Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast
Join Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell for fun and frank discussions packed with clever ideas, easy-to-implement book marketing strategies, and critical publishing industry knowledge and insight! Designed to help self-published authors and traditionally published authors at any level, the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast will definitely inspire you with new ideas for how to sell books, grow your platform, and make strategic business decisions as an author. Subscribe today and take that next step toward a more successful, long-term book marketing plan!
Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast
Beyond the Table: Creating Memorable Author Book Signing Events That Sell Books
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.
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Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Sandsbury and Amy Cornell and we are talking about bookstore author doing book signings in indie bookstores or Barnes Noble. And you know what's really interesting is we talk about how sometimes we have to repeat these shows and you know, a lot of times we're sort of scrambling for fresh new ideas. We have never done a show on just straight bookstore signings, isn't that bizarre?
Speaker 2:I know I swear. Sometimes I feel like, yeah, it always shocks me when we're like really, we haven't covered this yet. I know.
Speaker 1:Well, we've skirted around it. We've talked about book events in non-bookstore venues right, we did that, but we've really never done a show on how to get well, this show is not just about how to get a signing, how to score more in-person events at bookstores, but also how to make the most out of every single event. So we'll talk about why these events are still powerful visibility, reader connection, how to create an irresistible pitch and what to do besides just sitting at a table with a stack of books. I wrote an article one time years ago called Book Signings Are Boring, and it was meant to be a little bit of a eye-catcher title. Was meant to be a little bit of a eye catcher title, because sitting at a table with a full pen, a stack of books and maybe a little flower doesn't make you an interesting. It doesn't make for an interesting, you know, for an interesting event.
Speaker 1:And so and just a reminder, I and it's possible that by the time this show hits that the book will already be up for pre-order on Amazon. But the workbook for the Amazon Author Formula is done and it's coming out soon. So I'm really excited. I'm always excited when, when I've birthed a new book, so I, so I love that, amy. Do you want to? Do you want to take the first one? Do you want to take the first point?
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 2:So the first one, why in-person events still matter. I hope you're listening and thinking that, but you never know, maybe. I mean we do talk about how it's typically a smaller venue. You know we we did a show recently on, you know, bookstore scams, to where we got really real about numbers and things like that and expectations. But honestly, getting out there and getting involved is what's really important.
Speaker 2:So local visibility and you know, the thing about events too is that they're only as good as you're going to make them, and we'll probably touch on that a lot throughout the show. But it's not just about securing the event, it's about all the things you can do to build off of that and to capitalize on that one opportunity. You know, once you book the event, start planning the event, that's when you start going after media, that's when you start networking with other local businesses. Like there's really it's a snowball effect of positive things that can happen. And you know we talk about all the time too, the power of the recommendation, you know. So getting in front of locals, getting in front of regional reader base, is something that and that's something memorable too.
Speaker 2:I will say, like anybody listening, if you've met an author throughout your life, a local author or something like that, like that's something you remember that direct connection matters so much more and leaves an impression on a reader so much more than them finding your book online. You know which is, I hate to say, the traditional way. Now you know, right line. You know which is, I hate to say, the traditional way. Now you know, but you've almost made a lifelong fan. If you've created a good product, if you've written a great book, and you start meeting people in person and introducing them to that book in person, the chances of that person being a return buyer and also referring your book, recommending you, mentioning that they went to your event to a friend, skyrockets, yeah, yeah. So it's really that personal connection and you'd be shocked at how, I mean, we've worked with a number of clients that it's crazy how, once they started booking some local events, how many amazing opportunities were presented.
Speaker 1:Right, right, exactly, and I think that it's also. I mean, you know we spend so much time focusing on Amazon, but there is something very powerful about that reader, author-reader connection that you get from doing an event in indie stores or in chains, like you know, in chains, like you know, like Barnes Noble. So let's talk a little bit about planning and then we're going to go into some unique events and I have strong feelings about all of those things, just because I've done a lot of book events and we've worked with a lot of authors who have done, who we've planned book events for. You're not going to get a book event if you listen to this and you think, oh my gosh, I want to do this, you're not going to get a book event next week. So you do want to definitely plan 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 and Barnes Noble used to print them off and you would get them at the register and they use them as bag stuffers for upcoming events. And I'm not sure I have gone to Barnes Noble very recently, but I'm not sure that they still have. I didn't actually look for them. Shame on me, but they always have a calendar online. So take a look and see what's coming up right, because when you look at that calendar, you'll see how, really how far out that the bookstore plans events and then you know. The other thing is that you'll be able to see from the calendar whether there was an event that you could potentially dovetail in and and we're going to talk about doing multi-author events in a minute but that's something that you may want to.
