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We are always honored to host Carolyn. A born teacher and publicist, she brings so much information to the table we can scarce take it all in. You’re in for a treat with her topic today. Bookstore events are often misunderstood by new authors and sometimes old ones, too. Below, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the award-winning author of several books including The Frugal Book Promoter, generously shares her expertise on the subject.

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Book Signings Are More Than You Think

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

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Book signings have their place but it’s usually not the place that new authors imagine.

The right place is just about anywhere if the author is already famous. If he or she is not well known, the right place to begin–the best place–is in the middle of her own little pond.

An emerging author may have more than one pond—a small lake where he or she works, a small puddle of a community where she sleeps, another where she was raised, but, unless the author, a publicist, or a publisher has stirred up huge waves in that larger ocean—the national book-buying community—new authors may find signing outside of any area where they are known discouraging.

Aside from urging you to keep your signings within familiar territory, here are some of the other guidelines. They are based on the parameters I set for myself before committing to a book signing venue. I list these and lots of other ideas for making book signings an event worth the time we spend on them in my award-winning how-to book for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter:

• Do not do a book signing. Instead, be a speaker, reader, workshop leader, or lead a seminar. These are all ways to do what entertainers call “warming up an audience,” but they do more. They coax people out of their homes to attend because they offer benefits. By making a signing into an event, the author does herself and the bookstore a favor.
• Do not think of book sales as the prime purpose for doing book signings—they are occasions for exposure in person and in the press, for branding, and for fun. Your signing becomes a party where contact with others and relationships are as important as selling books.
• Focus on one large launch per book, perhaps for charity, invite tons of people and have a party.
• Sign in a locale where you know people or have contacts that allow you to either get air time or ink space from the event or that enables you to send out invitations in sufficient numbers to ensure attendance. As an example, if you have a friend in Toronto who will send invitations to all her friends and relatives, it may be worth flying to Toronto for an event—in a bookstore or in her home!

Sign only in stores that will do their full share of advance publicity. This includes:

• Exposure in their newsletter, in print, or on the Web.
• Posting signs or distributing fliers or bookmarks in the store before the book signing.
• Making announcements in the store.
• Introducing the author. By the way, the author should always take a printed introduction for the event chairman to read.

Caveat: You may choose to do a full-blown book tour because it would fulfill a life’s dream or because you believe your situation gives you a better chance at success than the average. If so, go at it full force and swinging. Take a card from the deck of T.C. Boyle, literary author cum promoter extraordinaire: In POETS & WRITERS, Joanna Smith Rakoff says Boyle is “not content with nice reviews and decent book sales…he wants to be a phenomenon.” That’s how you should approach book signings if you should choose to take on that assignment.

Here are some ideas for successful book signings:

• Coordinate your plans with whoever is in charge of your bookstore’s events. Let her know what you will need—both the setup and the promotion.
• Occasionally ask the store manager to introduce you to customers using thestore’s PA system, especially if you are only signing.
• Arrive an hour early to set up properly. Many stores will not have prepared for your visit, even after you discussed your needs with them.
• Ask the sales associate at the cash register if you can stack some of your books on the counter. This area is called “point of purchase” by the retail trade—for obvious reasons.
• Although some bookstores stock their own “autographed copy” stickers, have some made just in case. Use them on the signed copies you leave for the bookstore to sell after the event. Don’t worry, you will use them all at your launch and other places you appear. Because they are inexpensive, let one of the address label services I found in my Sunday newspaper throwaway print mine.
• Offer to send autographed bookplates to the bookstore manager when she reorders. Bookplates are an old-fashioned way to personalize the books in one’s library with contact information so that they can be returned. Purchase them at bookstores in the new-fangled sticker variety. You can also use mailing labels. Authors simply sign them and the bookstore manager applies them to the title page or inside cover of that author’s book.
• Design knock ‘em dead signs. Verbiage should have the same level of pizzazz as loglines used for screenplays. (I explain loglines and other pitches in The Frugal Book Promoter.) Color is important. So is quality.
• Put your signs everywhere. Post one on the top of a stack of your books at the point-of-purchase, a tent card on the shelf where your books are normally displayed, one on your signing table, one in the window, and more. Send one to the store to use at least one week before the event. Design these signs so they can be recycled for other events.
• Take along plastic or wire display stands—they’re like plate stands. Use them to display your book upright where there is little space available. To purchase them go to www.displaystand4you.com, http://www.footprintpress.com/stand.htm or your favorite collectible or hardware store.
• Ask the bookstore manager, sales associate or both to train their salespeople to refer customers who go through checkout to you. They could say something like, “By the way, have you stopped to say hello to our award-winning author who’s signing books today?” as she points to the pile of books on the counter or to wherever you are set up.
• Talk to the sales associates. They are the ones who spread the word about books. Offer a signed book to a salesperson who is especially interested and ask her if she would recommend it when she is done.

Bring something to give away to those who buy your book, certainly, but also to those who pause to talk. All, except the candy, should include information for ordering your book on them. Possibilities are:

• A bookmark.
• Your promotion (business) card.
• A token souvenir.
• A recipe. Even if your book isn’t a cookbook, a recipe from a kitchen or cooking scene will be well received; it might include an excerpt or quote from that chapter.
• Give away a list: An example is, “The Year’s 10 Best Reads.” Include your book and contact information.
• If your publisher provides you with extra book covers, sign and give one to each person who purchases your book.
• Offer wrapped candy at your signing table.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON’T. For a little over 2 cents a day THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER assures your book the best possible start in life. Full of nitty gritty how-tos for getting nearly free publicity, Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares her professional experience as well as practical tips gleaned from the successes of her own book campaigns. She is a former publicist for a New York PR firm and a marketing instructor for UCLA’s Writers’ Program. Learn more about the author at http://carolynhoward-johnson.com or http://HowToDoItFrugally.com

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