Articles

Making Your Book Signing a Success

by M.L. Benton

Everyone of us has heard the horror stories about book signing catastrophes, and all authors have the compelling fear that it will happen to them. So the question is "What can I do so this doesn't happen again or to me?"

The first thing an author should ask her/himself is: "Who is responsible to make sure their books are available for the signings?" Is it the publisher, store manager…perhaps the distributor? The answer is: "The author." It's their event; it's their responsibility.

In a perfect literary world, you schedule book signings, show up, and everything runs smoothly. You come in smiling, there are long lines waiting for that autograph, and all the books are sold with no fear of returns the following week.

However, we don't live in a perfect world. The easiest job an author has is to write their book and convince a publisher your book is worth their investment. Now don't get me wrong. I am not making light of the hard work involved. But usually a writer writes for the love of it. The hardest part comes from convincing the world your book is worth buying.

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This is where your marketing plan and promotions kick in. You have the sole responsibility of this burden, and in all rights you should. This is a career you have worked so hard for. You never want to take for granted that the behind-the-scenes details will be taken care of.

You have a choice. You can either handle all of the details of your marketing yourself, or you can hire a marketing agent to handle it for you. This is only a small part of what they do.

Now before you say anything, let me add that the first thing I generally hear is; "I don't have the time," or "I don't have the money to hire out." My response to that is: how important is your career? If you don't have the time…yes, you do need to invest in a marketing or promotional company.

If you do not have the money to invest in a marketing firm…invest in your time. Learn everything you can on marketing. There are so many resources available through articles online and books on marketing and promoting…do the research.

In the future, for book signings, this is what you need to do. First, arrange a book signing at least four weeks in advance, again…at least.

• Week 1—Make the engagement and get all vital contact information from the bookstore. Begin your online promotions and order business cards or bookmarks. These are things you would like to have on hand for your readers to take with them.

• Week 2—Make the call to inquire if the book order has been placed. Take notes: who you spoke with and what their response is.

• Week 3—Look at your notes from the prior week and call the person you previously spoke with to confirm delivery of the books. If the books are not delivered, follow up in another week to make sure they are delivered in time.

• Week 6—Two weeks after your signing, you will want to do a call back to thank the bookstore for hosting your signing. {You catch more flies with honey then vinegar.} This is an opportunity to do some marketing research.

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While on the phone with your contact from the bookstore, ask her/him about any returns. If there were any returns, try to find out how many. That way, you can file this info to use later.

The time total should be no more than forty-five minutes on the phone through all of these calls. That isn't very long at all. You have to remember that the bookstore wants the books, and the distributor wants to deliver the books. This is how they make their money. Oversights however do happen. It's nothing personal, but it's you on the line…so you don't want to take for granted that perfect world. You want to stay on top of things.  

M.L. Benton
Moonglade Marketing

M.L. Benton specializes in web design, literary marketing and promotion services. Bringing her experience in sales, a flair for extraordinary promotional ideas and her unique talent in design, she has built an extensive clientele and various Moonglade Divisions. She participates in guest speaking spots for various groups and organizations. You can find her at www.moongladedesigns.com and www.moonglademarketing.com.