Speaker 1:You know you may have bookstores may do, like romance author night or mystery author night or science fiction author night or whatever, and that's potentially something that you could anchor onto and do an event, and I love doing those. We'll talk in a minute just about why, but I would definitely plan, I mean, 90 days and a minimum, um, bookstores will typically book any of the big celebrity authors that are that are touring. They book those folks out, um, sometimes eight months, depending on how early the publisher goes after them. Um, and there's always space for you to do events. I mean, not every single book event 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 lot of these celebrity authors. So those times may be rough to get, but consider doing something you know and you know on a weekday.
Speaker 1:I realize it may feel a little bit less optimal, but it is a great way to get your feet wet. I mean, I actually started my speaking career doing bookstore events and, depending on where you want to go, if you want to, you know, if you want, you know if you want to do some events when you're somewhere on vacation, like you think, oh my gosh, there's a lot of indie bookstores, I could do these here. You can plan those far in advance. But you may end up just really falling in love with doing author bookstore events and then the next thing, you know you're doing them all over the, you know, potentially all over the country or wherever you travel to Libraries.
Speaker 1:We did a library show, so we're not really talking necessarily about libraries specifically on this, but there are also a great place for you to do a book event. The only difference between a library and a bookstore is that, depending on the library, you typically won't be selling books right, so they usually can't take money. You know they don't have that kind 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 can sell books there and fine, but it's really specifically to the library. The idea with doing an event at a bookstore is so that not only do you get the event, but potentially they might keep a few copies for readers who heard about the event and you never know, it could be your way into a bookstore Exactly.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. Sorry, no, I'm just excited for the next one. This is where the fun part comes in Well why don't you lead it off then?
Speaker 2:Okay, so get creative when it comes to event ideas. Please don't pitch businesses or venues expecting to sit there and everybody's just going to fawn over you because you wrote a book that is so boring Nobody sorry that is so boring. Nobody sorry it's. That is not intriguing, it's not 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 your readers are. You know your book also. I mean you could do something very different for, like, a rom-com than you would a thriller even. You know what I mean Like. So you have to get creative. Think about who's reading your book, think about what those people like, think about who the venue's clientele is and get really thoughtful about what you pitch in terms of what you're going to do at the event. Yeah, you know. So you know I love this talks with a twist. So behind the scenes of your book, you can plan to talk about the writer experience. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I think if you have, like, a coffee shop venue, I think for sure that would be really interesting. You know there's probably a lot of people that if you have a great local coffee shop scene, there's probably a ton of those people that have considered writing a book or maybe they're already writing it and floundering, so they might be super interested in you getting really candid about the writing process. But again, that's about thinking about the venue, who their clientele is. Does your reader market overlap with that? What would be interesting to those people and what could this venue get excited about promoting? And, penny, I think that also ties back into what you said about planning about pitching certain days, weekends. A lot of places already get enough foot traffic. So a great way to also kind of angle this in the venue or business's favor is pick a day or an evening that's not as busy for them, because having a fun event, something different for them, something new that they can promote to their clientele to get them in on a day that's normally not busy, also helps them as a business.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of pubs and places like that that started doing quiz night for that reason and they do it on a Tuesday because most people I mean no judgment, but a lot of people aren't heading out to the bars on Tuesdays but hey, all of a sudden they do pub quiz and Tuesdays are packed. You know it's brilliant, right, exactly so get creative and be very thoughtful about marrying all the different elements of the potential based on who you're working with, who you're pitching, and make sure you're focusing on that, Because the more interesting you make the pitch, the more likely you are to get a yes, and the more you pay attention to the needs of the business or venue, the more likely you are to get a yes as well, right right, exactly, and you know, we had an author and I don't know if this was I'm trying to think of when this, actually, when this was but and she would go, she would do these events in costume.
