Writing and Publishing News

Yesterday we talked about selling books at book festivals. What are some of the benefits and perks of securing a booth at a book festival?

• It’s a fun and festive atmosphere.
• You get out of the house.
• You have the opportunity to meet new people
• You get to talk about your book.
• You receive feedback from readers and potential readers.
• You get to practice your sales pitch
• You sell books.
• And you get exposure!

What is exposure and why does an author need it? Exposure means flaunting your book so it is noticed—putting it before your audience—making sure your potential readers are aware of it. Without exposure, your book won’t sell. No one will buy it if they don’t’ know it exists. While your mission and your focus might be to sell books, when you’re among your potential readers, there’s something equally important occurring at the same time. In a book festival environment, for example, some people may be buying copies of your book but most others are just learning about it through exposure.

Exposure is an introduction to your book for many of your potential readers. Some may be interested in it, but they don’t buy it on the spot. However, now they know about it, they may think about it, tell others about it and, when they next see it, purchase it.

But you must keep giving your book exposure. The thing is, if the potential reader never sees your book again, after that initial introduction, they may not ever buy it. So it is important that you continue getting exposure at Good Reads, Amazon, by having your book in your local bookstore or specialty store, by going out and speaking about your book, by having it mentioned in appropriate newsletters and websites, for example.

Exposure can result in opportunities to get more exposure. Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve seen occur at book festivals. In some cases, the author may not have sold many books on the spot. But the opportunities that came about as a result of being present were priceless:

• An author met a librarian who believed his book belonged in their county-wide system.
• Authors are invited to speak at various club and organization meetings.
• One author met a teacher who embraced her book and introduced it into a school system.
• One author met a documentary film maker and became the subject of a film. It still airs on the military channel.
• A group of authors in the SPAWN booth one year were invited to appear on a talk radio show.
• I know at least one author who met her publisher at a book festival.

I recommend book festivals for most authors. Along with that, I urge authors to be open not only to on-the-spot sales, but for the opportunities that will present themselves during events such as this.

For many more book marketing and promotion concepts, tips, techniques and ideas, read Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. Available in print, Kindle and audio at amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. Or purchase your copy from me, Patricia Fry, at http://www.matilijapress.com

Have you ever taken your book to a show? This might be a book festival or expo… I’m not crazy about book expos—they’re usually big and expensive to participate in. But I attend a lot of book festivals of all sizes and I generally recommend that most other authors use this mode of promotion, too.

Book festivals are generally held outdoors in spring and fall, however I’ve also attended indoor book fairs in all climates.

You’ll find book festivals in many cities throughout the U.S. I’ve attended huge ones and small ones in dozens of cities throughout California as well as in Tucson, Dallas, Atlanta and St. Louis. If you do an Internet search, you’ll probably find a book festival or book fair within 50 or 100 miles of your home town or a city you plan to visit. You might pay as little as $10 for a bare table set up on a blocked-off street or a thousand dollars for a table inside a canvas booth on the lovely grounds of a university. There might be as few as 15 “booths” or as many as 300. I did a book fair once inside where there were only five booksellers.

What do you do at a book festival? You set up a display of your books and maybe a poster to attract people from across the room. Some booksellers bring in flowers or a display of photos depicting some aspect of their book’s topic. You’ll also want to have something to give visitors to your booth—bookmarks depicting your book, a brochure describing all of your books and services, pens, buttons, candy… Give a tote bag with the purchase of a book. Have a puzzle or a paint-by-number project for visitors to participate in. You can be as elaborate or simplistic as you choose. Just think about what would attract people to your booth. What would draw their interest? You want to be noticed and you want to be visited.

The purpose of reserving a booth at a book festival is to sell books. And if you are personable, if you have a book people want, if you have a good sales pitch, you will sell books. But there’s another very important reason for taking your book to the show and that’s exposure. I’m going to talk about the value of exposure in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, purchase the Kindle, print or audio version of Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More. $19.95 at Amazon and most other online and downtown bookstores. Or order it from me, Patricia Fry, the author http://www.matilijapress.com/TalkUpYourBook.html

A week from tomorrow, I’ll hit a blogging milestone—a big one. How many blog posts do you think I’ve written? Guess correctly and you’ll win a prize. All next week I’ll be giving away prizes. Either comment here with your guess or email me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com. The first 3 correct answers to today’s question will win a prize.

