May 16, 2025 • 51 mins
In this game-changing episode, we reveal the secrets that turn ho-hum author book signings into unforgettable experiences.
Discover why the classic author signing model is broken—and how to fix it. We dive deep into proven strategies for pitching bookstores and other venues, creating irresistible event formats, and building connections that keep readers coming back for more. Whether you write thrillers, romance, or nonfiction, you’ll learn how to captivate readers, collect emails, and even secure local media coverage.
This isn’t just about selling books on the day. It’s about creating a ripple effect of opportunities, from retail partnerships to reader loyalty. With real stories of authors who turned quiet signings into packed events—including one unforgettable rain-soaked rescue—this episode gives you everything you need to master events that drive future sales.
Ready to turn your next author book signing into a packed house? Listen now and discover how.
Buy Penny's book The Amazon Author Formula
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Author Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sandsbury and AmyCornell and we are talking
about bookstore author doingbook signings in indie
bookstores or Barnes Noble.
And you know what's reallyinteresting is we talk about how
(00:22):
sometimes we have to repeatthese shows and you know, a lot
of times we're sort ofscrambling for fresh new ideas.
We have never done a show onjust straight bookstore signings
, isn't that bizarre?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I know I swear.
Sometimes I feel like, yeah, italways shocks me when we're
like really, we haven't coveredthis yet.
I know.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, we've skirted around it.
We've talked about book eventsin non-bookstore venues right,
we did that, but we've reallynever done a show on how to get
well, this show is not justabout how to get a signing, how
to score more in-person eventsat bookstores, but also how to
make the most out of everysingle event.
(01:03):
So we'll talk about why theseevents are still powerful
visibility, reader connection,how to create an irresistible
pitch and what to do besidesjust sitting at a table with a
stack of books.
I wrote an article one timeyears ago called Book Signings
Are Boring, and it was meant tobe a little bit of a eye-catcher
title.
(01:23):
Was meant to be a little bit ofa eye catcher title, because
sitting at a table with a fullpen, a stack of books and maybe
a little flower doesn't make youan interesting.
It doesn't make for aninteresting, you know, for an
interesting event.
And so and just a reminder, Iand it's possible that by the
(01:46):
time this show hits that thebook will already be up for
pre-order on Amazon.
But the workbook for the AmazonAuthor Formula is done and it's
coming out soon.
So I'm really excited.
I'm always excited when, whenI've birthed a new book, so I,
so I love that, amy.
Do you want to?
Do you want to take the firstone?
Do you want to take the firstpoint?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Sure.
So the first one, why in-personevents still matter.
I hope you're listening andthinking that, but you never
know, maybe.
I mean we do talk about howit's typically a smaller venue.
You know we we did a showrecently on, you know, bookstore
scams, to where we got reallyreal about numbers and things
(02:27):
like that and expectations.
But honestly, getting out thereand getting involved is what's
really important.
So local visibility and you know, the thing about events too is
that they're only as good asyou're going to make them, and
we'll probably touch on that alot throughout the show.
But it's not just aboutsecuring the event, it's about
(02:48):
all the things you can do tobuild off of that and to
capitalize on that oneopportunity.
You know, once you book theevent, start planning the event,
that's when you start goingafter media, that's when you
start networking with otherlocal businesses.
Like there's really it's asnowball effect of positive
(03:11):
things that can happen.
And you know we talk about allthe time too, the power of the
recommendation, you know.
So getting in front of locals,getting in front of regional
reader base, is something thatand that's something memorable
too.
I will say, like anybodylistening, if you've met an
author throughout your life, alocal author or something like
that, like that's something youremember that direct connection
(03:33):
matters so much more and leavesan impression on a reader so
much more than them finding yourbook online.
You know which is, I hate tosay, the traditional way.
Now you know, right line.
You know which is, I hate tosay, the traditional way.
Now you know, but you've almostmade a lifelong fan.
If you've created a goodproduct, if you've written a
great book, and you startmeeting people in person and
(03:54):
introducing them to that book inperson, the chances of that
person being a return buyer andalso referring your book,
recommending you, mentioningthat they went to your event to
a friend, skyrockets, yeah, yeah.
So it's really that personalconnection and you'd be shocked
at how, I mean, we've workedwith a number of clients that
(04:18):
it's crazy how, once theystarted booking some local
events, how many amazingopportunities were presented.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Right, right, exactly , and I think that it's also.
I mean, you know we spend somuch time focusing on Amazon,
but there is something verypowerful about that reader,
author-reader connection thatyou get from doing an event in
indie stores or in chains, likeyou know, in chains, like you
(04:48):
know, like Barnes Noble.
So let's talk a little bitabout planning and then we're
going to go into some uniqueevents and I have strong
feelings about all of thosethings, just because I've done a
lot of book events and we'veworked with a lot of authors who
have done, who we've plannedbook events for.
You're not going to get a bookevent if you listen to this and
(05:09):
you think, oh my gosh, I want todo this, you're not going to
get a book event next week.
So you do want to definitelyplan ahead for it and I
recommend, take a look at.
So the majority of bookstores,whether they're indie or chain,
have some kind of a calendar andBarnes Noble used to print them
off and you would get them atthe register and they use them
as bag stuffers for upcomingevents.
And I'm not sure I have gone toBarnes Noble very recently, but
(05:34):
I'm not sure that they stillhave.
I didn't actually look for them.
Shame on me, but they alwayshave a calendar online.
So take a look and see what'scoming up right, because when
you look at that calendar,you'll see how, really how far
out that the bookstore plansevents and then you know.
The other thing is that you'llbe able to see from the calendar
(05:57):
whether there was an event thatyou could potentially dovetail
in and and we're going to talkabout doing multi-author events
in a minute but that's somethingthat you may want to.
You know you may have bookstoresmay do, like romance author
night or mystery author night orscience fiction author night or
whatever, and that'spotentially something that you
(06:19):
could anchor onto and do anevent, and I love doing those.
We'll talk in a minute justabout why, but I would
definitely plan, I mean, 90 daysand a minimum, um, bookstores
will typically book any of thebig celebrity authors that are
that are touring.
They book those folks out, um,sometimes eight months,
(06:42):
depending on how early thepublisher goes after them.
Um, and there's always spacefor you to do events.
I mean, not every single bookevent has to be done, like on a
Saturday or a Sunday afternoon,or you know what I mean.
Those are.
Those are high times for a lotof these celebrity authors.
(07:03):
So those times may be rough toget, but consider doing
something you know and you knowon a weekday.
I realize it may feel a littlebit less optimal, but it is a
great way to get your feet wet.
I mean, I actually started myspeaking career doing bookstore
events and, depending on whereyou want to go, if you want to,
(07:24):
you know, if you want, you knowif you want to do some events
when you're somewhere onvacation, like you think, oh my
gosh, there's a lot of indiebookstores, I could do these
here.
You can plan those far inadvance.
But you may end up just reallyfalling in love with doing
author bookstore events and thenthe next thing, you know you're
doing them all over the, youknow, potentially all over the
country or wherever you travelto Libraries.
(07:45):
We did a library show, so we'renot really talking necessarily
about libraries specifically onthis, but there are also a great
place for you to do a bookevent.
The only difference between alibrary and a bookstore is that,
depending on the library, youtypically won't be selling books
right, so they usually can'ttake money.
(08:10):
You know they don't have thatkind of and you may be able to
talk to your library about like,oh, they can just pay me on
Venmo or whatever and you cansell books there and fine, but
it's really specifically to thelibrary.
The idea with doing an event ata bookstore is so that not only
do you get the event, butpotentially they might keep a
few copies for readers who heardabout the event and you never
(08:33):
know, it could be your way intoa bookstore Exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Go ahead.
Sorry, no, I'm just excited forthe next one.
This is where the fun partcomes in Well why don't you lead
it off then?
Okay, so get creative when itcomes to event ideas.
Please don't pitch businessesor venues expecting to sit there
and everybody's just going tofawn over you because you wrote
a book that is so boring Nobodysorry that is so boring.
(09:01):
Nobody sorry it's.
That is not intriguing, it'snot something interesting for
the business or venue to promote.
You got to make it fun.
You got to make it interesting.
Make it on theme with who yourreaders are.
You know your book also.
I mean you could do somethingvery different for, like, a
rom-com than you would athriller even.
(09:23):
You know what I mean Like.
So you have to get creative.
Think about who's reading yourbook, think about what those
people like, think about who thevenue's clientele is and get
really thoughtful about what youpitch in terms of what you're
going to do at the event.
Yeah, you know.
So you know I love this talkswith a twist.
So behind the scenes of yourbook, you can plan to talk about
(09:44):
the writer experience.
You know what I mean.
I think if you have, like, acoffee shop venue, I think for
sure that would be reallyinteresting.
You know there's probably a lotof people that if you have a
great local coffee shop scene,there's probably a ton of those
people that have consideredwriting a book or maybe they're
already writing it andfloundering, so they might be
super interested in you gettingreally candid about the writing
process.
But again, that's aboutthinking about the venue, who
(10:09):
their clientele is.
Does your reader market overlapwith that?
What would be interesting tothose people and what could this
venue get excited aboutpromoting?
And, penny, I think that alsoties back into what you said
about planning about pitchingcertain days, weekends.
A lot of places already getenough foot traffic.
So a great way to also kind ofangle this in the venue or
(10:33):
business's favor is pick a dayor an evening that's not as busy
for them, because having a funevent, something different for
them, something new that theycan promote to their clientele
to get them in on a day that'snormally not busy, also helps
them as a business.
There's a lot of pubs and placeslike that that started doing
quiz night for that reason andthey do it on a Tuesday because
(10:56):
most people I mean no judgment,but a lot of people aren't
heading out to the bars onTuesdays but hey, all of a
sudden they do pub quiz andTuesdays are packed.
You know it's brilliant, right,exactly so get creative and be
very thoughtful about marryingall the different elements of
the potential based on whoyou're working with, who you're
(11:16):
pitching, and make sure you'refocusing on that, Because the
more interesting you make thepitch, the more likely you are
to get a yes, and the more youpay attention to the needs of
the business or venue, the morelikely you are to get a yes as
well, right right, exactly, andyou know, we had an author and I
don't know if this was I'mtrying to think of when this,
(11:37):
actually, when this was but andshe would go, she would do these
events in costume.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
So she had a historical fiction book and she
would actually show up and dothese book events in costume.
So she made it.
She made it very unique.
I mean, I think to Amy's pointand you make a very good point
is that bringing in new foottraffic on nights, like on a
Tuesday, when they don'tevenings, when they aren't
normally that busy, but thenalso bring them something that's
(12:07):
really going to pique theinterest of, you know, the
bookstore customers that they'regoing to want.
I want to show up on a Tuesdayat six o'clock to see this or
whatever, to see this.
