Facebook friends are on your email list, so cover your bases both ways (and don’t discriminate or stop inviting friends in other states or across the country (they may not come, but they can cheer you on from afar and the positive energy helps a lot) is also a reminder to ask for your book).
- Send postcards to people on your regular mailing list, especially your older readers who may not be on Facebook or even have no email.
- Post the scheduled event prominently on your website.
- Make posters and distribute them around the area (supermarkets, libraries, restaurants, anywhere there is a bulletin board or a door where you can stick something), always ask the manager for permission before doing it (and invite him or her and the staff to the event while doing it). Make sure to give some posters to the event planner, the bookstore owner, etc. for delivery.
- Send a list of events, or even a press release, to local media; many television stations and newspapers have community event calendars. And you never know when the newspaper might write the event or the television station might come to cover it.
Marketing your event yourself can be a lot of work, but it gives you a better chance of having an audience and selling your book than if you don’t promote it. Making posters can especially seem like a waste of time and money, especially if you can’t put them all up, so I recommend making a generic poster for all of your events and then leaving a place where you can list the time, place, and location details for each. specific event. You can then print stickers or just handwrite that information on the posters so that you always have posters available and don’t end up throwing any away.
Making an event effective also has to do with how you “sell” it to your potential audience. Saying “John Smith will sign his new book on X at location X” may not excite many people, especially if they can always get the book at that location any other day of the week and don’t care if it’s signed. But spicing up the event can go a long way. Here are some additional ways to give that extra reason why people should attend your author event:
- Invite other authors to attend. They are not your competition. They are your greatest resource. If you can get other authors to run the event with you, they can help you promote it, and their fan base will show up and discover your book as well. People are also more likely to submit by six authors than by one author. You may have to spend a little more time coordinating the event with everyone, but it also increases your chances of the event being a success, and if no one shows up, you will at least have other people to talk to and network with. Slow author events are often where you can get some of your best ideas for marketing your book simply by talking to the other participants.
- Host a contest or giveaway. Have a picture: sell tickets or give a ticket to everyone who buys a book; You can give away books for free, or they can even be non-book related items. You may even want to find a sponsor, someone who will donate an attractive or desirable item as a prize for the event – a great way to publicize the sponsor. Don’t be afraid to get creative. I know of an author who ran a contest for a chance to be named as a character in the author’s next book.
- Entertain your audience. People may not be willing to show up just to buy a book, but they can show up if you’re giving a talk on a topic that interests them. If you have five or six authors, make a schedule and each of you can give a twenty-minute talk during the event. If you know someone musical, it doesn’t hurt for someone to sing during the event or play an instrument. You can also show a short film or video of your book. People want to be entertained and they like free entertainment. Entertain them and they will be more likely to buy your book. And even if he doesn’t sell books, he planted a seed, so they could later buy the book as a Christmas present for someone else.
No matter how hard you work, some events will end up as failures. But even if an event is a flop, if you are invited to participate in the event next year, give it a second try and discuss what you could have done better to promote the event so you have a better chance the second time around. . If you still fail, perhaps you could reconsider not participating in the future, especially if you are busy or could spend that time writing or doing something more fruitful, but if you have the time and want to continue, the worst that can happen. is that you waste your time and you never know who may appear the third time.
Over time, you may end up deciding not to attend certain events any longer, but also remember that sometimes it just takes the right person to make the event worthwhile. For example, I know of an author who had a book signature and only one person came forward, but that person was the right person. She was the director of the library book club and liked the author and his book so much that she got the book club to read the book. The author spent two hours at the book signing and only sold one book, but it turned out that the other sixteen members of that book club bought his book a couple of months later. Not only that, but the book club invited him to their book club meeting, which included a free dinner, and they paid him to come speak. I’d say those are pretty good results from a book signing where only one person showed up.
Author events can be a success if the authors are willing to put in the effort and are a little creative in drawing a crowd. Don’t just show up to an event. Create the event, own the event, be the event. Then your author event can be a success.