I had a book signing over the weekend that I was particularly excited about. The last time I signed at this store (a grocery store), I sold over 20 books. This being the week before Christmas, I hoped to sell twice that number.
When I got to the store, however, I knew things would be difficult. A newspaper lady guarded the entrance, stopping customers and soliciting them to take a free newspaper (and listen to her fifteen-minute speech). If you made it past her, an American Idol finalist had set up a table with his CD and a huge display.
I made my way to the customer service desk and told the store manager I was here. Well...turned out that headquarters forgot to tell the store I was coming, and he wasn't prepared for me. He was kind enough to try to accommodate me, though the front of the store location was pretty much taken up. He didn't want to set me up a table next to CD man because that would block the bakery. So he took me into the store and set me up in front of produce.
I was fine with this, really. I figured I'd snag everyone as they came to buy their fruits.
I neglected to estimate how many people buy fruits and veggies on a Friday evening. Or I should say, how few.
I packed it up after about 45 minutes. Only five people had walked past me so far. I couldn't leave my table and books behind to wander the front of the store, and I didn't see the point in sticking around another hour when it was like this. I was very disappointed because let's face it, I'd been seeing dollar signs. But I learned a few important things:
1) I need to be in the front of the store.
2) Don't trust headquarters to notify people.
3) Make sure no one else is doing something in the store the same time you are.
Oh well. Better luck next time!
Showing posts with label book signings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book signings. Show all posts
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Unexpected Benefits of a Book Signing
So we all know the most obvious benefit of a book signing: Selling books. Yay! (Let me also point out that I easily sell three times as many books at the grocery store as I do at a bookstore. Go figure.) But having just finished an 8-week tour of grocery store book signings, I've discovered some other less likely benefits. Some are extremely helpful; others are merely hilarious.
1) Photographs. There have actually been several excited people who wanted their picture taken with me. I hope I didn't preen too much.
2) Job offers. Yep. Someone thought I was doing such a great job behind my table that he offered me a job behind his table, selling jewelry at a store.
3) Speaking opportunities. I cannot tell you how many teachers came in that grew very excited to know I was local. Now I just sit here waiting for them to contact me...
4) Newspaper attention. And not from press releases, either. One woman came through that runs a serial column in a statewide newspaper. She offered to serialize a book of mine that's not under contract to help me get a bigger fan-base. (And I'd get paid for it, too.) Way cool. I know just what book I want her to do that to, also. I just haven't written it yet.
5) More book signings. People are so helpful. They all come in and give me contact information for someone they know who has an indie or used bookstore and would love for me to come do a signing. Isn't that nice? :)
6) Library appearances. Librarians are always excited to meet me, too.
7) Free products. Mary Kay ladies and Avon ladies have handed over free samples in exchange for a bookmark. Yay! Except...they didn't buy my book. So...I'll keep buying Mary Kay from my mom (who had a website here if anyone needs a Mary Kay lady).
Not to mention that I'm learning
7) Temperance. It's really rude when you say hi to someone and they look away and walk off without a word. Seriously. Would a "hello" kill ya??? Or even a smile?? After the twentieth time this happens in a day, people are lucky I don't run after them yelling, "Excuse me, I said hi to you! Didn't you hear me?" Breathe deeply. Calm down. It's okay.
Whew.
What about your book signings? Have you had any unexpected benefits?
1) Photographs. There have actually been several excited people who wanted their picture taken with me. I hope I didn't preen too much.
2) Job offers. Yep. Someone thought I was doing such a great job behind my table that he offered me a job behind his table, selling jewelry at a store.
3) Speaking opportunities. I cannot tell you how many teachers came in that grew very excited to know I was local. Now I just sit here waiting for them to contact me...
4) Newspaper attention. And not from press releases, either. One woman came through that runs a serial column in a statewide newspaper. She offered to serialize a book of mine that's not under contract to help me get a bigger fan-base. (And I'd get paid for it, too.) Way cool. I know just what book I want her to do that to, also. I just haven't written it yet.
5) More book signings. People are so helpful. They all come in and give me contact information for someone they know who has an indie or used bookstore and would love for me to come do a signing. Isn't that nice? :)
6) Library appearances. Librarians are always excited to meet me, too.
7) Free products. Mary Kay ladies and Avon ladies have handed over free samples in exchange for a bookmark. Yay! Except...they didn't buy my book. So...I'll keep buying Mary Kay from my mom (who had a website here if anyone needs a Mary Kay lady).