You know this event if it'slike a themed reading and we so
(12:28):
we worked with an author onetime who did events.
She loved doing bookstoreevents and one of the things
that she would do is she wouldpartner with and she had a I
want to say that this was solong ago now.
This was a cozy mystery and shepartnered with a local bakery
(12:48):
to make these little tiny babycup mini cupcakes, right, and
the business cards for the localbakery were sitting on the
table, and so what it?
What what happened is is shehad this event, she had this
great like snacky things forthis fun little cozy mystery
adventure book, and then, youknow, she also it also promoted
(13:10):
the bakery too.
So there's a, there was a lotof things that you can do, even
with local, other localbusinesses, local independent
businesses, to bring them intothis.
Because then what what alsohappened consider this is that
maybe you can put up somesignage in the local bakery that
you know they're going to becatering quote, unquote,
catering your book event orsomething like that.
(13:34):
Do you know what I mean?
So you can create, but I meanyou could do you know, writing
mini workshops like book-themedgames.
I mean it's Q&A.
I mean, yes, you can have.
Just, you can sit down.
(13:54):
I mean, if this all soundsreally overwhelming, yes, you
can have, you can sit down andyou can have a regular
discussion about your book book.
But that's really more of a bookclub kind of setting, where
they've all read the book andnow they're coming together to
discuss the book.
So if you're going to sit, Imean, yes, you can read a
chapter from your book, butsometimes authors feel
(14:16):
uncomfortable doing that orthey're not good book narrators,
which not everybody is.
So really lean into yourstrengths because if you're not
good in front of a crowd,creating something that is more
social, more conversation, fun,coming up with games, things
(14:36):
like that, like that author thatI mentioned that showed up in
you know in costume and actually, you know, created like this,
like her husband made this archfor her and then she would take
pictures with the, you know,with the readers.
I mean it was really just, itwas so lovely and it creates
something that's memorable thatthe reader, you know, would just
(14:58):
won't forget you and a picturethat they can share on social,
you know, about an author eventthat they went to.
I mean it's really it's, it's.
You can make these really,really fun.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, I agree, because to me, just standing in
front of a bunch of peoplestaring at me, waiting for me to
be interesting, is terrifyingyeah, terrifying yeah.
So you know, I think, somethinghands-on, something interesting,
something to keep people busyand engaged and you know what I
mean, that tactile involvement,with you kind of making your way
(15:33):
and introducing yourself andgetting involved, and, I think,
definitely lean into anythingthat's unique about your book.
Yep, you know, if there'ssomething that is unique about
your storyline or unique to yourstoryline, whether that's food
everybody loves food and snacksFor sure.
Food, snacks, drinks Everybodylikes a little glass of wine,
especially if you're doing anevening event.
(15:54):
Yep, like, you'd be surprisedat how many people are going to
stop by our event on a Tuesdaybecause, like, oh, snacks and
wine and an author, and they'regoing to do something fun.
Like, absolutely I'll be home alittle bit later than usual.
You know what I mean.
So lean into that, lean intothings that are unique to your
book, because it's such aobvious segue, like, so you're
doing something interesting, theevent has a theme, and then, of
(16:15):
course, it relates to your bookand you get to explain that to
the people that are there, andthat gives you a very natural
way to talk about your bookwhere you don't feel like you're
giving a presentation.
You know, yeah, and obviously,I think for you know nonfiction.
If there are nonfiction authorslistening, teach them something
useful.
Don't make it boring, don'tmake it homework, make it
(16:36):
something super useful wherepeople go oh my gosh, yes, I
need to know how to do that.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
You know what I?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
mean Keep it fun, keep it punchy, keep.
You know what I mean Keep itfun, keep it, keep it punchy,
keep it fun, you know.
Say you will walk away knowinghow to do this after this event,
like that's very cool, likegive them something to bite you
write for kids or you knowchildren.
But again, keep it, keep ittactile.
(17:13):
You know engagement, hands-on,a craft.
Again, lean into what makesyour book unique and fun and
interesting and try to dosomething that mimics that.
And honestly, it could be alsoas simple as making sure you
print out coloring sheets of youknow that that match your
book's themes and illustrationsand things like that, but give
them something memorable.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, exactly, and I met an author one time at a
conference and she had acookbook.
Now, doing an event in abookstore around a cookbook
seems a little bit, seemschallenging, right, like she'd
be better going to like WilliamSonoma or something when they
have some sort of class night totake her cookbook and do some
(17:49):
cooking.
But what she did was she tookone of the most popular recipes
in the cookbook and it justcoincidentally it happened to be
appetizers.
She made these in advance, shebrought them to the bookstore
and then she handed out theselittle recipe cards right with
her book branding, so it was allbranded to her book in the
(18:12):
event that they didn't pick upthe book that night although
obviously that is the goal andthe idea was was that, look, you
could try this, this is what Imade, and it has basically like
three ingredients and you willimpress the heck out of your
family or a party or whatever.
And so she made it work rightWith being in a bookstore and
(18:33):
not having a kitchen, like shebrought in the.
She brought in the appetizersand people just loved it and
they, you know, and the majorityof them, I remember her telling
me.
She said I think it was likeone person that didn't buy the
book.
They all got the recipe card,like here you go, as a little
takeaway for the night, and itfeels both welcoming and
generous, but they all walkedout of there with a copy of the
book, except, I think, for oneperson.
(18:54):
You know what I mean.
So, um, really, I mean takingthese up to the next level
instead of just sitting there.
And the other thing, though,too, is that the more fun that
you have with these, not onlywill your guests, you know, be
more memorable for your guests,but the bookstores recognize
that too.
And the bookstores talk to oneanother Like, oh my gosh, this
(19:16):
author was so great, and that'sactually one way.
I talked to an author one time,at another offer, at a
conference, and that's actuallyhow she ended up getting booked
on events, not only in her areabut then across the country.
So she and her family decidedwell, we're just going to, you
know, write off part of the tripand do these events.
And, you know, in all theseareas, because she was just, she
was just so good at doing theseevents and she was so good on
(19:37):
her feet.
Now, if all of this seems superintimidating to you the buddy
system.
And this is so interestingbecause Barnes Noble I remember
talking to a manager at BarnesNoble locally to me and I want
to say they started doing thesemaybe 13 years ago and they did
them.
It may even be longer, but theydid them because with all the
(19:58):
influx of independentlypublished authors coming in and
coming to their door, they werelike we want to help these
people get an event, but wereally cannot put all 50 of
these authors who have droppedoff a copy of their book.
We really can't put them on thecalendar.
So what they did is they had a,they had specific genre nights,
(20:19):
right, so they had the sci-fiauthors.
And then what ends up happeningis is that, yes, you're sitting
with a bunch of authors likeit's a great opportunity to
network with other authors inyour area?
Absolutely, if all of you likelet's say it's 10, in some cases
they were 10 authors right thatthey would do these events and
(20:40):
they were obviously biggerstores and you know, big events
drew lots of people.
Because if each author doestheir own promotion, even if
they're just going after theirown people, right, you're
pulling in a much bigger crowdand you have the potential to
sell lots more books and if thebookstore has not done this
(21:09):
recently or at all, suggest itto them.
And if you're connected locallyto author groups and things
like that, you could evensuggest it and you could do just
independent author's nightright when you're bringing in a
cross section of genre.
But you'll get more sellthrough if you're staying genre
specific.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Do you know what I mean?
Right, yeah, I agree, if youcan focus on your promotion and
your theme and everything on one.
There's obviously we've spentquite a lot of time talking
about how important that is andhow fun it can be.
So, yeah, I agree, but that isso brilliant, I love it.
It makes me think of, like,author, speed dating.
You know what I mean?
Yes, like, how fun would thatbe.
(21:50):
Like, oh my gosh, that would beamazing.
I get so excited every time Isee a local author.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, I know it really is.
It's fun.
Now, the tricky part obviouslyabout these events is pitching
them, and Amy, do you want tostart us off on that?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yes.
So we kind of you know wealready talked about you have to
have a plan.
You need to have something youknow be interesting, be engaging
.
It's better if you can feedthem, check, check, check.
But then it comes to the actualpitch.
So obviously that's reallyimportant and this does involve
some technical aspects whichyou're everybody listening
(22:30):
you're perfectly capable of, butit definitely shows your level
of professionalism, you know.
So you want to have a sell sheetfor your book and we don't need
to go into all of that becauseyou can look it up or you know,
obviously we do a lot of thesefor our clients.
But it includes your basics,like your bio, your book blurb,
you know major, any majorreviews or endorsements that
you've had, past events I mean,it's basically kind of like your
(22:51):
book's resume to date.
You just really want to put itdown on something that they can
look at, because you really haveto think about all the options
here.
You may not get somebody on thephone that you get to pitch and
chat with for 10 minutes.
You know what I mean.
So be prepared to covereverything you want to say and
(23:11):
convey to them via email.
If you get to chat with them onthe phone awesome.
That may be something that youdo after you pitch them via
email.
You know what I mean.
So you just want to make sureyou have everything together
really concise, really tight,really impressive, in multiple
formats.
We talked about what are youpromising in terms of not only
the event, how it will go, whatyou plan on doing, how you would
(23:34):
like to host it, if you'replanning on coordinating with
any other local businesses likePenny mentioned, whether it's to
buy snacks or something elsethat makes sense for your theme
but then you also want to beprepared to brag about your
mailing list.
Do you have an email list?
Do you have a newsletter thatyou can already tap into?
What can you do on social mediato help promote this?
(23:57):
Any local connections you have?
You know, are you a member ofRotary or something like that,
where you can, you know, tapinto your local network?
And then also what you'rewilling to do.
You know we do this for clientsall the time.
They pitch an event and theywill ask us to help support them
by pitching local media.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
To help give them a leg up in terms of that.
So be willing to put in thework, to do not, I would say, do
not expect the business tospend money on you.
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Yes, you know.
So go into this and not thatyou know.
So if you don't want to hiresomebody to help pitch media or
to help get the word out or tohelp, you know, manage your
(24:37):
social, just be willing to putin the work.
Be willing to connect withlocal media, local influencers,
things like that, to help getthe word out and to help you
know and be able to tell thevenue that I am going to follow
through with doing X, y and Z,you know, and this is the reach
that I have and that I'm goingto aim for.
So they know that you'reputting in the work too.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Right, exactly Because you know the bookstore
is literally.
The bookstore is offering you aspace where you can have this
event and you can bring inpeople, but they, they are not
going to do the work to promotethe event.
And I'm not saying this becauseI'm not saying like oh,
bookstores are lazy at all, theyjust don't have the time.
They will put it in theirnewsletter, whether it's still
printed out or online, whatever,but the rest is really up to
you.
You have to also, you have toreally drive those events.
