I learned quickly that there’s a really good reason that publishers won’t go out of their way to arrange a book signing for most debut authors. Hordes of adoring fans aren’t likely to flood into the local B&N because you–a complete unknown–happen to pitch a table and prop your books up on it. I’m not even six months into my print publishing career and I’ve already attended signings where not a book was sold, and nervous-looking customers quickly evaded my gaze in the hope I wouldn’t try to sell them something. In short, book signings can be a huge waste of time for you, your publisher, and the bookstore.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them.
A Book Launch Party Is Worth Your Time
Even if you don’t do any other signing events, it’s nice to have a celebration in honor of your book release. You’ll probably have friends and family that are curious about it and would love to have the chance to see you after all those long months you spent in anti-social writing mode. It’s nice to do it at a local bookstore that can handle the sales of your book, but you don’t have to do it there. Book parties can take place in your home, at a friend’s house or a restaurant or a bowling alley. I’ve held two such parties so far and they were both delightful. First, I printed up some flyers for the store to hand out to customers and post around the store. I also gave out some bookmarks and invited just about everyone I knew. I brought some snacks for the guests and planned a presentation (which I’ll get into more later).
The Phone Isn’t Going to be of Any Help To You
When I decided I wanted to do a few book signings a friend and I simply made up a list of all the local bookstores and started calling them. Big mistake. The first thing we realized is that if you call bookstores yourself, you’re likely to be blown off completely. The big box stores have certain policies and will generally tell you that they only set up signings arranged by corporate headquarters with your publisher. Even Indie bookstores will be resistant to a debut author. After all, they aren’t sure they’re going to be carrying your book and even if they do, they don’t think they can call on you to draw a crowd. So I figured out quickly that the phone wasn’t going to be any use to me at all. That all changed when I crawled out of my writer’s pajamas and into big girl clothes and paid a visit to the local stores to distribute bookmarks & excerpt books etcetera. When I went in and asked to speak to the manager, the response was altogether welcoming. Before I knew it, I had invitations to do more signings than I had time for.
Give a Presentation
Having had early experience with sitting at a table hoping for customers to come by, I determined that I’d rather give a presentation. I put myself in the shoes of readers. Why would I go to a signing unless I knew the author or was already a huge fan? Only if they were going to tell me something interesting. Consequently, I came up with a presentation complete with a slide show. The slide show part turned out to be a stupid idea because I don’t own a projector and even if I did, most bookstores aren’t equipped to turn out the lights and lower a white screen for you. When I designed my second presentation, I made sure that it only needed handouts, which I could print out and staple cheaply at home. Whenever I give presentations, strangers happen by, see a crowd, listen in, and almost always buy my books. Every time I’ve sold out at a signing it’s been because I gave something to readers before asking them to buy anything from me.
Be A Little Paranoid
This may sound weird, but it can’t hurt to practice your signature in a different way than you usually use it for legal documents and checks. Insofar as your money has anything to do with the way you sign your name, it may not be wise to put it on a bunch of books you’re giving to strangers.
Consider Drive-By Signings
Once your novel is actually in bookstores, things are going to get a little bit easier. You don’t have the time to do a signing in every bookstore near you, and I’m not sure it would be worthwhile doing if you could. However, I always go into a bookstore wherever I am to introduce myself to booksellers and tell them about my novel. I ask to sign the stock, and the reception is always different each time. I’ll probably do a whole post just on this kind of hands on interaction, I’ll let you know right now that some booksellers will be thrilled to see you. Others bored. Some hostile. I’ve just learned to roll with it. Signed books sell better than unsigned books I’m told, and my own anecdotal evidence suggests the same if bookscan is to be believed. I always take bookmarks, some good pens, and some Autographed Copy stickers and Local Author stickers with me. Booksellers have told me that having the chance to talk to an author about the book helps them to hand sell it, so this seems like a good investment of time. Plus, you get to meet cool people on the way.
