Let me start off with this:
Book signings are way better when you have a nice crowd of readers who are excited to meet you and talk about your book. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience these at both small and large locations and they are a good time, you sell a lot of copies and it’s an overall awesome experience.
This post is not about those book signings.
This post is about how to sell books, gain readers, be productive and actually make the most of an equation every author dreads:
You + a desk full of books + nobody in line to buy them = embarrassing
Full disclosure: this just happened to me.
I have been doing signings/talks for the paperback version of my book The Athlete: Greatness, Grace and the Unprecedented Life of Charlie Ward, which came out in early September.
Regarding that, I have one very specific tip:
Don’t schedule a book signing for a book about a college football star on a Saturday at the exact same time that football star’s school is playing on national television.
Yeah, I did that.
It wasn’t on purpose.
We scheduled the signing long before the game day TV schedule was released and once the airtime was set it was too late to change… So the alumni groups for Florida State that I contacted about the signing couldn’t go… And as you can imagine, other than targeting the pockets of Florida State fans that exist in Dallas, the odds of running into a hoard of FSU fans at a Barnes & Noble on a Saturday when the Seminoles are playing aren’t very good.
But, I soldiered on and sold most of my books, added almost a dozen people to my newsletter and got an upcoming speaking gig out of it.
Here are the four ways I did it:
ONE: PRE-SIGNING PREP AND SETTING GOALS
What are your goals for the signing if you suspect that not a lot of people will show up?*
This is a key question and you have to answer it with concrete numbers otherwise why leave the house?
Here’s a helpful number sequence AKA, The Kevin Garnett Stat Line, to remember if you’re struggling to come up with reasonable goals: 20 – 10 – 5 (this is for a one or two-hour signing).
20: Give away 20 free bookmarks with your book cover on one side and your personal website and social information on the other. If you don’t have those, head on over to VistaPrint and make several hundred in about ten minutes for under thirty bucks. All you need is the JPEG of your book cover.
One key here: this doesn’t mean give the bookmarks to the first twenty people you see… That’s a waste.
Give them to people who you spend at least a minute or two chatting with. Also, include them with any book you sell/sign.
10: Get 10 people to sign up for your newsletter.
This one is critical. With Facebook and Twitter and Instagram algorithms fluctuating all the time, the more ways you can reach your audience for free, the better. Building a newsletter list should be one of your top priorities. Once you start doing that, you’ll see how difficult it is to get truly interested people to sign up. (Speaking of which, feel free to sign up for mine by CLICKING HERE).
I’ve found that one of the best ways to get people onto your list is by doing it the old fashioned way: meeting them in person and explaining what your newsletter is about and why they might like it.
How do you get them to sign up? Simple: Just bring a legal pad or notebook and keep it on the front of your desk with a pen. Then manually import into Mail Chimp or whatever software you use for your newsletter.
5: Sell five books.
Easier said than done, I know. But it is possible. You know how? By NOT talking about your book right away unless there is a direct reason you would.
For instance, I was selling a book about Charlie Ward, a college football and NBA star, so if I saw someone wearing a hat or t-shirt from a sports team, I had an ‘in’ to talk about sports and their favorite team. Same goes if you’re selling a Sci-Fi book and someone in a Star Wars shirt rolls in… Obviously, there are dozens of examples here.
If a potential reader didn’t have a “tell” I took notice of the books they were looking at and sparked conversation about those books. Or, if I saw someone just browsing, I offered suggestions about books in that genre that I read.
I can honestly say I sold five books the other day by recommending books from other authors that I’d read completely out of the genre of my book. Three of those times a reader swung by on the way out, after they picked up the other book I recommended and grabbed mine without me even talking about it.
Remember, you’re an author. Assuming you read a lot, like most authors, you’re somewhat of an authority in the space of good writing. That’s a skill. That’s something people value. Use it.
*Some people say it’s not worth the ROI to do a signing without a confirmed number of people attending or a decent following who will show up. I ‘mostly’ agree with this and try to only do signings where and when I know they’ll succeed… BUT, writing and selling books is a contact sport and in the beginning, the more people who get to know you and your work in person the better… So, I say this: put yourself out there!
TWO: STAND UP, PUT YOUR SHOULDERS BACK AND SMILE
This feels really basic, but it’s crucial.
DO NOT sit at your signing table next to your books for two hours with a blank face, staring straight ahead or loosely trying to make eye contact with people and nodding hello when they pass by.
This is lame.
This won’t work.
Unless you’re handing out free $100 bills with your hardcover, total strangers are not going to approach you on their own to learn about you and your book.
Won’t happen.
And it especially won’t happen if you look like you’re sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for your physical.
I see this scene all the time and it drives me nuts:
Authors hunched over in a chair, with no enthusiasm or outward energy, eyes scanning the room, counting the minutes until it is all over.
Get up! Smile! Introduce yourself to people walking by!Here are some completely simple cold opens that have worked for me to start a conversation (to people who don’t look like they’re in a hurry – you have to read the room a little):
Hey! I’m Jon. Happy to tell you about my book or recommend something else. I read a ton of books.
Hi! If you’re interested at all in my book, I can tell you about it, but if not, I’m here for a few hours so let me know if I can recommend a good book to read.
Are these kind of cheesy and simple? Yes. Do they work? Yes!
Instead of being a weird, lonely writer at a table, you’re a friendly author who’s happy to be there and excited to help someone find a book – even if it’s not yours.
Worst case, they say ‘no thanks’ – which will happen probably 30% of the time.
Medium case, they talk nicely for a few minutes and leave – this will happen 30% – 40% of the time.
Best case, they stay and chat and get to know you and like you and buy a book and/or sign up for your newsletter.
Both big wins.
This will happen 30%-40% of the time.
THREE: PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN
Yes. I know it’s tempting. You’re having a book signing and even if nobody is there you want to share it with all of your social media followers so that they see that you’re a REAL AUTHOR selling your books. That’s cool and that’s fine and I get it…
But if you’re looking at your phone, you’re not looking at potential readers.
Here’s what you do:
Right when you arrive to your signing, ask the store manager to take a few photos of you in whatever pose or position you want. Then ask them to take a picture or two if they can when you’re talking to someone or signing a book. Have them send you the pictures afterwards.
There you go. Now you don’t have to worry about your social media coverage and you won’t be tempted to check your ‘likes’ or whatever while you’re at the signing.Now put your phone in your back pocket or on the table and concentrate.
FOUR: HAVE AN ELEVATOR PITCH FOR YOUR OWN BOOK READY
The concept of an elevator pitch is that if you only have 30-seconds to tell someone about your book (like you’ve happened to get into an elevator with them), what will you say?
Amazingly, most writers (who have just spent months or years of their lives banging out tens or hundreds of thousands of words) have not practiced or perfected an elevator pitch for their book that would pique a prospective reader’s interest.
This my standard elevator pitch for The Athlete.
(I altered it a little if the person I was talking to didn’t seem to be a sports fan):
The pitch:
Imagine if Baker Mayfield won a national championship at Oklahoma and then, instead of going to the NFL, went to play for the New York Knicks and became a starting point guard in the NBA Finals. Charlie Ward actually did that. Nobody else has even come close. This is his amazing story.
That little paragraph probably sold six books to sports fans under 30 who hadn’t heard of Charlie Ward. What’s your pitch?
Hopefully, all of this was helpful.
Now go get’em!
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