(25:26):
And then one thing I want tomention and it's funny because I
didn't include it on the noteshere If you're planning to
saturate your local area inbookstore events, be very
careful with that, becausebookstores know that authors,
typically, when they're doingevents, especially if you're
just starting out, you'repulling from your local base,
(25:47):
right?
So you're pulling from friendsthat you know, family that you
have locally, whatever.
And they also know that thereis an expiration date on that.
So if you book, you know if youhave, if you're listening to
this, you're like oh my gosh,I'm going to book back-to-back
events at all these.
You're, you're, you're going toget the first one, but you're
probably not going to get thesecond and third if they follow
closely on the heels of thefirst one, because bookstores
(26:09):
know that you've tapped out ofthat market and then, every
single time that you do an event, your crowd, your crowd,
dwindles by 50% or more.
So I know, I think it's great todo local events fabulous.
But you want to, definitelywant to space them out and
that's why I think if you haveneighboring towns where you can
(26:30):
pull in a fresh audience, Ithink that's always a great idea
.
But just be you know, make surethat they know that they are.
You know you're, you're.
They're going to ask you likehow many events have you done?
Because they that they knowthat they are, you know you're,
you're.
They're going to ask you likehow many events have you done?
Because they want to know ifyou've tapped out of your
audience, because otherwiseyou're going to be sitting there
, like I said at the beginningof this podcast, with a stack of
pens and a full pen and it'snot going to be very fun.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Right, and that's a very good point, penny, and
another reason to get creativein terms of where you can do
these and who might be a goodvenue and what businesses might
be good to partner with on this,because you know different
businesses obviously have to dothat at that event for that
store, particularly based on whotheir customers are.
(27:22):
Then you're giving yourselfmore options.
You know, to Penny's point,you're not just a one trick pony
doing the same thing over andover again in front of the same
crowd.
You know.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Exactly, and you know, I Ireally like, whenever you can, I
like going into a bookstore.
In fact, you know, even if youhave no inclination to do book
signings, go into your localbookstores multiple stores and
get to know the managers, get toknow the book buyers, get to
(27:55):
know the staff, know the bookbuyers, get to know the staff.
They are the front line of booksales and they can really be an
asset to any author, both inyou know in events.
If you should, you know shoulddecide to do those.
Or I actually have had authorsthat will walk into a bookstore
and talk to the staff there, ifthey have, if they're trying to
decide between two or threedifferent covers, and they will
(28:15):
give you some really honestfeedback because they know what
sells and what doesn't, and alot of publishers actually do
that too.
So bookstores are really good.
Make friends with your localstore.
When you're pitching them, ifpossible, walk in, drop off your
packet and by your packet Imean the sell sheet that Amy
talked about, and I think weactually did a show on media
kits, and this is another one.
(28:36):
We're on media kits and this isanother one where now I'm going
to go back through our list andbe like, oh my God, we haven't
done a show on media kits, butI'm pretty sure that we have.
Include that, print it off witha copy of your book and drop
that off and just shake thehands of the manager and let
them know.
Now, there used to be BarnesNoble used to have a specific
(28:58):
events manager for book eventsand that's basically, I think,
almost all that that person did,and that has pretty much gone
away.
Some of the bigger stores maystill have that.
So if you're in big like I knowthat the bookstore on fifth in
New York has still has an um, uh, you know their events manager
because they do so many eventsthere.
But face-to-face obviously isthat's a is the best way to go.
(29:26):
My phone is fine too, but Ilove, I love in-person pitching
whenever you know, whenever youcan.
All right.
So let's go into prepping forsuccess.
Now I have okay.
Do you mind if I leave this off, cause I have okay?
So listen, I've done bookevents.
(29:46):
So I wrote a book.
It was a romance novel.
Please, don't anybody ever readit.
I wrote it 24 years ago it wasnot my gosh or 25 years ago Now
I was not that good of a writer.
I I'm actually afraid to likeread it again because I'm like,
oh, I bet this is just so bad.
But anyway, I was doing an eventup in Oregon and I was touring
Oregon because that's where thebook is set and I had shipped
(30:09):
them bookmarks, mini posters,all kinds of you know bag stuff
for things which we'll talk alittle, which I'll talk a little
bit more in a second.
And, as it would happen, theywere having like apocalyptic
rain that day, right, and therewas even, like there was a piece
in the newspaper you know, onthis, several, actually several
(30:30):
different newspapers in thatarea were doing like this you
know, the author of thecliffhanger comes to Oregon.
Oh my God, I said the title.
Please don't look it up onAmazon.
It's probably really awful.
I am like the anti bookpromoter for my own stuff, um,
but it was like torrential rainthat they hadn't seen in I don't
know a thousand years.
It was one of those, it was oneof those days and I was like,
(30:51):
oh my God, what do I get?
So I did all this stuff andthen I found out that the
bookstore thought that the swagthat I sent ahead of time was
(31:12):
for the day of events, so theydidn't put any signs in the
windows, right.
I was, oh my God, these werebag stuffers for the bags,
anyway, whatever.
So there were still peoplecoming to the bookstore to buy
books, even on this rainy day.
But I literally had there wasnobody there for my book signing
, right.
So I actually went through.
So I took those bookmarksbecause I'm like, okay, well,
(31:33):
you're not using them.
So I took those bookmarks andall the little fun swag things
that I had and I walked aroundand I talked to people who are
shopping in and I ended upselling.
I think I brought 25 books withme.
I sold out of those books thatday.
So, um, prepping for successreally important.
(31:56):
Sometimes you prep and youstill have to be ready to be
doing some stuff.
You know if, if you adifferential right and Amy lives
in an area where they alwayshave this.
Like I get alerts on my phonefor her weather.
I don't know why, I'll have tofigure it out someday, but
sometimes, like I'll text her onthe weekend and be like, wow,
you're having a really exciting,exciting weekend with this
(32:20):
weather.
That was the kind, like it wasjust this crazy.
So all that to say if you set,if you're doing an event out of
town, mail all this stuff to thebookstores.
Make sure that they know to useit ahead of time.
Or if you are saving it for theevent, fine, but let them know
that I love to do bookmarks.
(32:40):
I know this sounds to an author.
When you tell them to print upbookmarks they're like well,
doesn't everybody read an ebook?
And blah, blah, blah, whatever.
Uh, everybody loves bookmarks.
It's weird how much readersreally love bookmarks, right,
especially if they're going intoa bookstore because they're
buying a book, they're notbuying something digital, so
they're going to need a bookmark.
Um, I actually, if you, if youcan I mean you can like this to
(33:02):
print and got print whatever youcan do this really cheaply Get
bookmarks printed with the eventdate on them, right?
I had another author who,instead of she was going to be
doing a lot of events, soinstead of printing the event
date on the bookmarks, sheactually had like a little space
for a stick, for a sticker, forone of those clear Avery labels
(33:23):
that she had printed and lookedreally nice, and then she just
printed the date and time andevent and then she could use the
bookmarks for a variety ofdifferent events, so that's also
an option, right, I love that.
Yeah, create an event poster.
Do not expect the bookstore tomake an event poster for you.
It's something that they put inthe window, right, and make sure
that they know that thebookmarks are for bag stuffers
(33:46):
they love.
You know people love these bagstuffers, but yeah, you know.
And flyers at the bookstorewill let you put down flyers,
but definitely something for thewindow is a great idea.
So I really like that.
Amy, you want to take the nextone?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah, I mean, we talked about food.
Everybody loves a snack.
Have people engaged other thanjust having to do a presentation
, you know.
So, along with that, I meanthat could be candy chocolate.
You know there's themed basedon depending on what your book.
You know, your genre, and we'vesaid it multiple times during
(34:26):
the show tap into what's uniqueabout your story or your content
and consider having swag.
For that.
You can do a raffle or agiveaway.
It's a great way to collectemails.
You know your newsletter andnowadays, take advantage of
putting QR codes on stuff youknow like decide where they need
(34:47):
to go.
If you have a website, that'seven better, because then
they've got full access to allthe things.
But, you know, use a QR code.
Everybody's used to using themnow and they expect great things
.
So tap into that, you know.
And you just again, like Pennysaid, you'd want to give them
something to take with them.
Because you just again, likePenny said, you'd want to give
(35:08):
them something to take with them.
Because, you know again, youmay not.
The number of books you'll sellat the event is anybody's guess,
but that doesn't mean there'snot a ton of potential to sell
more books after the fact.
Or, you know, somebody may buya book and then the swag that
they get to take with them issomething that they hand off to
a friend because they go oh, Igot this book.
You know, here here, I got thisat the event.
(35:33):
Check them out.
You know, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And then we talked aboutpromoting, obviously.
But have your act together.
As soon as you have detailsabout date, time, location,
what's going on, make sure youget that info out to your local
media, to local influencers,community groups, and be
shameless.
Ask your friends to spread theword too.
(35:55):
You know, send out an email,let people know, ask friends to
bring friends.
You know what I mean.
This is, it's really.
This is when you can't be shy.
You know what I mean.
You're already going to do anevent.
People are going to show up,like you might as well.
Also, don't be shy when itcomes to promoting it.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, exactly, and I want to emphasize something your
newsletter.
So I I really encourage you, ifyou don't have a newsletter and
you're going to do an event,definitely get a newsletter sign
up.
I mean, yes, you can definitelydo the QR codes.
I had an author one time that Italked to and I want to say I
(36:35):
talked to this author at awriter's conference too and he
said he gets like 50 people atall of his book events.
And I said to him I said, well,that's great, you must really
be building your newsletter.
And he just kind of gave me ablank stare and I'm like dude,
you're not having people sign upfor your newsletter.
I mean it's crazy.
So what I recommended to him,kind of like what you led with
(36:58):
Amy, is um, sign up for thenewsletter, the new, and have a
raffle, right, and then you drawthe names when you.
You don't have to draw themthat day, you draw the names
when you get home and then youbuild your newsletter list and
you get a raffle.
They get a prize, things likethat.
But definitely want toemphasize the newsletter because
(37:19):
it's a great way to build yoursome, build some, you build your
local fan base for sure, and Ilove the theme swag idea that
you mentioned.
I think that is we have.
I had an author who did.
I actually talked to her, weworked with her and she did.
She did shot glasses and andI'm like that must be just so
expensive and I guess she founda place where they did them like
(37:39):
really cheaply because it tiedinto her book, like her
protagonist, you know, love thisparticular shot glass or
whatever.
Anyway, so you know, your eventswag can be trading cards with
your.
I have.
So I got this idea actuallyfrom a Romance Writers
Conference.
I do trading cards withmarketing tips on them, but the
(38:02):
trading card originated in theRom writer's world where they
did character trading cards andso each character is printed on
a little card and they're justbaseball-sized cards.
In fact I get them at GotPrintand I think they're either
called baseball trading cards orjust trading cards, but they're
really inexpensive to do.