Speaker 1:So she had a historical fiction book and she would actually show up and do these book events in costume. So she made it. She made it very unique. I mean, I think to Amy's point and you make a very good point is that bringing in new foot traffic on nights, like on a Tuesday, when they don't evenings, when they aren't normally that busy, but then also bring them something that's really going to pique the interest of, you know, the bookstore customers that they're going to want. I want to show up on a Tuesday at six o'clock to see this or whatever, to see this. You know this event if it's like a themed reading and we so we worked with an author one time who did events. She loved doing bookstore events and one of the things that she would do is she would partner with and she had a I want to say that this was so long ago now. This was a cozy mystery and she partnered with a local bakery to make these little tiny baby cup mini cupcakes, right, and the business cards for the local bakery were sitting on the table, and so what it? What what happened is is she had this event, she had this great like snacky things for this fun little cozy mystery adventure book, and then, you know, she also it also promoted the bakery too. So there's a, there was a lot of things that you can do, even with local, other local businesses, local independent businesses, to bring them into this. Because then what what also happened consider this is that maybe you can put up some signage in the local bakery that you know they're going to be catering quote, unquote, catering your book event or something like that.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I mean? So you can create, but I mean you could do you know, writing mini workshops like book-themed games. I mean it's Q&A. I mean, yes, you can have. Just, you can sit down. I mean, if this all sounds really overwhelming, yes, you can have, you can sit down and you can have a regular discussion about your book book.
Speaker 1:But that's really more of a book club kind of setting, where they've all read the book and now they're coming together to discuss the book. So if you're going to sit, I mean, yes, you can read a chapter from your book, but sometimes authors feel uncomfortable doing that or they're not good book narrators, which not everybody is. So really lean into your strengths 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 like that, like that author that I mentioned that showed up in you know in costume and actually, you know, created like this, like her husband made this arch for her and then she would take pictures with the, you know, with the readers. I mean it was really just, it was so lovely and it creates something that's memorable that the reader, you know, would just won't forget you and a picture that they can share on social, you know, about an author event that they went to. I mean it's really it's, it's. You can make these really, really fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, because to me, just standing in front of a bunch of people staring at me, waiting for me to be interesting, is terrifying yeah, terrifying yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think, something hands-on, something interesting, something to keep people busy and engaged and you know what I mean, that tactile involvement, with you kind of making your way and introducing yourself and getting involved, and, I think, definitely lean into anything that's unique about your book. Yep, you know, if there's something that is unique about your storyline or unique to your storyline, whether that's food everybody loves food and snacks For sure.
Speaker 2:Food, snacks, drinks Everybody likes a little glass of wine, especially if you're doing an evening event. Yep, like, you'd be surprised at how many people are going to stop by our event on a Tuesday because, like, oh, snacks and wine and an author, and they're going to do something fun. Like, absolutely I'll be home a little bit later than usual. You know what I mean. So lean into that, lean into things that are unique to your book, because it's such a obvious segue, like, so you're doing something interesting, the event has a theme, and then, of course, it relates to your book and you get to explain that to the people that are there, and that gives you a very natural way to talk about your book where 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 authors listening, teach them something useful. Don't make it boring, don't make it homework, make it something super useful where people go oh my gosh, yes, I need to know how to do that.
Speaker 1:You know what I?
Speaker 2:mean Keep it fun, keep it punchy, keep. You know what I mean Keep it fun, keep it, keep it punchy, keep it fun, you know. Say you will walk away knowing how to do this after this event, like that's very cool, like give them something to bite you write for kids or you know children.
Speaker 2:But again, keep it, keep it tactile. You know engagement, hands-on, a craft. Again, lean into what makes your book unique and fun and interesting and try to do something that mimics that. And honestly, it could be also as simple as making sure you print out coloring sheets of you know that that match your book's themes and illustrations and things like that, but give them something memorable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I met an author one time at a conference and she had a cookbook. Now, doing an event in a bookstore around a cookbook seems a little bit, seems challenging, right, like she'd be better going to like William Sonoma or something when they have some sort of class night to take her cookbook and do some cooking. But what she did was she took one of the most popular recipes in the cookbook and it just coincidentally it happened to be appetizers. She made these in advance, she brought them to the bookstore and then she handed out these little recipe cards right with her book branding, so it was all branded to her book in the event that they didn't pick up the book that night although obviously that is the goal and the idea was was that, look, you could try this, this is what I made, and it has basically like three ingredients and you will impress the heck out of your family or a party or whatever. And so she made it work right With being in a bookstore and not having a kitchen, like she brought in the.
Speaker 1:She brought in the appetizers and people just loved it and they, you know, and the majority of them, I remember her telling me. She said I think it was like one 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 it feels both welcoming and generous, but they all walked out of there with a copy of the book, except, I think, for one person. You know what I mean. So, um, really, I mean taking these 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 only will your guests, you know, be more memorable for your guests, but the bookstores recognize that too. And the bookstores talk to one another Like, oh my gosh, this author was so great, and that's actually one way.