Not to mention that I'm learning
7) Temperance. It's really rude when you say hi to someone and they look away and walk off without a word. Seriously. Would a "hello" kill ya??? Or even a smile?? After the twentieth time this happens in a day, people are lucky I don't run after them yelling, "Excuse me, I said hi to you! Didn't you hear me?" Breathe deeply. Calm down. It's okay.
Whew.
What about your book signings? Have you had any unexpected benefits?
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Big Missouri Signing
I don't know if I have any followers from Missouri or Kansas, but if I do, I'm doing a multi-author event on Saturday, Sept. 24. Here are the details:
Saturday, Sept, 24th 10-12 noon
Far West Country Store
2650 NW State Route D
Cameron, MO
Website: http://farwesthistorical.org
Saturday Sept 24th 2-4 pm
Eden Bookshop
118A North Main St.
Liberty, MO
Website: http://edenbookshop.com/EBS/
There are five authors who will be there and it should be AWESOME.
Not to mention food, contests, and fundraisers. The cool part is meeting the authors, right? :) Help me spread the word! Post the event button on your blog. We're hoping this will be a huge event!
Hope to see some of you there!
Saturday, Sept, 24th 10-12 noon
Far West Country Store
2650 NW State Route D
Cameron, MO
Website: http://farwesthistorical.org
Saturday Sept 24th 2-4 pm
Eden Bookshop
118A North Main St.
Liberty, MO
Website: http://edenbookshop.com/EBS/
There are five authors who will be there and it should be AWESOME.
Not to mention food, contests, and fundraisers. The cool part is meeting the authors, right? :) Help me spread the word! Post the event button on your blog. We're hoping this will be a huge event!
Hope to see some of you there!
Friday, July 8, 2011
You win! (Especially if you live in Dallas, Oklahoma, or Arkansas)
And the winner is...Annie McMahon!
Yay! Stars and cheers!
This has been my morning so far:
9am: gym
10:30am: bank
11am: frozen yogurt
11:30am: lunch
12:30pm: groceries
2pm: home
now (2:15pm): shower
So, Annie, check back in an hour or two. I'll have all the books listed so you can choose your favorite THREE, as well as some awesome NEWS!
Book options:
And since you asked about my own book, I can send you the ebook, but I'm all out of hard copies! Amazon has a Kindle app you can use on your computer, if you don't have a Kindle. Just let me know if you'd like a copy of Perilous!
As for my NEWS, next weekend I'm going on a mini-tour! Along with three other authors, I'll be making appearances in Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Springdale, Arkansas. You can find more details on my post above called "Author sightings." I'd love to meet you if you're in the area!!! Come and see us!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Book Signings on the Mind
No, I'm not having a book signing anytime soon. Maybe in a year (if we stretch it a bit...my book release is set for Fall of 2010). But a lot of my friends have been discussing the pros and cons of book signings, and it's got my mind gearing.
Here are some of my ideas for making a book signing a success:
1) Places to go.
This is the part that is the hardest. I could spend tons of money traveling the globe, but really, nobody knows me. Nobody's going to go out of their way to come to my book signing. I need to go places that are close by or that already have a steady flow of traffic. Off hand, close to my house, I can think of: two independent book stores, two big-chain bookstores, four Walmarts, ten grocery stores, and one Sam's Club. And that's just in a ten-mile radius.
Before you roll your eyes about going to Walmarts and grocery stores, let me tell you a story. One time in Utah, I was grocery shopping, and tucked in the back by the milk was John Canann and his then publicist, Narelle. John was talking to customers and selling products. He was so friendly, nice, and complimentary of me and my baby. I had never heard of the guy before. Really. But I bought--not one CD, or even two CDs--three CDs and tickets to his Christmas concert. Call me a sucker. But I met him in person and wanted to support him. I don't think I'm the only one who would react that way!
Now that I've got my local places to go, I just have to schedule. I could knock these places out in a month. And then I can start seeing about traveling just a few minutes over to the next town. Or taking it even bigger and going to another state. This could be my chance to visit my sister in Massachusetts! Or my college roommate in Washington!
2) Advertise.
It'll be great to be in places that have a pretty constant flow of people. But it won't hurt to bring more people to me! I'll get my website up and running and my business cards made. I also plan on having special bookmarks made (more like a brochure) that have the first chapter on them. It'll be up on my website, but some people might be too "busy" to check it out. I'll make it easy for them. I'll also list the dates and places for my book signings in this brochure (bookmark).
Obviously by including the first chapter, I'm hoping readers will be so smitten that they'll come flocking to meet the brilliant, local author. Right? I'll leave copies of these brochures with all of my scheduled book-signees so they can begin including them in grocery bags and books. I mean, they want the book signing to be a success, too!