(38:23):
In fact, now I have like, oh mygosh, I have like 2000 of these
cards and you know it's a pennyto print, to go like well, you,
you sure you just want ahundred, cause it's a penny to
go up to 10,000.
And the next thing you know youhave to add onto your house
because you don't have any roomto put these trading cards, but,
but it's a great idea.
So the event day listen, I'vedone a lot of.
(38:45):
We've done a lot of events forour authors and I've done a lot
of events individually.
Get there early.
And so let me back up a littlebit.
Yes, you want to get thereearly, but here's a tip, and I
learned this ages ago, back whenI was still faxing.
I know this again.
(39:07):
Listeners are going to be likeoh, oh, my gosh, she sounds 900
years old.
Um, I was faxing event info forfor book events for our authors
to newsrooms and I was at anevent it was.
It was a, um, a media eventwhere they all get together for
lunch and producers and whatever, and I was really surprised to
hear to talk to some of them andgo.
You would not believe how manyguests bail the day of their
(39:32):
media interview.
So it's mind numbing, right.
So the media is always lookingfor last minute.
Because I'll tell you somethingif you are running a newscast
for the evening news, 30 secondsis a big gap to fill, mm-hmm,
right?
So always email the featuresdesk the day of your event as
(39:59):
well, like I used to sit over afax machine and just fax the
stuff the day of when we hadauthor events If they hadn't
gotten coverage from oneparticular media outlet.
I'm like I'm just going to seeit, and a lot of times they
would contact me like, oh mygosh, we have a 45-second spot
to fill and we're going tofeature this author.
And 45 seconds doesn't probablysound like a lot.
(40:21):
You'd prefer 20 minutes, like Iget it, but take it so prior to
the event day, before you leave, send out another email to your
newsrooms.
And sometimes it's the feature,sometimes it's a new news desk.
Obviously it varies, but ifthey have a slot to fill, I mean
that's a great.
It's a great way to get somelast minute media coverage day
of.
It's not necessarily going todrive people to the event.
(40:43):
I mean it could, depending onyou know what time it airs, but
the most, most of the time,they're probably going to do
something at your event, whichis great.
It's a great piece of media foryour media room on your, your
website and it's just you knowit's again, it's just great,
great.
You know great bragging rights,but definitely you want to get
there early Now.
One of the things that Irecommend is get there early Now
(41:06):
.
One of the things that Irecommend is and maybe this
feels really uncomfortable toyou as an author and that's fine
, but if you don't mind shakinghands with people and handing
out your information, get to thebookstore, even you know 90
minutes before your event, andstart greeting.
You know, greet people cominginto the bookstore, hand them a
bookmark or whatever it is thatyou have your event information
on, and let them know thatyou're doing an event that day.
(41:27):
The majority of people goinginto a bookstore are going to be
browsing for a while, sothere's a good chance that, even
if your event is 90 minutesaway, that they're still going
to be around.
So I really recommend it.
I've done this.
I mean not just in the Oregonexample that I told you where we
had, like, the apocalypticweather, but I really recommend
(41:47):
this.
Just, you know, hand out abookmark and just say, hey,
thank you so much.
I'm going to be in it, I'mgoing to be doing a book signing
here today at X time andwhatever.
Ask the bookstore if they willdo announcements.
The majority of bookstores havesome kind of PA system where
they can do announcements likeoh, we haven't been starting
blah blah.
It's always pulling as muchhelp from the bookstore as you
(42:10):
possibly can.
So that's my suggestion Arriveearly, be prepared to promote
your event even the day of, andemail don't fax email newsrooms
the day of in case you get acancellation.
Amy, do you wanna touch on therest of these?
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yeah, I mean, again, like Penny said, getting there
early because so many places,depending on the venue, get
regular foot traffic all daylong.
So, while it may be weird tocamp out all day, but again,
coffee shops, other venues wherethey literally have, you know,
a constant flow of people, Ilove that idea, penny, of
(42:48):
getting there early becausethey're just getting their
afternoon coffee.
They had no idea an event wasgoing on, you know For sure.
Yeah, so it's like gettingthere early and saying, hey,
like you said, there's going tobe an event later.
It's going to be super fun.
This is what we're doing, thisis what you can expect.
You know, hang out or plan toswing on by if you're in the
(43:11):
area.
You know, I think that'sbrilliant because even if they
can't make it, you never know,they might text a friend who
they know is a huge genre fanand go hey, I just went and
grabbed my coffee and an authoris going to be there in a couple
hours.
Uh, you know, if you have time,you might want to check it out.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
So that word of mouth is definitely huge and then
post event.
You know, now I feel like Isound like I'm channeling my
mother, which you know is great.
Make sure you do your thankyous.
Oh right, yeah, you want tothank the venue, thank the
manager, thank the staff.
I mean share social media postsand photos afterwards.
That's another thing that wedidn't talk about.
(43:42):
I feel like it's very naturalnowadays, but it's worth
mentioning.
Make sure you take the time totake some photos at the event,
or ask if there's a staff memberthat can take photos for you.
Encourage people that are atthe event to take photos.
Tag you all the things, becauseafter the fact, you want to
milk this for all it's worth,and if you don't have any photos
and no evidence that the eventexisted, you're kind of screwed.
(44:05):
So make sure you documentwhat's going on and, of course,
ask people like may I take yourphoto so I can post it on my
social, and they'll probably go,yes, and you know.
So do the things.
Make sure you.
I feel like we're prepping abride for their wedding, you
know.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
I know, I know, but but can I just, can I just let
me just interject in that Ifinish this Thank you notes.
People, I cannot tell you thankyou notes handwritten.
Thank you notes Again, I knowthat I sound like I'm from the
1950s.
I'm telling you right now don'tjust shoot off an email, thank
you.
Send them a thank you note.
Yes, and that's all I have tosay, but I just want to kind of
(44:42):
emphasize that.
So go for it, Sorry.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
No, absolutely.
And then you know we talkedabout collecting emails,
collecting names.
Yes, you get those follow upwith the people that did share
their information with you.
We all know what a big dealthat is to share your contact
information in this day and agewith how much spam and other BS
that we get inundated with.
So don't take that lightly.
(45:04):
You know, if somebody botheredto give you their email, that's,
that's pretty incredible.
So personalized thank yous toyour attendees and it would be a
high quality problem to have ifit's going to take you a lot of
time to send everybody apersonal email thanking them.
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, for sure,yeah, and then yeah again.
I mean we've given tips thewhole time about how to, why one
(45:27):
event where even you know, likePenny said, maybe only 10
people show up, but how that cansnowball into so many other
opportunities.
If you do all the right thingsfor the prep, for the post, you
know the networking you'll bedoing with the venue, the staff,
like there's so many ways youcan build from one seemingly
small event that you know maybeyou thought like, well, I had
(45:50):
bigger hopes than this, but butbuild off of it.
It's so important to not letthat one event be the end of it.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
You know, yes, yes, exactly, I completely agree with
that, and I think that yourpoint I'm really we didn't even
include it in the notes.
It was brilliant that you saidit, but your point about make
sure that you have evidence,that was great.
I mean, you really not only doyou want to have evidence for
(46:19):
your socials and just that youwere there and to add to your
media room, but this evidence isgoing to be something these
photos are.
It's going to be somethingthese photos are going to be
something really good for tobook other events, right.
So, if you're like, again, addthose to the media room and then
take some video, so set up acamera and have somebody take
(46:40):
video if you're going to do atalk or whatever, and then you
could.
You don't have to post thatentire video online anywhere.
I mean, you can, obviously, butyou can also break it up into
snippets, right.
You can break it up into reallyfun snippets that you can use
for books.
You know Instagram or TikTok,or you know Facebook or whatever
.
Use this event not just to doall the things that we talked
(47:01):
about, also to kind of make surethat you're maximizing on the
opportunity to, you know, buildyour repertoire of, you know
other events and things likethat.
And if you get a letter, youknow make sure that you show the
crowd because other bookstoresare going to care about that.
(47:22):
Like, if you have a big crowd,you know show a picture of the
crowd and things like that.
Yeah, it's really great andI've had some authors that say
that they get thank you notesback from bookstores saying oh
my gosh, this event was so great.
Save that, add it to yourresume to get other events.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Absolutely.
I was going to say, if you havea friend with a real camera I
feel like that's like such anovelty nowadays, that is
actually like an amateurphotographer even at minimum
recruit them for the event,because that's also a big thing
too, because then those photoscan definitely be used by the
venue as well.
You know, when you have higherlevel and it would be great for
(48:00):
your website, not that yourphone camera, it does not
suffice.
But I'm fortunate enough tohave a couple of friends locally
that are great photographersjust amateur photographers and I
would 100% shamelessly, youknow, ask them to come to my
event and, you know, pay them insnacks and wine.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Yes, yeah, exactly, and I think that you will find
you know, bookstore events aregreat ways to build local love.
Because the other thing, though, too, to consider and this is
where we'll kind of wrap up,because I think the show has
already gone long, but hopefullyyou found it extremely helpful
that is always our goal.
A lot of times, authors say tome I really want to do local
(48:41):
media right and I want to getlots of local media, and that's
great, but the best way to getlocal media is if the local
station or publication orwhatever can tether your
interview to an event that youhave coming up right.
So local events are great, notjust for all the reasons that we
(49:01):
mentioned, but also you reallywant to not overlook and
maximize any local mediaopportunities that you have to
get more, because, again, all ofthis stuff you know, when you
look at the platforms that wetalk about and growing your base
, these are all bricks in that,you know, in that platform, so
(49:22):
the media that you get can thengo in your media room.
The video or pictures that youtook can be used for your social
media.
I am all about using, you know,maximizing each piece of
content that you create, andbookstores can definitely help
you to do that and you neverknow, you may end up really
liking events.
I remember the first bookstoreevent I did was, of course,
(49:44):
talking about the industry,talking about the publishing
industry.
At that time I had 64 pages ofnotes, amy, I was terrified, and
I remember I had somebody walkup to the podium and ask me and
I was literally just like, oh mygosh, oh my gosh.
I'm sure that I was like theworst presenter ever, for
whatever reason.
And after that even anotherbookstore invited me to do a
(50:06):
talk.
But I had some guy walk up tome just before I started
speaking and said you're notgoing to read all of that, are
you?
And I was like, oh, I was kindof planning on it, you know, and
now, if you put me up in frontof a crowd, like I'm just like I
don't.
I mean, powerpoint's alwayshelpful, but I can just, you
know, fly by the seat of mypants, as they say.
(50:35):
So if that's your goal,bookstores can be a really,
really great way to get yourfoot in the door and really get
to know this in-person marketwhich we so often forget.
So thank you all so much forlistening.
This show was really fun.