Speaker 1:I talked to an author one time, at another offer, at a conference, and that's actually how she ended up getting booked on events, not only in her area but then across the country. So she and her family decided well, we're just going to, you know, write off part of the trip and do these events. And, you know, in all these areas, because she was just, she was just so good at doing these events and she was so good on her feet. Now, if all of this seems super intimidating to you the buddy system. And this is so interesting because Barnes Noble I remember talking to a manager at Barnes Noble locally to me and I want to say they started doing these maybe 13 years ago and they did them.
Speaker 1:It may even be longer, but they did them because with all the influx of independently published authors coming in and coming to their door, they were like we want to help these people get an event, but we really cannot put all 50 of these authors who have dropped off a copy of their book.
Speaker 1:We really can't put them on the calendar. So what they did is they had a, they had specific genre nights, right, so they had the sci-fi authors. And then what ends up happening is is that, yes, you're sitting with a bunch of authors like it's a great opportunity to network with other authors in your area? Absolutely, if all of you like let's say it's 10, in some cases they were 10 authors right that they would do these events and they were obviously bigger stores and you know, big events drew lots of people. Because if each author does their own promotion, even if they're just going after their own people, right, you're pulling in a much bigger crowd and you have the potential to sell lots more books and if the bookstore has not done this recently or at all, suggest it to them. And if you're connected locally to author groups and things like that, you could even suggest it and you could do just independent author's night right when you're bringing in a cross section of genre. But you'll get more sell through if you're staying genre specific.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I mean? Right, yeah, I agree, if you can focus on your promotion and your theme and everything on one. There's obviously we've spent quite a lot of time talking about how important that is and how fun it can be. So, yeah, I agree, but that is so brilliant, I love it. It makes me think of, like, author, speed dating. You know what I mean? Yes, like, how fun would that be. Like, oh my gosh, that would be amazing. I get so excited every time I see a local author.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it really is. It's fun. Now, the tricky part obviously about these events is pitching them, and Amy, do you want to start us off on that?
Speaker 2:Yes. So we kind of you know we already talked about you have to have a plan. You need to have something you know be interesting, be engaging. It's better if you can feed them, check, check, check. But then it comes to the actual pitch. So obviously that's really important and this does involve some technical aspects which you're everybody listening you're perfectly capable of, but it definitely shows your level of professionalism, you know.
Speaker 2:So you want to have a sell sheet for your book and we don't need to go into all of that because you can look it up or you know, obviously we do a lot of these for our clients. But it includes your basics, like your bio, your book blurb, you know major, any major reviews or endorsements that you've had, past events I mean, it's basically kind of like your book's resume to date. You just really want to put it down on something that they can look at, because you really have to think about all the options here. You may not get somebody on the phone that you get to pitch and chat with for 10 minutes. You know what I mean. So be prepared to cover everything you want to say and convey to them via email. If you get to chat with them on the phone awesome. That may be something that you do after you pitch them via email. You know what I mean. So you just want to make sure you have everything together really concise, really tight, really impressive, in multiple formats.
Speaker 2:We talked about what are you promising in terms of not only the event, how it will go, what you plan on doing, how you would like to host it, if you're planning on coordinating with any other local businesses like Penny mentioned, whether it's to buy snacks or something else that makes sense for your theme but then you also want to be prepared to brag about your mailing list. Do you have an email list? Do you have a newsletter that you can already tap into? What can you do on social media to help promote this? Any local connections you have? You know, are you a member of Rotary or something like that, where you can, you know, tap into your local network? And then also what you're willing to do. You know we do this for clients all the time. They pitch an event and they will ask us to help support them by pitching local media.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:To help give them a leg up in terms of that. So be willing to put in the work, to do not, I would say, do not expect the business to spend money on you. Yeah, that's a very good point. Yes, you know. So go into this and not that you know. So if you don't want to hire somebody to help pitch media or to help get the word out or to help, you know, manage your social, just be willing to put in the work. Be willing to connect with local media, local influencers, things like that, to help get the word out and to help you know and be able to tell the venue 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 going to aim for. So they know that you're putting in the work too.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly Because you know the bookstore is literally. The bookstore is offering you a space where you can have this event and you can bring in people, but they, they are not going to do the work to promote the event. And I'm not saying this because I'm not saying like oh, bookstores are lazy at all, they just don't have the time. They will put it in their newsletter, whether it's still printed out or online, whatever, but the rest is really up to you. You have to also, you have to really drive those events. And then one thing I want to mention and it's funny because I didn't include it on the notes here If you're planning to saturate your local area in bookstore events, be very careful with that, because bookstores know that authors, typically, when they're doing events, especially if you're just starting out, you're pulling from your local base, right?
