 |
|
The source of the best business, financial and legal news |
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
 | |
| |
 |
Business Informations |
|
|
|
FAQs about Book Signings
Since I self-published my first book, "101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly," in 1998 and began doing book signings shortly afterward, many people have asked: 1. What do you get paid to do a book signing? It depends on where the book signing occurs. Most bookstores do not pay authors to do a book signing. Linda Ligon, Interweave Press, says that her authors are paid an honorarium by craft stores. The "pay" is most often an opportunity to interact with readers, increase the sales of your book, and enhance your status as an expert. 2. How much money do you make on a book signing tour? It depends-and you may never know precisely. It depends to a large extent on how well your events are publicized because more people attend when excitement is created about the event. It depends on your presentation and interaction with the audiences. You may know how many books were sold during the event, but that is not the end of the story. One bookseller says that more than 60% of the sales are made after the author leaves the store. 3. Why would anyone go to a book signing? To meet the AUTHOR! In many sections of the country, just being an author makes you a celebrity. You are the authority. Having an autographed copy of your book sets the reader apart. In one city a lady purchased several copies of "101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly." With each request, she told me something about the recipient so that I could tailor my comment for that individual. 4. What's in it for authors who do a seminar or talk on their book? By presenting a mini-seminar or discussion at a book signing, you demonstrate your knowledge on the topic. You can elaborate on the contents and tell stories about things that happened while you were in the writing process. You also have an opportunity to develop a rapport with the readers allowing them to experience you as a "real person." Event sponsors will like you because you have provided a free service for their clientele. They will be most likely to welcome you back with your next book. 5. What if nobody shows up? Even celebrity authors occasionally have a "no show," so don't give up! The most important thing is how you react when nobody shows up. Keep smiling and draw on your positive mental attitude. Often people will be in the aisles between the shelves, not wanting to be the first to step forward. Walk over to the section where your book would be, introduce yourself to people there, and invite them to the presentation. Offer them a free flier or handout. After the event sponsor has read the introduction you provided, wait a few minutes, and then begin your presentation at the appointed time with a welcoming message. If a microphone has been provided, use it. If no one shows up after two or three minutes, bring your talk to a close with an invitation to people milling about to visit the table later. Usually, managers will ask authors to sign some extra copies. Be gracious and uncomplaining. Later, review your actions and see what might be improved upon. 6. How do you find the time to set up a tour? Conducting a book signing is like presenting a play. There are several roles-the author designs the tour (venues and dates), prepares a mini-seminar, discussion, or speech, and does the signing. The support staff makes the contacts and provides publicity material, orchestrates the travel details, and does the follow-up to be certain that everything is synchronized. A separate person or company may be involved in the publicity effort, depending on the expertise of the support staff. 7. Assuming that you have had "no shows," what's the best book signing event you have ever held? It is seldom that a "no show" occurs. The best book signing event I have had was at a large Barnes and Noble bookstore in El Paso, TX, where I signed "Take Charge of Your Life." The event was preceded by interviews on three television shows (affiliates of national networks) and a radio interview. The El Paso Times newspaper published an article about the book on the day of the signing. It was on the front page of the "Living" section with a color photo of the book cover. That evening, after the bookstore staff brought all the chairs in the store into the presentation section, people were standing along the sides. Most of the audience stood in line long after the presentation to talk with me and get their books autographed. You, too, can have such events. We can help you. Jo Condrill has done book signings across the country and she can show you how to. She is an award-winning author, speaker, and consultant with over 25 years of experience in business, government and volunteer organizations. She is coauthor of "From Book Signing to Best Seller: An Insider's Guide to Conducting a Successful Low-Cost Book Signing Tour." This book was named the 2002 Best Writer's Reference Guide by the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association. Listen to an interview with Jo at http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/rr.condrill.cfm for more information, visit her website http://www.publishandprosper.com http://www.publishandprosper.