This was one of those littlenuggets that were like oh my
gosh, we haven't done this yet.
So we're really glad to havedone this show for you.
And if you get we alwayswelcome show feedback.
(50:57):
So show ideas, show feedback.
If you get an event or you'vedone an event and and there's
something that we didn't cover,point it out to us, because
maybe we can do a whole showaround that too.
So thank you all so much forlistening and we will see you
next time.
Bye-bye.
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Author Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sandsbury and AmyCornell and we are talking
about bookstore author doingbook signings in indie
bookstores or Barnes Noble.
And you know what's reallyinteresting is we talk about how
(00:22):
sometimes we have to repeatthese shows and you know, a lot
of times we're sort ofscrambling for fresh new ideas.
We have never done a show onjust straight bookstore signings
, isn't that bizarre?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I know I swear.
Sometimes I feel like, yeah, italways shocks me when we're
like really, we haven't coveredthis yet.
I know.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, we've skirted around it.
We've talked about book eventsin non-bookstore venues right,
we did that, but we've reallynever done a show on how to get
well, this show is not justabout how to get a signing, how
to score more in-person eventsat bookstores, but also how to
make the most out of everysingle event.
(01:03):
So we'll talk about why theseevents are still powerful
visibility, reader connection,how to create an irresistible
pitch and what to do besidesjust sitting at a table with a
stack of books.
I wrote an article one timeyears ago called Book Signings
Are Boring, and it was meant tobe a little bit of a eye-catcher
title.
(01:23):
Was meant to be a little bit ofa eye catcher title, because
sitting at a table with a fullpen, a stack of books and maybe
a little flower doesn't make youan interesting.
It doesn't make for aninteresting, you know, for an
interesting event.
And so and just a reminder, Iand it's possible that by the
(01:46):
time this show hits that thebook will already be up for
pre-order on Amazon.
But the workbook for the AmazonAuthor Formula is done and it's
coming out soon.
So I'm really excited.
I'm always excited when, whenI've birthed a new book, so I,
so I love that, amy.
Do you want to?
Do you want to take the firstone?
Do you want to take the firstpoint?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Sure.
So the first one, why in-personevents still matter.
I hope you're listening andthinking that, but you never
know, maybe.
I mean we do talk about howit's typically a smaller venue.
You know we we did a showrecently on, you know, bookstore
scams, to where we got reallyreal about numbers and things
(02:27):
like that and expectations.
But honestly, getting out thereand getting involved is what's
really important.
So local visibility and you know, the thing about events too is
that they're only as good asyou're going to make them, and
we'll probably touch on that alot throughout the show.
But it's not just aboutsecuring the event, it's about
(02:48):
all the things you can do tobuild off of that and to
capitalize on that oneopportunity.
You know, once you book theevent, start planning the event,
that's when you start goingafter media, that's when you
start networking with otherlocal businesses.
Like there's really it's asnowball effect of positive
(03:11):
things that can happen.
And you know we talk about allthe time too, the power of the
recommendation, you know.
So getting in front of locals,getting in front of regional
reader base, is something thatand that's something memorable
too.
I will say, like anybodylistening, if you've met an
author throughout your life, alocal author or something like
that, like that's something youremember that direct connection
(03:33):
matters so much more and leavesan impression on a reader so
much more than them finding yourbook online.
You know which is, I hate tosay, the traditional way.
Now you know, right line.
You know which is, I hate tosay, the traditional way.
Now you know, but you've almostmade a lifelong fan.
If you've created a goodproduct, if you've written a
great book, and you startmeeting people in person and
(03:54):
introducing them to that book inperson, the chances of that
person being a return buyer andalso referring your book,
recommending you, mentioningthat they went to your event to
a friend, skyrockets, yeah, yeah.
So it's really that personalconnection and you'd be shocked
at how, I mean, we've workedwith a number of clients that
(04:18):
it's crazy how, once theystarted booking some local
events, how many amazingopportunities were presented.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Right, right, exactly , and I think that it's also.
I mean, you know we spend somuch time focusing on Amazon,
but there is something verypowerful about that reader,
author-reader connection thatyou get from doing an event in
indie stores or in chains, likeyou know, in chains, like you
(04:48):
know, like Barnes Noble.
So let's talk a little bitabout planning and then we're
going to go into some uniqueevents and I have strong
feelings about all of thosethings, just because I've done a
lot of book events and we'veworked with a lot of authors who
have done, who we've plannedbook events for.
You're not going to get a bookevent if you listen to this and
(05:09):
you think, oh my gosh, I want todo this, you're not going to
get a book event next week.
So you do want to definitelyplan ahead for it and I
recommend, take a look at.
So the majority of bookstores,whether they're indie or chain,
have some kind of a calendar andBarnes Noble used to print them
off and you would get them atthe register and they use them
as bag stuffers for upcomingevents.
And I'm not sure I have gone toBarnes Noble very recently, but
(05:34):
I'm not sure that they stillhave.
I didn't actually look for them.
Shame on me, but they alwayshave a calendar online.
So take a look and see what'scoming up right, because when
you look at that calendar,you'll see how, really how far
out that the bookstore plansevents and then you know.
The other thing is that you'llbe able to see from the calendar
(05:57):
whether there was an event thatyou could potentially dovetail
in and and we're going to talkabout doing multi-author events
in a minute but that's somethingthat you may want to.
You know you may have bookstoresmay do, like romance author
night or mystery author night orscience fiction author night or
whatever, and that'spotentially something that you
(06:19):
could anchor onto and do anevent, and I love doing those.
We'll talk in a minute justabout why, but I would
definitely plan, I mean, 90 daysand a minimum, um, bookstores
will typically book any of thebig celebrity authors that are
that are touring.
They book those folks out, um,sometimes eight months,
(06:42):
depending on how early thepublisher goes after them.
Um, and there's always spacefor you to do events.
I mean, not every single bookevent has to be done, like on a
Saturday or a Sunday afternoon,or you know what I mean.
Those are.
Those are high times for a lotof these celebrity authors.
(07:03):
So those times may be rough toget, but consider doing
something you know and you knowon a weekday.
I realize it may feel a littlebit less optimal, but it is a
great way to get your feet wet.
I mean, I actually started myspeaking career doing bookstore
events and, depending on whereyou want to go, if you want to,
(07:24):
you know, if you want, you knowif you want to do some events
when you're somewhere onvacation, like you think, oh my
gosh, there's a lot of indiebookstores, I could do these
here.
You can plan those far inadvance.
But you may end up just reallyfalling in love with doing
author bookstore events and thenthe next thing, you know you're
doing them all over the, youknow, potentially all over the
country or wherever you travelto Libraries.
(07:45):
We did a library show, so we'renot really talking necessarily
about libraries specifically onthis, but there are also a great
place for you to do a bookevent.
The only difference between alibrary and a bookstore is that,
depending on the library, youtypically won't be selling books
right, so they usually can'ttake money.
(08:10):
You know they don't have thatkind of and you may be able to
talk to your library about like,oh, they can just pay me on
Venmo or whatever and you cansell books there and fine, but
it's really specifically to thelibrary.
The idea with doing an event ata bookstore is so that not only
do you get the event, butpotentially they might keep a
few copies for readers who heardabout the event and you never
(08:33):
know, it could be your way intoa bookstore Exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Go ahead.
Sorry, no, I'm just excited forthe next one.
This is where the fun partcomes in Well why don't you lead
it off then?
Okay, so get creative when itcomes to event ideas.
Please don't pitch businessesor venues expecting to sit there
and everybody's just going tofawn over you because you wrote
a book that is so boring Nobodysorry that is so boring.
(09:01):
Nobody sorry it's.
That is not intriguing, it'snot something interesting for
the business or venue to promote.
You got to make it fun.
You got to make it interesting.
Make it on theme with who yourreaders are.
You know your book also.
I mean you could do somethingvery different for, like, a
rom-com than you would athriller even.
(09:23):
You know what I mean Like.
So you have to get creative.
Think about who's reading yourbook, think about what those
people like, think about who thevenue's clientele is and get
really thoughtful about what youpitch in terms of what you're
going to do at the event.
Yeah, you know.
So you know I love this talkswith a twist.
So behind the scenes of yourbook, you can plan to talk about
(09:44):
the writer experience.
You know what I mean.
I think if you have, like, acoffee shop venue, I think for
sure that would be reallyinteresting.
You know there's probably a lotof people that if you have a
great local coffee shop scene,there's probably a ton of those
people that have consideredwriting a book or maybe they're
already writing it andfloundering, so they might be
super interested in you gettingreally candid about the writing
process.
But again, that's aboutthinking about the venue, who
(10:09):
their clientele is.
Does your reader market overlapwith that?
What would be interesting tothose people and what could this
venue get excited aboutpromoting?
And, penny, I think that alsoties back into what you said
about planning about pitchingcertain days, weekends.
A lot of places already getenough foot traffic.
So a great way to also kind ofangle this in the venue or
(10:33):
business's favor is pick a dayor an evening that's not as busy
for them, because having a funevent, something different for
them, something new that theycan promote to their clientele
to get them in on a day that'snormally not busy, also helps
them as a business.
There's a lot of pubs and placeslike that that started doing
quiz night for that reason andthey do it on a Tuesday because
(10:56):
most people I mean no judgment,but a lot of people aren't
heading out to the bars onTuesdays but hey, all of a
sudden they do pub quiz andTuesdays are packed.
You know it's brilliant, right,exactly so get creative and be
very thoughtful about marryingall the different elements of
the potential based on whoyou're working with, who you're
(11:16):
pitching, and make sure you'refocusing on that, Because the
more interesting you make thepitch, the more likely you are
to get a yes, and the more youpay attention to the needs of
the business or venue, the morelikely you are to get a yes as
well, right right, exactly, andyou know, we had an author and I
don't know if this was I'mtrying to think of when this,
(11:37):
actually, when this was but andshe would go, she would do these
events in costume.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
So she had a historical fiction book and she
would actually show up and dothese book events in costume.
So she made it.
She made it very unique.
I mean, I think to Amy's pointand you make a very good point
is that bringing in new foottraffic on nights, like on a
Tuesday, when they don'tevenings, when they aren't
normally that busy, but thenalso bring them something that's
(12:07):
really going to pique theinterest of, you know, the
bookstore customers that they'regoing to want.
I want to show up on a Tuesdayat six o'clock to see this or
whatever, to see this.
You know this event if it'slike a themed reading and we so
(12:28):
we worked with an author onetime who did events.
She loved doing bookstoreevents and one of the things
that she would do is she wouldpartner with and she had a I
want to say that this was solong ago now.
This was a cozy mystery and shepartnered with a local bakery
(12:48):
to make these little tiny babycup mini cupcakes, right, and
the business cards for the localbakery were sitting on the
table, and so what it?
