Sign a Book Anywhere

“Book signings?” a friend moaned. “I saw an author in a bookstore standing near his stack of books and no one would even look at him. I won’t put myself through that embarrassment.”

 

He was greatly mistaken! A book signing isn’t about selling books! It’s about meeting readers and getting your brand, your name, out to the reading public. Unless you have a huge publishing house behind you, no one will have heard of you unless you introduce yourself. To be honest, even the large publishers expect the author to do most of the marketing.

 

Six to eight weeks before you go on vacation, call a bookstore in your destination city, tell them when you will be in their area, and ask if you can do a book signing for two hours on a Saturday or weekday evening. Ask to be placed near the front of the store then, like a Walmart greeter, say “hi” to everyone who comes in and looks in your direction. “May I tell you about my book?” Pass out fliers or cards with your name, book title and ISBN. I make up business card with two book covers, their ISBN’s on each side (total four titles) and my name. I include a line with my email address, Amazon profile, blog link and Facebook author page.

 

Remember, a book store is not the only place to sign books and meet readers. Take along some take-away information: cards, fliers, upcoming releases, to a variety of events. In the next few months I will sign at:

 

• Last weekend, I signed at a Pow Wow with my two newest books, both with Indian themes
• At the end of this month - a craft fair
• A Christmas Bazaar
• An author fair at a large library – Alert! People are there to borrow, not buy books. Be thrilled to meet people and hand out information. Have books to sell with a “Square” to accept their credit/debit card payments.
• Local authors fair at a Barnes and Noble store. There will be several participants.
• A one-person signing at a bookstore in a nearby city

 

By then, it will be time to market my short story, Christmas Feathers. It will appear on Amazon as a short story and then, as part of a completion, Christmases Past, with seven other authors. In fact, the first short story, Volume One – The gift by Andrea Merrell, is already on Amazon as a pre-order.

 

What could possibly be more fun, than fulfilling the plan God has for your life and meeting interesting people too? Go on out and live every moment of your life!

 

Doris

"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”

Copyright 2014 Doris Gaines Rapp