I had my first experience running a book signing a couple of months ago and figured it was worth writing up the experience for other authors to consider when preparing for their own signings.
I’ve been a customer of “Allison The Bookman” since I was a boy (over 40 years). They’re a local bookstore that was originally used books, but now also has new and collectible books as well. My brother and I went to school with the original owner’s grandchildren, and one of them now runs the store.
I got in touch with the current owner and expressed interest in having my books at their store. They have a “local authors” section, so I figured it wasn’t too big of an ask. She had me in for a meeting and looked at copies of my books to make sure that they looked professional. I don’t blame her, she didn’t want to agree to sell something that looked amateurish. She offered for me to do a book signing for the March break, which is a high traffic time for them, which I enthusiastically accepted.
For both my books on the shelf and the books sold at the signing, they were sold on consignment. What this meant was that I bought the books, provided them to the store, they sold them through their point of sale register, then took their cut and paid me my share (70% of the sale price). I was happy with this arrangement.
Before the signing, we printed posters (and our own expense) that the store had designed and got them put up at appropriate places (such as the comic book store, since I sell some fantasy novels). Allison buys ongoing advertising in a local penny saver and on the local radio station. They mentioned my signing on both of these in the weeks leading up to it. They also advertised my book signing on their social media (as did I).
For the signing, I got some gel pens and practiced my “author signature.” I had a spiel ready for people who asked me what the books were about (and a number of people did). I smiled and greeted everyone who entered the store – I was set up right at the entrance.
I sold mostly to family and friends on the day of the signing. A few people who didn’t know me considered buying, and towards the end a few people did buy. My cut of the sales was $107.91. Poster and book printing expenses would lower this. My wife and I spent 4 hours at the store for the actual signing.
In Terry Brooks’ writing advice book, “Sometimes the Magic Works”, he mentions that he didn’t understand the purpose of book signings when he started out. He thought they were for selling books, and was usually disappointed. He’s developed the perspective that they are for connecting with fans. I think this is the right view. Financially it wasn’t a good “return on investment”, but people around town saw the posters, out-of-town friends asked to purchase copies, and I maybe found some new readers – fingers crossed.
I’d happily do a book signing again at Allison or another bookstore.
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I released a book on Amazon expanding on marketing and with far more details about other steps in the self-publishing process. If you enjoyed this post, I think you’d dig it.
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