What what happened is is shehad this event, she had this
great like snacky things forthis fun little cozy mystery
adventure book, and then, youknow, she also it also promoted
(13:10):
the bakery too.
So there's a, there was a lotof things that you can do, even
with local, other localbusinesses, local independent
businesses, to bring them intothis.
Because then what what alsohappened consider this is that
maybe you can put up somesignage in the local bakery that
you know they're going to becatering quote, unquote,
catering your book event orsomething like that.
(13:34):
Do you know what I mean?
So you can create, but I meanyou could do you know, writing
mini workshops like book-themedgames.
I mean it's Q&A.
I mean, yes, you can have.
Just, you can sit down.
(13:54):
I mean, if this all soundsreally overwhelming, yes, you
can have, you can sit down andyou can have a regular
discussion about your book book.
But that's really more of a bookclub kind of setting, where
they've all read the book andnow they're coming together to
discuss the book.
So if you're going to sit, Imean, yes, you can read a
chapter from your book, butsometimes authors feel
(14:16):
uncomfortable doing that orthey're not good book narrators,
which not everybody is.
So really lean into yourstrengths because if you're not
good in front of a crowd,creating something that is more
social, more conversation, fun,coming up with games, things
(14:36):
like that, like that author thatI mentioned that showed up in
you know in costume and actually, you know, created like this,
like her husband made this archfor her and then she would take
pictures with the, you know,with the readers.
I mean it was really just, itwas so lovely and it creates
something that's memorable thatthe reader, you know, would just
(14:58):
won't forget you and a picturethat they can share on social,
you know, about an author eventthat they went to.
I mean it's really it's, it's.
You can make these really,really fun.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, I agree, because to me, just standing in
front of a bunch of peoplestaring at me, waiting for me to
be interesting, is terrifyingyeah, terrifying yeah.
So you know, I think, somethinghands-on, something interesting,
something to keep people busyand engaged and you know what I
mean, that tactile involvement,with you kind of making your way
(15:33):
and introducing yourself andgetting involved, and, I think,
definitely lean into anythingthat's unique about your book.
Yep, you know, if there'ssomething that is unique about
your storyline or unique to yourstoryline, whether that's food
everybody loves food and snacksFor sure.
Food, snacks, drinks Everybodylikes a little glass of wine,
especially if you're doing anevening event.
(15:54):
Yep, like, you'd be surprisedat how many people are going to
stop by our event on a Tuesdaybecause, like, oh, snacks and
wine and an author, and they'regoing to do something fun.
Like, absolutely I'll be home alittle bit later than usual.
You know what I mean.
So lean into that, lean intothings that are unique to your
book, because it's such aobvious segue, like, so you're
doing something interesting, theevent has a theme, and then, of
(16:15):
course, it relates to your bookand you get to explain that to
the people that are there, andthat gives you a very natural
way to talk about your bookwhere you don't feel like you're
giving a presentation.
You know, yeah, and obviously,I think for you know nonfiction.
If there are nonfiction authorslistening, teach them something
useful.
Don't make it boring, don'tmake it homework, make it
(16:36):
something super useful wherepeople go oh my gosh, yes, I
need to know how to do that.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
You know what I?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
mean Keep it fun, keep it punchy, keep.
You know what I mean Keep itfun, keep it, keep it punchy,
keep it fun, you know.
Say you will walk away knowinghow to do this after this event,
like that's very cool, likegive them something to bite you
write for kids or you knowchildren.
But again, keep it, keep ittactile.
(17:13):
You know engagement, hands-on,a craft.
Again, lean into what makesyour book unique and fun and
interesting and try to dosomething that mimics that.
And honestly, it could be alsoas simple as making sure you
print out coloring sheets of youknow that that match your
book's themes and illustrationsand things like that, but give
them something memorable.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, exactly, and I met an author one time at a
conference and she had acookbook.
Now, doing an event in abookstore around a cookbook
seems a little bit, seemschallenging, right, like she'd
be better going to like WilliamSonoma or something when they
have some sort of class night totake her cookbook and do some
(17:49):
cooking.
But what she did was she tookone of the most popular recipes
in the cookbook and it justcoincidentally it happened to be
appetizers.
She made these in advance, shebrought them to the bookstore
and then she handed out theselittle recipe cards right with
her book branding, so it was allbranded to her book in the
(18:12):
event that they didn't pick upthe book that night although
obviously that is the goal andthe idea was was that, look, you
could try this, this is what Imade, and it has basically like
three ingredients and you willimpress the heck out of your
family or a party or whatever.
And so she made it work rightWith being in a bookstore and
(18:33):
not having a kitchen, like shebrought in the.
She brought in the appetizersand people just loved it and
they, you know, and the majorityof them, I remember her telling
me.
She said I think it was likeone person that didn't buy the
book.
They all got the recipe card,like here you go, as a little
takeaway for the night, and itfeels both welcoming and
generous, but they all walkedout of there with a copy of the
book, except, I think, for oneperson.
(18:54):
You know what I mean.
So, um, really, I mean takingthese up to the next level
instead of just sitting there.
And the other thing, though,too, is that the more fun that
you have with these, not onlywill your guests, you know, be
more memorable for your guests,but the bookstores recognize
that too.
And the bookstores talk to oneanother Like, oh my gosh, this
(19:16):
author was so great, and that'sactually one way.
I talked to an author one time,at another offer, at a
conference, and that's actuallyhow she ended up getting booked
on events, not only in her areabut then across the country.
So she and her family decidedwell, we're just going to, you
know, write off part of the tripand do these events.
And, you know, in all theseareas, because she was just, she
was just so good at doing theseevents and she was so good on
(19:37):
her feet.
Now, if all of this seems superintimidating to you the buddy
system.
And this is so interestingbecause Barnes Noble I remember
talking to a manager at BarnesNoble locally to me and I want
to say they started doing thesemaybe 13 years ago and they did
them.
It may even be longer, but theydid them because with all the
(19:58):
influx of independentlypublished authors coming in and
coming to their door, they werelike we want to help these
people get an event, but wereally cannot put all 50 of
these authors who have droppedoff a copy of their book.
We really can't put them on thecalendar.
So what they did is they had a,they had specific genre nights,
(20:19):
right, so they had the sci-fiauthors.
And then what ends up happeningis is that, yes, you're sitting
with a bunch of authors likeit's a great opportunity to
network with other authors inyour area?
Absolutely, if all of you likelet's say it's 10, in some cases
they were 10 authors right thatthey would do these events and
(20:40):
they were obviously biggerstores and you know, big events
drew lots of people.
Because if each author doestheir own promotion, even if
they're just going after theirown people, right, you're
pulling in a much bigger crowdand you have the potential to
sell lots more books and if thebookstore has not done this
(21:09):
recently or at all, suggest itto them.
And if you're connected locallyto author groups and things
like that, you could evensuggest it and you could do just
independent author's nightright when you're bringing in a
cross section of genre.
But you'll get more sellthrough if you're staying genre
specific.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Do you know what I mean?
Right, yeah, I agree, if youcan focus on your promotion and
your theme and everything on one.
There's obviously we've spentquite a lot of time talking
about how important that is andhow fun it can be.
So, yeah, I agree, but that isso brilliant, I love it.
It makes me think of, like,author, speed dating.
You know what I mean?
Yes, like, how fun would thatbe.
(21:50):
Like, oh my gosh, that would beamazing.
I get so excited every time Isee a local author.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, I know it really is.
It's fun.
Now, the tricky part obviouslyabout these events is pitching
them, and Amy, do you want tostart us off on that?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yes.
So we kind of you know wealready talked about you have to
have a plan.
You need to have something youknow be interesting, be engaging
.
It's better if you can feedthem, check, check, check.
But then it comes to the actualpitch.
So obviously that's reallyimportant and this does involve
some technical aspects whichyou're everybody listening
(22:30):
you're perfectly capable of, butit definitely shows your level
of professionalism, you know.
So you want to have a sell sheetfor your book and we don't need
to go into all of that becauseyou can look it up or you know,
obviously we do a lot of thesefor our clients.
But it includes your basics,like your bio, your book blurb,
you know major, any majorreviews or endorsements that
you've had, past events I mean,it's basically kind of like your
(22:51):
book's resume to date.
You just really want to put itdown on something that they can
look at, because you really haveto think about all the options
here.
You may not get somebody on thephone that you get to pitch and
chat with for 10 minutes.
You know what I mean.
So be prepared to covereverything you want to say and
(23:11):
convey to them via email.
If you get to chat with them onthe phone awesome.
That may be something that youdo after you pitch them via
email.
You know what I mean.
So you just want to make sureyou have everything together
really concise, really tight,really impressive, in multiple
formats.
We talked about what are youpromising in terms of not only
the event, how it will go, whatyou plan on doing, how you would
(23:34):
like to host it, if you'replanning on coordinating with
any other local businesses likePenny mentioned, whether it's to
buy snacks or something elsethat makes sense for your theme
but then you also want to beprepared to brag about your
mailing list.
Do you have an email list?
Do you have a newsletter thatyou can already tap into?
What can you do on social mediato help promote this?
(23:57):
Any local connections you have?
You know, are you a member ofRotary or something like that,
where you can, you know, tapinto your local network?
And then also what you'rewilling to do.
You know we do this for clientsall the time.
They pitch an event and theywill ask us to help support them
by pitching local media.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
To help give them a leg up in terms of that.
So be willing to put in thework, to do not, I would say, do
not expect the business tospend money on you.
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Yes, you know.
So go into this and not thatyou know.
So if you don't want to hiresomebody to help pitch media or
to help get the word out or tohelp, you know, manage your
(24:37):
social, just be willing to putin the work.
Be willing to connect withlocal media, local influencers,
things like that, to help getthe word out and to help you
know and be able to tell thevenue that I am going to follow
through with doing X, y and Z,you know, and this is the reach
that I have and that I'm goingto aim for.
So they know that you'reputting in the work too.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Right, exactly Because you know the bookstore
is literally.
The bookstore is offering you aspace where you can have this
event and you can bring inpeople, but they, they are not
going to do the work to promotethe event.
And I'm not saying this becauseI'm not saying like oh,
bookstores are lazy at all, theyjust don't have the time.
They will put it in theirnewsletter, whether it's still
printed out or online, whatever,but the rest is really up to
you.
You have to also, you have toreally drive those events.
(25:26):
And then one thing I want tomention and it's funny because I
didn't include it on the noteshere If you're planning to
saturate your local area inbookstore events, be very
careful with that, becausebookstores know that authors,
typically, when they're doingevents, especially if you're
just starting out, you'repulling from your local base,
(25:47):
right?
So you're pulling from friendsthat you know, family that you
have locally, whatever.
And they also know that thereis an expiration date on that.