Speaker 1:So you're pulling from friends that you know, family that you have locally, whatever. And they also know that there is an expiration date on that. So if you book, you know if you have, 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 to get the first one, but you're probably not going to get the second and third if they follow closely on the heels of the first one, because bookstores know that you've tapped out of that market and then, every single time that you do an event, your crowd, your crowd, dwindles by 50% or more.
Speaker 1:So I know, I think it's great to do local events fabulous. But you want to, definitely want to space them out and that's why I think if you have neighboring towns where you can pull in a fresh audience, I think that's always a great idea. But just be you know, make sure that they know that they are. You know you're, you're. They're going to ask you like how many events have you done? Because they that they know that they are, you know you're, you're. They're going to ask you like how many events have you done? Because they want to know if you've tapped out of your audience, because otherwise you're going to be sitting there, like I said at the beginning of this podcast, with a stack of pens and a full pen and it's not going to be very fun.
Speaker 2:Right, and that's a very good point, penny, and another reason to get creative in terms of where you can do these and who might be a good venue and what businesses might be good to partner with on this, because you know different businesses obviously have to do that at that event for that store, particularly based on who their customers are. Then you're giving yourself more options. You know, to Penny's point, you're not just a one trick pony doing the same thing over and over again in front of the same crowd. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a very good point. Exactly, and you know, I I really like, whenever you can, I like going into a bookstore. In fact, you know, even if you have no inclination to do book signings, go into your local bookstores multiple stores and get to know the managers, get to know the book buyers, get to know the staff, know the book buyers, get to know the staff. They are the front line of book sales and they can really be an asset to any author, both in you know in events. If you should, you know should decide to do those. Or I actually have had authors that will walk into a bookstore and talk to the staff there, if they have, if they're trying to decide between two or three different covers, and they will give you some really honest feedback because they know what sells and what doesn't, and a lot of publishers actually do that too. So bookstores are really good. Make friends with your local store. When you're pitching them, if possible, walk in, drop off your packet and by your packet I mean the sell sheet that Amy talked about, and I think we actually did a show on media kits, and this is another one. We're on media kits and this is another one where now I'm going to go back through our list and be like, oh my God, we haven't done a show on media kits, but I'm pretty sure that we have. Include that, print it off with a copy of your book and drop that off and just shake the hands of the manager and let them know. Now, there used to be Barnes Noble used to have a specific events manager for book events and that's basically, I think, almost all that that person did, and that has pretty much gone away. Some of the bigger stores may still have that. So if you're in big like I know that the bookstore on fifth in New York has still has an um, uh, you know their events manager because they do so many events there. But face-to-face obviously is that's a is the best way to go. My phone is fine too, but I love, I love in-person pitching whenever you know, whenever you can. All right. So let's go into prepping for success. Now I have okay. Do you mind if I leave this off, cause I have okay? So listen, I've done book events.
Speaker 1:So I wrote a book. It was a romance novel. Please, don't anybody ever read it. I wrote it 24 years ago it was not my gosh or 25 years ago Now I was not that good of a writer. I I'm actually afraid to like read it again because I'm like, oh, I bet this is just so bad.
Speaker 1:But anyway, I was doing an event up in Oregon and I was touring Oregon because that's where the book is set and I had shipped them bookmarks, mini posters, all kinds of you know bag stuff for things which we'll talk a little, which I'll talk a little bit more in a second. And, as it would happen, they were having like apocalyptic rain that day, right, and there was even, like there was a piece in the newspaper you know, on this, several, actually several different newspapers in that area were doing like this you know, the author of the cliffhanger comes to Oregon. Oh my God, I said the title. Please don't look it up on Amazon. It's probably really awful. I am like the anti book promoter for my own stuff, um, but it was like torrential rain that they hadn't seen in I don't know a thousand years. It was one of those, it was one of those days and I was like, oh my God, what do I get? So I did all this stuff and then I found out that the bookstore thought that the swag that I sent ahead of time was for the day of events, so they didn't put any signs in the windows, right. I was, oh my God, these were bag stuffers for the bags, anyway, whatever. So there were still people coming to the bookstore to buy books, even on this rainy day. But I literally had there was nobody there for my book signing, right. So I actually went through. So I took those bookmarks because I'm like, okay, well, you're not using them. So I took those bookmarks and all the little fun swag things that I had and I walked around and I talked to people who are shopping in and I ended up selling. I think I brought 25 books with me. I sold out of those books that day.