What am I giving away? Manuscript evaluations, books for authors and for pleasure, courses for authors…

If you live in or will be visiting the Southern California area during the week of April 12-13, 2014 and you’d like to sell your book from a booth at the huge Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, contact me. PLFry620@yahoo.com. SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) has two booths and we’re inviting members to sell books from our booth for $203 per day, a savings of about $300 per day, if you were to reserve a booth of your own.

When you’re out and about, do you talk to people? Do you chat with someone while in line at the grocery store or post office? Do you speak to neighbors when you’re out walking? Do you mingle at social events? Do you strike up a conversation with your hairdresser and others in the beauty shop? I consider these opportunities to spread the word about my books.

When I was promoting only my books for authors, my audience was relatively small. These are niche books, as would be books on quilting, aviation, dog grooming and so forth. But once you produce a mystery, your audience grows and so do your opportunities.

I took my mother to the doctor this week and saw a woman with one of those new Kindle readers. I asked her about it and she was more than thrilled to show it off. One thing quickly led to another and I discovered that she reads mysteries and she loves cats, so I told her about my new Kindle mysteries involving cats. I gave her a bookmark (not that you would use a bookmark for a Kindle, but it is a nice marketing tool).

A few days ago while out shopping, I ran into a young woman wearing a tee shirt with a cat on the front. I said, “Oh, do you like cats?”

She said, “I love them!”

I asked if she liked to read about cats. She said “Yeah.” So I handed her a bookmark promoting my two Kindle cozy mysteries, Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness.

Today, I’m going on a bird hike. I enjoy hiking and I like photographing birds, so I’m taking my camera rather than binoculars. I’m also packing a handful of bookmarks just in case the conversation turns to, “What are you writing now?” or “What do you do?”

If you are the author of a novel, it might behoove you to become more friendly when traveling, while waiting your turn at the veterinary clinic, in the hospital lobby when visiting a friend, while out eating lunch, at work, when visiting your tax preparer, at church and so forth. Personality sells books.

Seek out books for authors by Patricia Fry and be sure to read my first two novels. They’re both on Kindle.

Recently, a client asked me for a recommendation. He wants to publish through a pay-to-publish company (erroneously referred to self-publishing companies) that will also do a good job of marketing his book. I told him that I do not know of any such a company.

The articles and books I’ve read, the forums I’ve visited and the authors I’ve spoken with on the subject, agree that no matter how much you pay for marketing help from a pay-to-publish company, you will not have a satisfactory result.

So what do I recommend? I always suggest that the author take the reins and develop his/her own marketing program AND implement it. Either as an alternative or once the author has pretty much done everything he knows to do, THEN consider hiring a company that specializes in book marketing.

There are many in this publishing climate. They are easy to locate. Here are my recommendations for choosing one:

• Check out the website for each company you are considering. What is your initial impression? What types of books do they most successfully promote?
• Do an Internet search to find out if there are any complaints against this company.
• Make contact with someone at the company and discuss your project, your needs and your expectations.
• With some of the publicity companies you can expect to be kept busy making public appearances. If this is not your desire, choose a different company.
• Expect to pay somewhere around $3,000-$5,000 for a basic publicity package—more if you want to retain their services for an extended period.

If you are in the beginning stages of writing a book for publication, please stop and consider all of your responsibilities and obligations before you go to the trouble. Books do not sell themselves. They must be promoted. No one is going to buy a book they don’t know exists. And the best person to promote a book is the author. No one else knows the book as well as the author does and no one else cares as much about it. So my best advice is to educate yourself about the publishing industry, learn everything you can about book promotion, take as much responsibility as you can and know when to hire help.

For a wider education about book promotion, buy my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon.com in print, on Kindle and audio as well as at many other online and downtown bookstores. Also available here: http://www.matilijapress.com/PromoteYourBook.html

Who is Patricia Fry? I’ve been writing for publication for over 40 years and have 41 books to my credit. Mostly, I write nonfiction—I supported myself for years writing articles for magazines. Last year, I published my first work of fiction and am preparing to publish the third in my Klepto Cat Mystery series on Kindle. Check out Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness. Watch for Sleight of Paw coming soon. Visit the Klepto Cat Mystery Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/kleptocatmystery