So if you book, you know if youhave, if you're listening to
this, you're like oh my gosh,I'm going to book back-to-back
events at all these.
You're, you're, you're going toget the first one, but you're
probably not going to get thesecond and third if they follow
closely on the heels of thefirst one, because bookstores
(26:09):
know that you've tapped out ofthat market and then, every
single time that you do an event, your crowd, your crowd,
dwindles by 50% or more.
So I know, I think it's great todo local events fabulous.
But you want to, definitelywant to space them out and
that's why I think if you haveneighboring towns where you can
(26:30):
pull in a fresh audience, Ithink that's always a great idea
.
But just be you know, make surethat they know that they are.
You know you're, you're.
They're going to ask you likehow many events have you done?
Because they that they knowthat they are, you know you're,
you're.
They're going to ask you likehow many events have you done?
Because they want to know ifyou've tapped out of your
audience, because otherwiseyou're going to be sitting there
, like I said at the beginningof this podcast, with a stack of
pens and a full pen and it'snot going to be very fun.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Right, and that's a very good point, penny, and
another reason to get creativein terms of where you can do
these and who might be a goodvenue and what businesses might
be good to partner with on this,because you know different
businesses obviously have to dothat at that event for that
store, particularly based on whotheir customers are.
(27:22):
Then you're giving yourselfmore options.
You know, to Penny's point,you're not just a one trick pony
doing the same thing over andover again in front of the same
crowd.
You know.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, that's a very good point.
Exactly, and you know, I Ireally like, whenever you can, I
like going into a bookstore.
In fact, you know, even if youhave no inclination to do book
signings, go into your localbookstores multiple stores and
get to know the managers, get toknow the book buyers, get to
(27:55):
know the staff, know the bookbuyers, get to know the staff.
They are the front line of booksales and they can really be an
asset to any author, both inyou know in events.
If you should, you know shoulddecide to do those.
Or I actually have had authorsthat will walk into a bookstore
and talk to the staff there, ifthey have, if they're trying to
decide between two or threedifferent covers, and they will
(28:15):
give you some really honestfeedback because they know what
sells and what doesn't, and alot of publishers actually do
that too.
So bookstores are really good.
Make friends with your localstore.
When you're pitching them, ifpossible, walk in, drop off your
packet and by your packet Imean the sell sheet that Amy
talked about, and I think weactually did a show on media
kits, and this is another one.
(28:36):
We're on media kits and this isanother one where now I'm going
to go back through our list andbe like, oh my God, we haven't
done a show on media kits, butI'm pretty sure that we have.
Include that, print it off witha copy of your book and drop
that off and just shake thehands of the manager and let
them know.
Now, there used to be BarnesNoble used to have a specific
(28:58):
events manager for book eventsand that's basically, I think,
almost all that that person did,and that has pretty much gone
away.
Some of the bigger stores maystill have that.
So if you're in big like I knowthat the bookstore on fifth in
New York has still has an um, uh, you know their events manager
because they do so many eventsthere.
But face-to-face obviously isthat's a is the best way to go.
(29:26):
My phone is fine too, but Ilove, I love in-person pitching
whenever you know, whenever youcan.
All right.
So let's go into prepping forsuccess.
Now I have okay.
Do you mind if I leave this off, cause I have okay?
So listen, I've done bookevents.
(29:46):
So I wrote a book.
It was a romance novel.
Please, don't anybody ever readit.
I wrote it 24 years ago it wasnot my gosh or 25 years ago Now
I was not that good of a writer.
I I'm actually afraid to likeread it again because I'm like,
oh, I bet this is just so bad.
But anyway, I was doing an eventup in Oregon and I was touring
Oregon because that's where thebook is set and I had shipped
(30:09):
them bookmarks, mini posters,all kinds of you know bag stuff
for things which we'll talk alittle, which I'll talk a little
bit more in a second.
And, as it would happen, theywere having like apocalyptic
rain that day, right, and therewas even, like there was a piece
in the newspaper you know, onthis, several, actually several
(30:30):
different newspapers in thatarea were doing like this you
know, the author of thecliffhanger comes to Oregon.
Oh my God, I said the title.
Please don't look it up onAmazon.
It's probably really awful.
I am like the anti bookpromoter for my own stuff, um,
but it was like torrential rainthat they hadn't seen in I don't
know a thousand years.
It was one of those, it was oneof those days and I was like,
(30:51):
oh my God, what do I get?
So I did all this stuff andthen I found out that the
bookstore thought that the swagthat I sent ahead of time was
(31:12):
for the day of events, so theydidn't put any signs in the
windows, right.
I was, oh my God, these werebag stuffers for the bags,
anyway, whatever.
So there were still peoplecoming to the bookstore to buy
books, even on this rainy day.
But I literally had there wasnobody there for my book signing
, right.
So I actually went through.
So I took those bookmarksbecause I'm like, okay, well,
(31:33):
you're not using them.
So I took those bookmarks andall the little fun swag things
that I had and I walked aroundand I talked to people who are
shopping in and I ended upselling.
I think I brought 25 books withme.
I sold out of those books thatday.
So, um, prepping for successreally important.
(31:56):
Sometimes you prep and youstill have to be ready to be
doing some stuff.
You know if, if you adifferential right and Amy lives
in an area where they alwayshave this.
Like I get alerts on my phonefor her weather.
I don't know why, I'll have tofigure it out someday, but
sometimes, like I'll text her onthe weekend and be like, wow,
you're having a really exciting,exciting weekend with this
(32:20):
weather.
That was the kind, like it wasjust this crazy.
So all that to say if you set,if you're doing an event out of
town, mail all this stuff to thebookstores.
Make sure that they know to useit ahead of time.
Or if you are saving it for theevent, fine, but let them know
that I love to do bookmarks.
(32:40):
I know this sounds to an author.
When you tell them to print upbookmarks they're like well,
doesn't everybody read an ebook?
And blah, blah, blah, whatever.
Uh, everybody loves bookmarks.
It's weird how much readersreally love bookmarks, right,
especially if they're going intoa bookstore because they're
buying a book, they're notbuying something digital, so
they're going to need a bookmark.
Um, I actually, if you, if youcan I mean you can like this to
(33:02):
print and got print whatever youcan do this really cheaply Get
bookmarks printed with the eventdate on them, right?
I had another author who,instead of she was going to be
doing a lot of events, soinstead of printing the event
date on the bookmarks, sheactually had like a little space
for a stick, for a sticker, forone of those clear Avery labels
(33:23):
that she had printed and lookedreally nice, and then she just
printed the date and time andevent and then she could use the
bookmarks for a variety ofdifferent events, so that's also
an option, right, I love that.
Yeah, create an event poster.
Do not expect the bookstore tomake an event poster for you.
It's something that they put inthe window, right, and make sure
that they know that thebookmarks are for bag stuffers
(33:46):
they love.
You know people love these bagstuffers, but yeah, you know.
And flyers at the bookstorewill let you put down flyers,
but definitely something for thewindow is a great idea.
So I really like that.
Amy, you want to take the nextone?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah, I mean, we talked about food.
Everybody loves a snack.
Have people engaged other thanjust having to do a presentation
, you know.
So, along with that, I meanthat could be candy chocolate.
You know there's themed basedon depending on what your book.
You know, your genre, and we'vesaid it multiple times during
(34:26):
the show tap into what's uniqueabout your story or your content
and consider having swag.
For that.
You can do a raffle or agiveaway.
It's a great way to collectemails.
You know your newsletter andnowadays, take advantage of
putting QR codes on stuff youknow like decide where they need
(34:47):
to go.
If you have a website, that'seven better, because then
they've got full access to allthe things.
But, you know, use a QR code.
Everybody's used to using themnow and they expect great things
.
So tap into that, you know.
And you just again, like Pennysaid, you'd want to give them
something to take with them.
Because you just again, likePenny said, you'd want to give
(35:08):
them something to take with them.
Because, you know again, youmay not.
The number of books you'll sellat the event is anybody's guess,
but that doesn't mean there'snot a ton of potential to sell
more books after the fact.
Or, you know, somebody may buya book and then the swag that
they get to take with them issomething that they hand off to
a friend because they go oh, Igot this book.
You know, here here, I got thisat the event.
(35:33):
Check them out.
You know, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And then we talked aboutpromoting, obviously.
But have your act together.
As soon as you have detailsabout date, time, location,
what's going on, make sure youget that info out to your local
media, to local influencers,community groups, and be
shameless.
Ask your friends to spread theword too.
(35:55):
You know, send out an email,let people know, ask friends to
bring friends.
You know what I mean.
This is, it's really.
This is when you can't be shy.
You know what I mean.
You're already going to do anevent.
People are going to show up,like you might as well.
Also, don't be shy when itcomes to promoting it.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, exactly, and I want to emphasize something your
newsletter.
So I I really encourage you, ifyou don't have a newsletter and
you're going to do an event,definitely get a newsletter sign
up.
I mean, yes, you can definitelydo the QR codes.
I had an author one time that Italked to and I want to say I
(36:35):
talked to this author at awriter's conference too and he
said he gets like 50 people atall of his book events.
And I said to him I said, well,that's great, you must really
be building your newsletter.
And he just kind of gave me ablank stare and I'm like dude,
you're not having people sign upfor your newsletter.
I mean it's crazy.
So what I recommended to him,kind of like what you led with
(36:58):
Amy, is um, sign up for thenewsletter, the new, and have a
raffle, right, and then you drawthe names when you.
You don't have to draw themthat day, you draw the names
when you get home and then youbuild your newsletter list and
you get a raffle.
They get a prize, things likethat.
But definitely want toemphasize the newsletter because
(37:19):
it's a great way to build yoursome, build some, you build your
local fan base for sure, and Ilove the theme swag idea that
you mentioned.
I think that is we have.
I had an author who did.
I actually talked to her, weworked with her and she did.
She did shot glasses and andI'm like that must be just so
expensive and I guess she founda place where they did them like
(37:39):
really cheaply because it tiedinto her book, like her
protagonist, you know, love thisparticular shot glass or
whatever.
Anyway, so you know, your eventswag can be trading cards with
your.
I have.
So I got this idea actuallyfrom a Romance Writers
Conference.
I do trading cards withmarketing tips on them, but the
(38:02):
trading card originated in theRom writer's world where they
did character trading cards andso each character is printed on
a little card and they're justbaseball-sized cards.
In fact I get them at GotPrintand I think they're either
called baseball trading cards orjust trading cards, but they're
really inexpensive to do.
(38:23):
In fact, now I have like, oh mygosh, I have like 2000 of these
cards and you know it's a pennyto print, to go like well, you,
you sure you just want ahundred, cause it's a penny to
go up to 10,000.
And the next thing you know youhave to add onto your house
because you don't have any roomto put these trading cards, but,
but it's a great idea.