3) Invite.
You can bet I'll be contacting everyone I know, everyone I've ever heard of. It's time now to expand my friend list on Facebook and Twitter. I expect all of my old high school friends and everyone from church to show up. My mom I'll probably bribe to hang out at the bookstore for the duration of the signing and act like an interested customer. Then again, that might not work. She looks too much like me.
4) Incentives.
At the book signing, I'll probably have some cheap trinket that I give away with every sale. Like, a key chain that lights up or something cool. I'll also have cookies to attract attention. Everyone will take a cookie and a brochure, even if they don't buy the book. And that's getting my name out there! I'll also probably have a drawing for something. Maybe a free autographed copy, but probably not. Because then no one will buy the book. They'll be so busy hoping to get a free one. I know! I could do a $10 gift certificate to the bookstore I'm doing the signing at! Can't lose that way. (But I would probably only do that if I sold a certain number of books, unless the bookstore donated the certificate.)
5) Follow-up
I got this from another blog: have a list where people can sign up for my email updates! That way, everyone who buys my signed first book gets to find out when my second book comes out! By this time they will be rabid fans and bring hoards of family and friends to my book signings!
As you can see, I've spent all morning thinking about this. I'm quite excited about it. Too bad it's so far away!
Sequel Stats:
today's goal: 38,410
actual: 38,573
tomorrow's goal: 40,573
Here are some of my ideas for making a book signing a success:
1) Places to go.
This is the part that is the hardest. I could spend tons of money traveling the globe, but really, nobody knows me. Nobody's going to go out of their way to come to my book signing. I need to go places that are close by or that already have a steady flow of traffic. Off hand, close to my house, I can think of: two independent book stores, two big-chain bookstores, four Walmarts, ten grocery stores, and one Sam's Club. And that's just in a ten-mile radius.
Before you roll your eyes about going to Walmarts and grocery stores, let me tell you a story. One time in Utah, I was grocery shopping, and tucked in the back by the milk was John Canann and his then publicist, Narelle. John was talking to customers and selling products. He was so friendly, nice, and complimentary of me and my baby. I had never heard of the guy before. Really. But I bought--not one CD, or even two CDs--three CDs and tickets to his Christmas concert. Call me a sucker. But I met him in person and wanted to support him. I don't think I'm the only one who would react that way!
Now that I've got my local places to go, I just have to schedule. I could knock these places out in a month. And then I can start seeing about traveling just a few minutes over to the next town. Or taking it even bigger and going to another state. This could be my chance to visit my sister in Massachusetts! Or my college roommate in Washington!
2) Advertise.
It'll be great to be in places that have a pretty constant flow of people. But it won't hurt to bring more people to me! I'll get my website up and running and my business cards made. I also plan on having special bookmarks made (more like a brochure) that have the first chapter on them. It'll be up on my website, but some people might be too "busy" to check it out. I'll make it easy for them. I'll also list the dates and places for my book signings in this brochure (bookmark).
Obviously by including the first chapter, I'm hoping readers will be so smitten that they'll come flocking to meet the brilliant, local author. Right? I'll leave copies of these brochures with all of my scheduled book-signees so they can begin including them in grocery bags and books. I mean, they want the book signing to be a success, too!
3) Invite.
You can bet I'll be contacting everyone I know, everyone I've ever heard of. It's time now to expand my friend list on Facebook and Twitter. I expect all of my old high school friends and everyone from church to show up. My mom I'll probably bribe to hang out at the bookstore for the duration of the signing and act like an interested customer. Then again, that might not work. She looks too much like me.
4) Incentives.
At the book signing, I'll probably have some cheap trinket that I give away with every sale. Like, a key chain that lights up or something cool. I'll also have cookies to attract attention. Everyone will take a cookie and a brochure, even if they don't buy the book. And that's getting my name out there! I'll also probably have a drawing for something. Maybe a free autographed copy, but probably not. Because then no one will buy the book. They'll be so busy hoping to get a free one. I know! I could do a $10 gift certificate to the bookstore I'm doing the signing at! Can't lose that way. (But I would probably only do that if I sold a certain number of books, unless the bookstore donated the certificate.)
5) Follow-up
I got this from another blog: have a list where people can sign up for my email updates! That way, everyone who buys my signed first book gets to find out when my second book comes out! By this time they will be rabid fans and bring hoards of family and friends to my book signings!
As you can see, I've spent all morning thinking about this. I'm quite excited about it. Too bad it's so far away!
Sequel Stats:
today's goal: 38,410
actual: 38,573
tomorrow's goal: 40,573
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