Speaker 1:So, um, prepping for success really important. Sometimes you prep and you still have to be ready to be doing some stuff. You know if, if you a differential right and Amy lives in an area where they always have this. Like I get alerts on my phone for her weather. I don't know why, I'll have to figure it out someday, but sometimes, like I'll text her on the weekend and be like, wow, you're having a really exciting, exciting weekend with this weather. That was the kind, like it was just this crazy.
Speaker 1:So all that to say if you set, if you're doing an event out of town, mail all this stuff to the bookstores. Make sure that they know to use it ahead of time. Or if you are saving it for the event, fine, but let them know that I love to do bookmarks. I know this sounds to an author. When you tell them to print up bookmarks they're like well, doesn't everybody read an ebook? And blah, blah, blah, whatever. Uh, everybody loves bookmarks.
Speaker 1:It's weird how much readers really love bookmarks, right, especially if they're going into a bookstore because they're buying a book, they're not buying something digital, so they're going to need a bookmark. Um, I actually, if you, if you can I mean you can like this to print and got print whatever you can do this really cheaply Get bookmarks printed with the event date on them, right? I had another author who, instead of she was going to be doing a lot of events, so instead of printing the event date on the bookmarks, she actually had like a little space for a stick, for a sticker, for one of those clear Avery labels that she had printed and looked really nice, and then she just printed the date and time and event and then she could use the bookmarks for a variety of different events, so that's also an option, right, I love that. Yeah, create an event poster. Do not expect the bookstore to make an event poster for you.
Speaker 1:It's something that they put in the window, right, and make sure that they know that the bookmarks are for bag stuffers they love. You know people love these bag stuffers, but yeah, you know. And flyers at the bookstore will let you put down flyers, but definitely something for the window is a great idea. So I really like that. Amy, you want to take the next one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we talked about food.
Speaker 2:Everybody loves a snack. Have people engaged other than just having to do a presentation, you know. So, along with that, I mean that could be candy chocolate. You know there's themed based on depending on what your book. You know, your genre, and we've said it multiple times during the show tap into what's unique about your story or your content and consider having swag. For that.
Speaker 2:You can do a raffle or a giveaway. It's a great way to collect emails. You know your newsletter and nowadays, take advantage of putting QR codes on stuff you know like decide where they need to go. If you have a website, that's even better, because then they've got full access to all the things. But, you know, use a QR code. Everybody's used to using them now and they expect great things. So tap into that, you know. And you just again, like Penny said, you'd want to give them something to take with them. Because you just again, like Penny said, you'd want to give them something to take with them. Because, you know again, you may not.
Speaker 2:The number of books you'll sell at the event is anybody's guess, but that doesn't mean there's not a ton of potential to sell more books after the fact. Or, you know, somebody may buy a book and then the swag that they get to take with them is something that they hand off to a friend because they go oh, I got this book. You know, here here, I got this at the event. Check them out. You know, yeah, yeah, exactly. And then we talked about promoting, obviously. But have your act together. As soon as you have details about date, time, location, what's going on, make sure you get that info out to your local media, to local influencers, community groups, and be shameless. Ask your friends to spread the word too. 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 an event. People are going to show up, like you might as well. Also, don't be shy when it comes to promoting it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I want to emphasize something your newsletter. So I I really encourage you, if you don't have a newsletter and you're going to do an event, definitely get a newsletter sign up. I mean, yes, you can definitely do the QR codes. I had an author one time that I talked to and I want to say I talked to this author at a writer's conference too and he said he gets like 50 people at all 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 a blank stare and I'm like dude, you're not having people sign up for your newsletter. I mean it's crazy. So what I recommended to him, kind of like what you led with Amy, is um, sign up for the newsletter, the new, and have a raffle, right, and then you draw the names when you. You don't have to draw them that day, you draw the names when you get home and then you build your newsletter list and you get a raffle. They get a prize, things like that. But definitely want to emphasize the newsletter because it's a great way to build your some, build some, you build your local fan base for sure, and I love the theme swag idea that you mentioned. I think that is we have.
Speaker 1:I had an author who did. I actually talked to her, we worked with her and she did. She did shot glasses and and I'm like that must be just so expensive and I guess she found a place where they did them like really cheaply because it tied into her book, like her protagonist, you know, love this particular shot glass or whatever. Anyway, so you know, your event swag can be trading cards with your. I have. So I got this idea actually from a Romance Writers Conference. I do trading cards with marketing tips on them, but the trading card originated in the Rom writer's world where they did character trading cards and so each character is printed on a little card and they're just baseball-sized cards. In fact I get them at GotPrint and I think they're either called baseball trading cards or just trading cards, but they're really inexpensive to do. In fact, now I have like, oh my gosh, I have like 2000 of these cards and you know it's a penny to print, to go like well, you, you sure you just want a hundred, cause it's a penny to go up to 10,000. And the next thing you know you have to add onto your house because you don't have any room to put these trading cards, but, but it's a great idea.