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Book-Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Know These Five Audiences to Write a Top Selling Book To create a saleable book you need to know your preferred audience or audiences before you write your book. This essential "hot-selling point" helps you write focused, organized, and compelling copy your audience will appreciate and talk about. Top Ten Ways to Promote Your Books Through Flyers A flyer is an excellent, inexpensive way to promote your book. What makes one flyer so much better than another? Use these top10 tips to make your flyer stand out from the crowd. Online Book Promotion Beats Traditional Seven to One - Part 2 Think of Your Promotion Time and BudgetMost one or two-book authors don't have a large marketing budget. Marketing their speaking leaves them little time to write and promote their books. Increase Book Sales: When a Sale Is No Longer Just a Sale Do you have books sitting in your garage that you haven'tsold yet and looking for ways to move them? Then you willwant to know about these five outrageous ideas that aren'tdifficult and can be just plain out fun. Dede Hall, author of The Starving Student's Cookbook hadvery poor sales for her books. How to Make Money With Your Short Stories, Poems, Essays, and Novels Recently, someone rated my "Online Book Marketing" article a 2 out of 5. That person apparently didn't like the article. Book Signings Are Pure Gold So you've written a book, had it published by a publishing company and you are now facing the dreaded book signing or book launch. Your palms sweat at the thought of facing droves of people and actually having to talk to them. Quiz: Will Online Book Marketing Help Sales? Most authors sigh a sigh of relief when they finish their book. Then comes the awesome task of marketing the masterpiece. Distribute Your Self-Published Book Online 8 Ways - Part 2 If you are discouraged because traditional methods of book or product distribution haven't brought you the profits you wanted, think Internet distribution. This Online promotion method is good for the long haul and costs you little time or money. Sell Your Book with Pennies Imagine you share a huge penny jar with each of your potential readers. Every interaction with a reader either adds or subtracts pennies from the jar. Navigating the Amazon Sales Ranking First, the disclaimers: Since the algorithm Amazon uses to generate its sales ranking is proprietary, the details contained herein are extrapolated from research and field tests. The resulting consensus finds Amazon's system to provide marginal sales data at best. Why Would I Buy Your Book? Six Steps to Your Tell and Sell - Part 2 How would you like to have countless people clamoring for your book and willing to visit your Web site to buy them? How would you even like to presell your self-published book before they are finished?Most authors and entrepreneurs wait until their Web site is designed before they think about marketing their products on it. What a shame!Six Steps to Build your Book's Bullet Proof "Tell and Sell"Part one of this article is available at www. Book Events - Make Yours Successful A book event (a book signing) is a popular way for authors to create awareness for their work. Most large publishing houses require authors to participate in a 10-city book tour, at the minimum. 4 Questions to Answer Before Contacting a Book Agent Obtaining agency representation is your first step toward getting profitably published. Most publishers won't even look at unsolicited manuscripts. Buzz-Based Book Marketing Once upon a time, people went to bookstores when they wanted to buy a book. Or at least, that was the theory. Super Profitable Techniques for Selling Books By Mail The total number of books sold by small, part-time mail orderentrepreneurs is growing each year. Total sales each year for thepast five years have increased by almost 30-percent over theprevious year's sales. Book Publishing Without Pain When I meet an author with a great book concept, one who's definitely the right person to write that book, right away I'll often encourage her to self-publish. This is because I know that, if that author is thoroughly invested in what she has to say, and if she is determined to create a buzz about her message, she'll discover5 Fantastic Benefits of Self-publishing1. Promote Your Books on Talk Shows and Make More Money Successful authors are convinced that radio interviews are the very best way to reach large audiences and publicize their books. Interviews give authors an opportunity to expound on the topic of their book and disclose personal feelings. Online Book Promotion Beats Traditional Seven to One - Part 1 While traditional marketing can work for the book author or publisher, the return is dim for the huge effort it takes. You must promote 90% of the time to even get a milligram of attention. How To Market A Suspense Novel In An Online Multimedia Format If you haven't heard of the author C.F. Book Marketing 101 for the Self-Published Author -- Getting Started No matter what any publisher or marketing company tells you (even the traditional publishing houses), you, the author, are almost 100% the reason your book will sell.It is your belief, excitement, enthusiasm, and energy that will get a reader excited about buying your book.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