The presentation idea is really great. But you left out the essential tip! Always coerce a bunch of friends into coming, to make sure there is SOMEONE there! It makes the author feel better, and also it’s like the two or three bucks street musicians throw into the hat to give other folks the idea.
So far, my friends and family have been very helpful in making sure that at least -someone- is at my signings, but I fear that I’m going to try their patience and exhaust their good will.
I like these adventures. 😀 Why are some bookstores hostile? 🙁
I wish I knew! It might have something to do with my tendency to leave my bookmarks all around their stores 😛
Reading with interest and taking notes! Yes, I too am curious about the hostility and the varying receptivity by bookstores…
There’s no rhyme or reason to it. 😉
Such a great post, Stephanie! Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned. I’m eagerly awaiting your next installment.
Since I’m 5 months behind you (my first book just came out), this post is very timely. So far, I’ve had very similar experiences.
I held my launch party at a winery as part of their monthly Girls Night Out function, and it was a huge success. People had fun because they were drinking wine and could just hang out. I signed books, did a short reading where I let them pick between a wine-related snippet and a sexy one, and I gave away prizes. We sold more books than I’d expected. The winery was happy because the place was packed and they sold a lot of wine.
Also, because I’d personally invited the Community Relations Manager and staff at my local B&N, they put my book on prominent display in the store and told customers about the party at the winery.
It was win-win all around. Looking back, although an off-site party did involve more coordination than an in-store event, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
A winery is a great idea and not something I’ve thought of before. I should probably think more outside the box when it comes to events. I should share that the reason I was so late in approving this comment is that I spent the weekend at a friend’s house. She threw a magnificent book party for me in which I was able to meet her friends, reconnect with old friends of ours from high school, see relatives and loved ones and it was fantastic. We drank wine, ate great food, chatted, and I did sell a lot of books but more importantly–at least at this stage of my career–I made friends and introduced myself to book lovers.
This is one of the best commentaries on book store signings I’ve seen. My 4th book, Murder Half-Baked, will be released in May and I’m cranking up the publicity wagon again, so I also will be making the rounds of stores where I’e been and trying to convince new ones to carry it. Book-stores, especially small stores, usually have lttle space and less money. They’ve been stung before with bills for publicity, time spent on publicity that did nothing to promote sales in their stores, and books they may or may not be able to return, but books they couldn’t sell. You can’t convince them over the phone that your event will be different. It probably won’t be, but bringing in posters, flyer, bookmarks, especially bookmarks, offering to link to their store on your web site, anything else you can do to help them publicize your book or your appearance will help. Remember you ar NOT doing them a favor, it’s the other way around, so let them know you know it. Programs are very good, and sometimes you can link up with other authors to draw in more people Face to face is the way to go, and for heaven’s sake, keep a log of where you went, who you talked to, and what kind of response you got, even if you didn’t get a signing. It will make life easier when the next book comes out. But, don’t get too hung up on signings. they are important but do the math. How many people do you meet at a signing? How many do you contact on-say-Facebook? If you can drive those people to your web site, you can expose a lot more of them to your book. Still, Stephenie is right. Book stores are great, vital, but you have to sell them first and then they’ll, hopefully, sell yours. Good post. Kathleen Delaney And Murder For Dessert and the soon to be released, Murder Half-Baked
Good points. Thanks Kathleen!
I better start looking to get some bookmarks printed up! 😉
Spotted another idea which we HAD already mentioned — grocery stores. There’s an increasing amount of “social” grocery stores with a small cafe or lounge area (see recent article in the Post’s Express). They’re great spots to leave behind bookmarks, pamphlets or do a presentation. Grocery stores these days sell book, too.
Movie theaters. Eagle is out. That’s Greek/Roman. See if your local theaters will let you leave behind free bookmarks. Folks buying the tickets may see it and go huh, this looks neat!
This is a great post, I’ve been telling my authors this. Especially about going into stores personally.
Go into book stores, introduce yourself, let them see you’re a real person. They are much more likely to book you for a signing in person than through phone calls or emails.