I love book festivals. I like planning for the event and organizing my stuff. I like starting fresh with a table or booth and bringing it to life with my books and brochures. I enjoy seeing some of my friends and colleagues who travel the book festival “circuit.” I like greeting visitors and talking to them about writing and publishing. In fact, the majority of my day at book festivals is devoted to answering authors’ and hopeful authors’ questions about publishing on behalf of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network).
Tomorrow is the annual Santa Barbara Author and Book Festival. Many people attend this event for the author presentations and others like to mill around and see what new books are out there. Some come to these events primarily to talk to authors about the process of publishing as they are on the brink of launching a book of their own. You get many, many people in that category at the Los Angeles Festival of Books—not so many in Santa Barbara. Most visitors in SB seem more interested in attending “name” authors’ presentations and buying their autographed books than in checking out the variety of new books produced by locals.
SPAWN has 3 booths in Santa Barbara this year. We’ve invited members to join us with their books and we look forward to a lovely day in the lovely city and many sales. I tell members to consider exposure as valuable as sales. It’s hard for some authors to go home with almost as many books as they came with, add up their expenses and be happy campers. When that author gets a call from someone he met at the book festival inviting him to do a TV spot to promote his books, or he gets an invitation to speak at the local Rotary Club meeting, or he receives a request for a bulk order price for his books or he is asked to participate in a panel of experts related to the topic of his book, THEN he might understand the value of exposure.
Are you an author? Have you ever participated in a book festival? Here’s the link to my article on the subject. This is the article I always recommend that SPAWN members or clients read before signing up for one of our book festivals or any other book festival.
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/promo_bookFestival.htm
Can you sell books at book festivals? Well, yes. Who sells the most books at these events? I’ve attended numerous book festivals over the years and here’s what I’ve experienced and/or observed:
Authors sell more books when they:
• Engage visitors in conversation in an easy and natural manner.
• Put their book into the hands of visitors.
• Have an attractive book cover and booth display. (Muddy, dull covers are bypassed time and time again.)
• Give out FREE samples or something else related to their book.
• Read a poem or other excerpt from their book. (This is particularly effective with children’s or poetry books.)
• Have a way of attracting their specific readers—hang a sign that indicates “mysteries,” “books for writers,” “children’s books,” etc.
• Do not get discouraged when people walk away without buying anything.
I’ll be back Sunday with a report from the Santa Barbara Book Festival. Also, I want to share a cute story about Flat Stanley. Who has heard of Flat Stanley? Flat Stanley is visiting me and I’m taking him to the book festival to pick out a book for his second grade class in Idaho. (Does anyone know what I’m talking about?) Let me know if you’ve had an experience with Flat Stanley.
Visit my book showcase at http://www.matilijapress.com.
Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com. Or leave a comment here at the blog site.