So the event day listen, I'vedone a lot of.
(38:45):
We've done a lot of events forour authors and I've done a lot
of events individually.
Get there early.
And so let me back up a littlebit.
Yes, you want to get thereearly, but here's a tip, and I
learned this ages ago, back whenI was still faxing.
I know this again.
(39:07):
Listeners are going to be likeoh, oh, my gosh, she sounds 900
years old.
Um, I was faxing event info forfor book events for our authors
to newsrooms and I was at anevent it was.
It was a, um, a media eventwhere they all get together for
lunch and producers and whatever, and I was really surprised to
hear to talk to some of them andgo.
You would not believe how manyguests bail the day of their
(39:32):
media interview.
So it's mind numbing, right.
So the media is always lookingfor last minute.
Because I'll tell you somethingif you are running a newscast
for the evening news, 30 secondsis a big gap to fill, mm-hmm,
right?
So always email the featuresdesk the day of your event as
(39:59):
well, like I used to sit over afax machine and just fax the
stuff the day of when we hadauthor events If they hadn't
gotten coverage from oneparticular media outlet.
I'm like I'm just going to seeit, and a lot of times they
would contact me like, oh mygosh, we have a 45-second spot
to fill and we're going tofeature this author.
And 45 seconds doesn't probablysound like a lot.
(40:21):
You'd prefer 20 minutes, like Iget it, but take it so prior to
the event day, before you leave, send out another email to your
newsrooms.
And sometimes it's the feature,sometimes it's a new news desk.
Obviously it varies, but ifthey have a slot to fill, I mean
that's a great.
It's a great way to get somelast minute media coverage day
of.
It's not necessarily going todrive people to the event.
(40:43):
I mean it could, depending onyou know what time it airs, but
the most, most of the time,they're probably going to do
something at your event, whichis great.
It's a great piece of media foryour media room on your, your
website and it's just you knowit's again, it's just great,
great.
You know great bragging rights,but definitely you want to get
there early Now.
One of the things that Irecommend is get there early Now
(41:06):
.
One of the things that Irecommend is and maybe this
feels really uncomfortable toyou as an author and that's fine
, but if you don't mind shakinghands with people and handing
out your information, get to thebookstore, even you know 90
minutes before your event, andstart greeting.
You know, greet people cominginto the bookstore, hand them a
bookmark or whatever it is thatyou have your event information
on, and let them know thatyou're doing an event that day.
(41:27):
The majority of people goinginto a bookstore are going to be
browsing for a while, sothere's a good chance that, even
if your event is 90 minutesaway, that they're still going
to be around.
So I really recommend it.
I've done this.
I mean not just in the Oregonexample that I told you where we
had, like, the apocalypticweather, but I really recommend
(41:47):
this.
Just, you know, hand out abookmark and just say, hey,
thank you so much.
I'm going to be in it, I'mgoing to be doing a book signing
here today at X time andwhatever.
Ask the bookstore if they willdo announcements.
The majority of bookstores havesome kind of PA system where
they can do announcements likeoh, we haven't been starting
blah blah.
It's always pulling as muchhelp from the bookstore as you
(42:10):
possibly can.
So that's my suggestion Arriveearly, be prepared to promote
your event even the day of, andemail don't fax email newsrooms
the day of in case you get acancellation.
Amy, do you wanna touch on therest of these?
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yeah, I mean, again, like Penny said, getting there
early because so many places,depending on the venue, get
regular foot traffic all daylong.
So, while it may be weird tocamp out all day, but again,
coffee shops, other venues wherethey literally have, you know,
a constant flow of people, Ilove that idea, penny, of
(42:48):
getting there early becausethey're just getting their
afternoon coffee.
They had no idea an event wasgoing on, you know For sure.
Yeah, so it's like gettingthere early and saying, hey,
like you said, there's going tobe an event later.
It's going to be super fun.
This is what we're doing, thisis what you can expect.
You know, hang out or plan toswing on by if you're in the
(43:11):
area.
You know, I think that'sbrilliant because even if they
can't make it, you never know,they might text a friend who
they know is a huge genre fanand go hey, I just went and
grabbed my coffee and an authoris going to be there in a couple
hours.
Uh, you know, if you have time,you might want to check it out.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
So that word of mouth is definitely huge and then
post event.
You know, now I feel like Isound like I'm channeling my
mother, which you know is great.
Make sure you do your thankyous.
Oh right, yeah, you want tothank the venue, thank the
manager, thank the staff.
I mean share social media postsand photos afterwards.
That's another thing that wedidn't talk about.
(43:42):
I feel like it's very naturalnowadays, but it's worth
mentioning.
Make sure you take the time totake some photos at the event,
or ask if there's a staff memberthat can take photos for you.
Encourage people that are atthe event to take photos.
Tag you all the things, becauseafter the fact, you want to
milk this for all it's worth,and if you don't have any photos
and no evidence that the eventexisted, you're kind of screwed.
(44:05):
So make sure you documentwhat's going on and, of course,
ask people like may I take yourphoto so I can post it on my
social, and they'll probably go,yes, and you know.
So do the things.
Make sure you.
I feel like we're prepping abride for their wedding, you
know.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
I know, I know, but but can I just, can I just let
me just interject in that Ifinish this Thank you notes.
People, I cannot tell you thankyou notes handwritten.
Thank you notes Again, I knowthat I sound like I'm from the
1950s.
I'm telling you right now don'tjust shoot off an email, thank
you.
Send them a thank you note.
Yes, and that's all I have tosay, but I just want to kind of
(44:42):
emphasize that.
So go for it, Sorry.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
No, absolutely.
And then you know we talkedabout collecting emails,
collecting names.
Yes, you get those follow upwith the people that did share
their information with you.
We all know what a big dealthat is to share your contact
information in this day and agewith how much spam and other BS
that we get inundated with.
So don't take that lightly.
(45:04):
You know, if somebody botheredto give you their email, that's,
that's pretty incredible.
So personalized thank yous toyour attendees and it would be a
high quality problem to have ifit's going to take you a lot of
time to send everybody apersonal email thanking them.
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, for sure,yeah, and then yeah again.
I mean we've given tips thewhole time about how to, why one
(45:27):
event where even you know, likePenny said, maybe only 10
people show up, but how that cansnowball into so many other
opportunities.
If you do all the right thingsfor the prep, for the post, you
know the networking you'll bedoing with the venue, the staff,
like there's so many ways youcan build from one seemingly
small event that you know maybeyou thought like, well, I had
(45:50):
bigger hopes than this, but butbuild off of it.
It's so important to not letthat one event be the end of it.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
You know, yes, yes, exactly, I completely agree with
that, and I think that yourpoint I'm really we didn't even
include it in the notes.
It was brilliant that you saidit, but your point about make
sure that you have evidence,that was great.
I mean, you really not only doyou want to have evidence for
(46:19):
your socials and just that youwere there and to add to your
media room, but this evidence isgoing to be something these
photos are.
It's going to be somethingthese photos are going to be
something really good for tobook other events, right.
So, if you're like, again, addthose to the media room and then
take some video, so set up acamera and have somebody take
(46:40):
video if you're going to do atalk or whatever, and then you
could.
You don't have to post thatentire video online anywhere.
I mean, you can, obviously, butyou can also break it up into
snippets, right.
You can break it up into reallyfun snippets that you can use
for books.
You know Instagram or TikTok,or you know Facebook or whatever
.
Use this event not just to doall the things that we talked
(47:01):
about, also to kind of make surethat you're maximizing on the
opportunity to, you know, buildyour repertoire of, you know
other events and things likethat.
And if you get a letter, youknow make sure that you show the
crowd because other bookstoresare going to care about that.
(47:22):
Like, if you have a big crowd,you know show a picture of the
crowd and things like that.
Yeah, it's really great andI've had some authors that say
that they get thank you notesback from bookstores saying oh
my gosh, this event was so great.
Save that, add it to yourresume to get other events.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Absolutely.
I was going to say, if you havea friend with a real camera I
feel like that's like such anovelty nowadays, that is
actually like an amateurphotographer even at minimum
recruit them for the event,because that's also a big thing
too, because then those photoscan definitely be used by the
venue as well.
You know, when you have higherlevel and it would be great for
(48:00):
your website, not that yourphone camera, it does not
suffice.
But I'm fortunate enough tohave a couple of friends locally
that are great photographersjust amateur photographers and I
would 100% shamelessly, youknow, ask them to come to my
event and, you know, pay them insnacks and wine.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Yes, yeah, exactly, and I think that you will find
you know, bookstore events aregreat ways to build local love.
Because the other thing, though, too, to consider and this is
where we'll kind of wrap up,because I think the show has
already gone long, but hopefullyyou found it extremely helpful
that is always our goal.
A lot of times, authors say tome I really want to do local
(48:41):
media right and I want to getlots of local media, and that's
great, but the best way to getlocal media is if the local
station or publication orwhatever can tether your
interview to an event that youhave coming up right.
So local events are great, notjust for all the reasons that we
(49:01):
mentioned, but also you reallywant to not overlook and
maximize any local mediaopportunities that you have to
get more, because, again, all ofthis stuff you know, when you
look at the platforms that wetalk about and growing your base
, these are all bricks in that,you know, in that platform, so
(49:22):
the media that you get can thengo in your media room.
The video or pictures that youtook can be used for your social
media.
I am all about using, you know,maximizing each piece of
content that you create, andbookstores can definitely help
you to do that and you neverknow, you may end up really
liking events.
I remember the first bookstoreevent I did was, of course,
(49:44):
talking about the industry,talking about the publishing
industry.
At that time I had 64 pages ofnotes, amy, I was terrified, and
I remember I had somebody walkup to the podium and ask me and
I was literally just like, oh mygosh, oh my gosh.
I'm sure that I was like theworst presenter ever, for
whatever reason.
And after that even anotherbookstore invited me to do a
(50:06):
talk.
But I had some guy walk up tome just before I started
speaking and said you're notgoing to read all of that, are
you?
And I was like, oh, I was kindof planning on it, you know, and
now, if you put me up in frontof a crowd, like I'm just like I
don't.
I mean, powerpoint's alwayshelpful, but I can just, you
know, fly by the seat of mypants, as they say.
(50:35):
So if that's your goal,bookstores can be a really,
really great way to get yourfoot in the door and really get
to know this in-person marketwhich we so often forget.
So thank you all so much forlistening.
This show was really fun.
This was one of those littlenuggets that were like oh my
gosh, we haven't done this yet.
So we're really glad to havedone this show for you.
And if you get we alwayswelcome show feedback.
(50:57):
So show ideas, show feedback.
If you get an event or you'vedone an event and and there's
something that we didn't cover,point it out to us, because
maybe we can do a whole showaround that too.
So thank you all so much forlistening and we will see you
next time.
Bye-bye.
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