Speaker 1:So the event day listen, I've done a lot of. We've done a lot of events for our authors and I've done a lot of events individually. Get there early. And so let me back up a little bit. Yes, you want to get there early, but here's a tip, and I learned this ages ago, back when I was still faxing. I know this again. Listeners are going to be like oh, oh, my gosh, she sounds 900 years old.
Speaker 1:Um, I was faxing event info for for book events for our authors to newsrooms and I was at an event it was. It was a, um, a media event where they all get together for lunch and producers and whatever, and I was really surprised to hear to talk to some of them and go. You would not believe how many guests bail the day of their media interview. So it's mind numbing, right. So the media is always looking for last minute. Because I'll tell you something if you are running a newscast for the evening news, 30 seconds is a big gap to fill, mm-hmm, right? So always email the features desk the day of your event as well, like I used to sit over a fax machine and just fax the stuff the day of when we had author events If they hadn't gotten coverage from one particular media outlet.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm just going to see it, and a lot of times they would contact me like, oh my gosh, we have a 45-second spot to fill and we're going to feature this author. And 45 seconds doesn't probably sound like a lot. You'd prefer 20 minutes, like I get 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 if they have a slot to fill, I mean that's a great. It's a great way to get some last minute media coverage day of.
Speaker 1:It's not necessarily going to drive people to the event. I mean it could, depending on you know what time it airs, but the most, most of the time, they're probably going to do something at your event, which is great. It's a great piece of media for your media room on your, your website and it's just you know it'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 I recommend is get there early Now.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I recommend is and maybe this feels really uncomfortable to you as an author and that's fine, but if you don't mind shaking hands with people and handing out your information, get to the bookstore, even you know 90 minutes before your event, and start greeting. You know, greet people coming into the bookstore, hand them a bookmark or whatever it is that you have your event information on, and let them know that you're doing an event that day. The majority of people going into a bookstore are going to be browsing for a while, so there's a good chance that, even if your event is 90 minutes away, that they're still going to be around. So I really recommend it. I've done this. I mean not just in the Oregon example that I told you where we had, like, the apocalyptic weather, but I really recommend this.
Speaker 1:Just, you know, hand out a bookmark and just say, hey, thank you so much. I'm going to be in it, I'm going to be doing a book signing here today at X time and whatever. Ask the bookstore if they will do announcements. The majority of bookstores have some kind of PA system where they can do announcements like oh, we haven't been starting blah blah. It's always pulling as much help from the bookstore as you possibly can. So that's my suggestion Arrive early, be prepared to promote your event even the day of, and email don't fax email newsrooms the day of in case you get a cancellation. Amy, do you wanna touch on the rest of these?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, again, like Penny said, getting there early because so many places, depending on the venue, get regular foot traffic all day long. So, while it may be weird to camp out all day, but again, coffee shops, other venues where they literally have, you know, a constant flow of people, I love that idea, penny, of getting there early because they're just getting their afternoon coffee. They had no idea an event was going on, you know For sure. Yeah, so it's like getting there early and saying, hey, like you said, there's going to be an event later. It's going to be super fun. This is what we're doing, this is what you can expect. You know, hang out or plan to swing on by if you're in the area. You know, I think that's brilliant because even if they can't make it, you never know, they might text a friend who they know is a huge genre fan and go hey, I just went and grabbed my coffee and an author is going to be there in a couple hours. Uh, you know, if you have time, you might want to check it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So that word of mouth is definitely huge and then post event. You know, now I feel like I sound like I'm channeling my mother, which you know is great. Make sure you do your thank yous. Oh right, yeah, you want to thank the venue, thank the manager, thank the staff. I mean share social media posts and photos afterwards. That's another thing that we didn't talk about.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's very natural nowadays, but it's worth mentioning. Make sure you take the time to take some photos at the event, or ask if there's a staff member that can take photos for you. Encourage people that are at the event to take photos. Tag you all the things, because after 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 event existed, you're kind of screwed. So make sure you document what's going on and, of course, ask people like may I take your photo 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 a bride for their wedding, you know.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, but but can I just, can I just let me just interject in that I finish this Thank you notes. People, I cannot tell you thank you notes handwritten. Thank you notes Again, I know that I sound like I'm from the 1950s. I'm telling you right now don't just shoot off an email, thank you. Send them a thank you note. Yes, and that's all I have to say, but I just want to kind of emphasize that. So go for it, Sorry.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely. And then you know we talked about collecting emails, collecting names. Yes, you get those follow up with the people that did share their information with you. We all know what a big deal that is to share your contact information in this day and age with how much spam and other BS that we get inundated with.
