Comments on: An Author Walks In to a Bookstore (for a signing)

By: The Big Bad Book Blog ï¿½ Blog Archive » Bookstore Signings: HarperStudio’s 5 Tips and More

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:38:13 +0000

[...] out the blog post, “An Author Walks Into a Bookstore (for a signing)” to get the complete [...]

By: Any bookstore owners/employees here? Need advice - LotusTalk - The Lotus Cars Community

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:14:22 +0000

[...] Into Bookstores | eHow.com 6 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Your Book into Bookstores – by Patricia Fry An Author Walks In to a Bookstore (for a signing) | HarperStudio Ask the Publishing Guru: How to Get Books into Bookstores __________________ . . Tracy 2009 [...]

By: Lose Chest Fat

Lose Chest Fat — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:25:12 +0000

This is a great article and one that I bookmarked for later (when I actually get around to publish my book!).

I've been putting ideas together for a book for a while and this process would be a fun thing to test

By: Rachel Ellis

Rachel Ellis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:41:15 +0000

Interesting stuff. Especially as regards not second guessing the bookstore. I guess to some degree you've got to assume these people know their business. But I have to say in some of the places I frequent I wouldn't be 100% trusting of the staff to get the job done right.

By: Rachel Ellis

Rachel Ellis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:27:23 +0000

By: Rachel Ellis

Rachel Ellis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:41:15 +0000

By: Rachel Ellis

Rachel Ellis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:27:23 +0000

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:05:47 +0000

Great post. YOu make it seem so easy to share your experiences. I wish I could do as well in sharing on my blog. I just got it started and sometimes feel stuck on what to share or if it is the right thing to share. what to do?

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:14:32 +0000

Ahhh. Thanks for the ideas. If/when I ever get published, I’ll remember this.

By: gs

gs — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:06:21 +0000

My kids’ elementary school had J.S Lewis and Brandon Mull in for a few days each this year, they worked with the jr. writers, read from their books, spoke to the classes and had a great time. I don’t know how that compares to a bookstore signing, but all the parents thought the program was absolutely great. More of that, please!

By: Bookseller X

Bookseller X — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:27:31 +0000

More tips for authors can be found here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6663116.html

By: Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Cheryl Kaye Tardif — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:49:48 +0000

As an author who has done hundreds of successful books signings and organized multi-author events, I’d like to emphasize one other point: don’t rely on just your invitees to be your customers/buyers.

I’ve had events where I’ve invited dozens of people and half have confirmed yet only a handful show up. This isn’t the time to get upset; it’s the time to really focus on just WHO your potential customers are–which is EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO WALKS INTO THAT STORE.

That’s how I approach every signing. I’m excited at meeting new people, ones who walked in to buy a cookbook and leave with a copy of one of my thrillers too.

I had a signing during the day of the launch of J.K. Rowlings last Harry Potter book. Because I treat everyone like they ARE my special invitee, I saw many people walk out of the store with my novel in their bag. I recall one who decided to buy Whale Song INSTEAD OF the Harry Potter book. Why? Because I was there chatting with them, making them feel welcome.

One other tip to authors: when you’re signing at a store, think of it as your home. Welcome everyone. Ask to be seated close to the entrance and take on the role of unofficial greeter. My highest sales have been when I feel like I’m part of the bookstore TEAM, not just a visitor.

For 2 years, I had the most consistent and highest sales out of all authors signing in Edmonton, with the exception of some more recognizable names. I’ve worked hard at maintianing good relations and a good rep with my bookstore friends. That’s the way it should be.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention

By: Jeffrey J. Mariotte

Jeffrey J. Mariotte — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:31:02 +0000

I would add that it’s important to have realistic expectations. As an author I’ve had dozens of signings, and as a bookseller I’ve hosted hundreds of them. There are a handful of authors who can draw a big crowd, with lines out the door…and then there’s everybody else. Any given event might draw anywhere from 2 to 20 people. Sometimes none at all come, and it’s just you, the bookstore staff, and whoever happens to walk through the door that day. No one can accurately predict what’s going to happen on your signing day–if there’ll be a horrific accident that ties up the freeway, if the home-town team will unexpectedly make it into the playoffs and the big game will be that afternoon, if a storm will blow in that keeps everybody under cover or if a bright sunny day will send them flocking to the beach or the park.

Hope for the best, expect the worst, and the result will probably be somewhere in between.

By: Kage Alan

Kage Alan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:36:06 +0000

Great information! I have, however, stayed in touch with bookstores out of state–contacting them every so often to touch base–only to have driven 5 hours there, stayed overnight etc. to have the person at the store the day of the signing not know who I am, not know why I’m there or that there was even a signing that day. It’s really a game that’s touch and go.

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:49:04 +0000

What a fantastic article. I can’t emphasise #2 enough. It goes the same for pretty much everything you do in terms of promotion (I guess in the jargon du jour it’s to do with the 1000 true fans theory). It’s so easy to through a scattergun of press releases, 5 minute radio slots and half hour panting, frustrated, thinly advertised signings together, look at that big, full diary and think WOW! Look what I’ve done!

But the key to dealing with everyone – form bookstores to readers – is relationships. It’s doing that little bit more to make people feel special – people who will then remember you in 18 months when you have another book (because yes, shock! readers do read other books, and bookstores do stock other authors). I’ve just launched a writers’ collective, and the first thing we had to consider was marketing. It would be so easy to send our press release everywhere and hope some people come back and look at us. But, whilst we’ve done some of this, our policy has been to build relationships with journalists, professionals, and readers one by one, with care, and giving a genuine piece of ourselves to each. If you can do that AS WELL AS writing wonderful prose, you will have people who come back to you time and again – and will do it because they want to not because they feel they ought. And that’s the kind of relationships you want.
Dan
http://www.yearzerowriters.wordpress.com