Speaker 2:So don't take that lightly. You know, if somebody bothered to give you their email, that's, that's pretty incredible. So personalized thank yous to your attendees and it would be a high quality problem to have if it's going to take you a lot of time to send everybody a personal email thanking them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah, and then yeah again. I mean we've given tips the whole time about how to, why one event where even you know, like Penny said, maybe only 10 people show up, but how that can snowball into so many other opportunities. If you do all the right things for the prep, for the post, you know the networking you'll be doing with the venue, the staff, like there's so many ways you can build from one seemingly small event that you know maybe you thought like, well, I had bigger hopes than this, but but build off of it. It's so important to not let that one event be the end of it.
Speaker 1:You know, yes, yes, exactly, I completely agree with that, and I think that your point I'm really we didn't even include it in the notes. It was brilliant that you said it, but your point about make sure that you have evidence, that was great. I mean, you really not only do you want to have evidence for your socials and just that you were there and to add to your media room, but this evidence is going to be something these photos are. It's going to be something these photos are going to be something really good for to book other events, right. So, if you're like, again, add those to the media room and then take some video, so set up a camera and have somebody take video if you're going to do a talk or whatever, and then you could.
Speaker 1:You don't have to post that entire video online anywhere. I mean, you can, obviously, but you can also break it up into snippets, right. You can break it up into really fun snippets that you can use for books. You know Instagram or TikTok, or you know Facebook or whatever. Use this event not just to do all the things that we talked about, also to kind of make sure that you're maximizing on the opportunity to, you know, build your repertoire of, you know other events and things like that. And if you get a letter, you know make sure that you show the crowd because other bookstores are going to care about that. Like, if you have a big crowd, you know show a picture of the crowd and things like that. Yeah, it's really great and I've had some authors that say that they get thank you notes back from bookstores saying oh my gosh, this event was so great. Save that, add it to your resume to get other events.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I was going to say, if you have a friend with a real camera I feel like that's like such a novelty nowadays, that is actually like an amateur photographer even at minimum recruit them for the event, because that's also a big thing too, because then those photos can definitely be used by the venue as well. You know, when you have higher level and it would be great for your website, not that your phone camera, it does not suffice. But I'm fortunate enough to have a couple of friends locally that are great photographers just amateur photographers and I would 100% shamelessly, you know, ask them to come to my event and, you know, pay them in snacks and wine.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, exactly, and I think that you will find you know, bookstore events are great 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 hopefully you found it extremely helpful that is always our goal. A lot of times, authors say to me I really want to do local media right and I want to get lots of local media, and that's great, but the best way to get local media is if the local station or publication or whatever can tether your interview to an event that you have coming up right. So local events are great, not just for all the reasons that we mentioned, but also you really want to not overlook and maximize any local media opportunities that you have to get more, because, again, all of this stuff you know, when you look at the platforms that we talk about and growing your base, these are all bricks in that, you know, in that platform, so the media that you get can then go in your media room. The video or pictures that you took can be used for your social media. I am all about using, you know, maximizing each piece of content that you create, and bookstores can definitely help you to do that and you never know, you may end up really liking events.
Speaker 1:I remember the first bookstore event I did was, of course, talking about the industry, talking about the publishing industry. At that time I had 64 pages of notes, amy, I was terrified, and I remember I had somebody walk up to the podium and ask me and I was literally just like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I'm sure that I was like the worst presenter ever, for whatever reason. And after that even another bookstore invited me to do a talk. But I had some guy walk up to me just before I started speaking and said you're not going to read all of that, are you? And I was like, oh, I was kind of planning on it, you know, and now, if you put me up in front of a crowd, like I'm just like I don't. I mean, powerpoint's always helpful, but I can just, you know, fly by the seat of my pants, as they say.
Speaker 1:So if that's your goal, bookstores can be a really, really great way to get your foot in the door and really get to know this in-person market which we so often forget. So thank you all so much for listening. This show was really fun. This was one of those little nuggets that were like oh my gosh, we haven't done this yet. So we're really glad to have done this show for you. And if you get we always welcome show feedback. So show ideas, show feedback. If you get an event or you've done an event and and there's something that we didn't cover, point it out to us, because maybe we can do a whole show around that too. So thank you all so much for listening and we will see you next time. Bye-bye.
