Preparing for Your Booksigning

Preparing For Your Booksigning

Elizabeth Rose

Part 1

As an author, booksignings can be very beneficial to your career. It not only gets you introduced to the booksellers, (who will promote you and sell your book) but gets your name out there as an author. It allows you to meet some of your readers, and hopefully gain new ones. Your book is sure to be on the shelf of the stores you’ve signed in, and if done right, the bookseller will order future books of yours to put on the shelf as well.

But be warned, not every booksigning is a pleasant experience. But by doing your homework and preparing and executing the signing properly, you can help make sure your special day is a pleasant success.

I’ve broken this down into two parts. First, what to do to prepare the booksigning, and second, what to do when you’re actually there.

Before the Booksigning

1)      Choose your bookstore months in advance. Unless you’re such a big name author that your publisher or publicist does this for you, you’ll have to do it yourself. Choose stores in your area and as far as you’re willing to travel. If you’re going to be visiting relatives out of state or going on a business trip, try to set up a few booksignings to hit while you’re there. I try to choose a large chain bookstore such as Borders or Waldenbooks. If you’ve never met the booksellers who work there, you may want to actually stop by in person. Scope out the store and see if it fits your needs. Do they have a large romance section, (if you write romance), and what kind of traffic goes through there? Are they out of the way and hard to find? Or easy to get to and in a well traveled area? I try to choose bookstores in busy malls as you’re guaranteed lots of people passing by if nothing else.

2)      Schedule your booksignings. Find out when there is going to be any special sales or promotions, such as grand openings or 50% off sales, and try to get in at those times. One word of warning, stay away from the holidays. Although it seems Christmastime would be very busy and assure sales for you, to my experience it is not a good time to do a signing. Booksellers actually advise authors not to sign then as they’re too busy to pay attention to the author and it’s too crowded in the store to set up a table.

Shoppers are there with ideas in mind, not necessarily wanting to buy a book from an author they’ve never heard of as a present for someone dear to them. They’re usually not buying for themselves at this time, so your meeting them in person does nothing to make that sale. Valentines Day is also a big no no, as everyone is out with their honeys, and it’s not at the bookstores. Of course, there’s exceptions to the rules, but these have been my experiences. Early summer seemed to work the best for me. Right before everyone goes on vacation. Of course, they’ll need a book to take along, right?

Make sure the day you’re signing is a busy one for the store – usually Saturday. It’s not beneficial to set up a signing on a Monday night. Also, set your time slot for about two hours -or more if you’re from the area or don’t mind staying longer. Usually around the lunch hour is busiest.

3)      Send out promo flyers, posters, booksmarks to the bookstores where you will be signing. Ask them to hang them up and pass them out if possible. Ask if the bookstore itself does anything for promotion. Most do nothing, but some go as far as printing up huge posters with your bookcover and photo on them in color to hang in the store.

Ask how many books they’ll be ordering, and make sure it’s enough so you can have extras to leave there after you’ve gone, for people who may have missed you. You also want a nice display in the store by your table and in the window if possible.

4)      Notify the newspapers of your booksignings. Usually the little local papers are happy to promote an author from the area. They’ll do anything from a small clip with the dates and your photo, to a full page article or so. (I’ve had a paper do a full three page article on me with large full page color photos, and even given me the cover!) Setting up interviews and having a photographer come out to photograph you is easy. Just be gutsy enough to do it. (Or if you’re lucky like me, the reporters will come to you. Now there’s a good feeling.) Word of mouth does wonders.

5)      Be interviewed on t.v. Of course, don’t expect primetime, but you may be able to do a few cable shows if nothing else. These are fast and fun. Look to your local highschools. Mine had a cable show that went out to half a dozen towns, done right from the school. They like interviewing alumni, as it boosts the morale of the students to see someone from their school has succeeded in becoming a published author. On the show, of course mention your books and days and times you’ll be signing in the area.

6)      Mail out flyers or postcards announcing your signing, places and times to your friends, family, fans, mailing list. There’s nothing worse than sitting at a booksigning for two hours with no one buying your book. At least if they come, you’ll have someone to talk to for a few minutes if things go bad. Plus, they’ll most likely buy a book to support you.

7)      Follow up with a call to the bookstore about one to two weeks beforehand to make sure the books are there. (This may sound needless, but I assure you it’s not. This has happened to many authors I know. If you find out in enough time they are having trouble getting your books, you can do something to get those books there quickly, even if you have to call the publisher yourself.) It wouldn’t hurt to pop into the bookstore in person to see if the posters are up or the flyers are being given out to customers.

8)      Voice your expectations. Talk with the manager ahead of time and nicely let her know what you expect. For example, a table in the front of the store, not hidden away in the back where no one will find you. (This happens all the time.) Actually, I’ve been to a few booksignings where I’ve walked in ten minutes before the signing and they have no table set up, no posters or flyers, no chairs. I actually had to go into the back room once and find my books packed away in a box and then set them up myself. I had a friend signing with me, and since the store had only one chair, she ended up standing most the time until finally a chair was brought from the food court. Never assume anything!

9)      Get the word out that you’re signing, by hanging brochures in local businesses – such as the hairdressers or even your local library. Lots of time is spent in the salon – lots of women who like to read are sitting there doing nothing. Lots of readers come through the library every day and may find it exciting to meet an actual author.

10) Find something nice to wear. Know ahead of time what you’ll be wearing the day of the booksigning. If you need to shop, do so before you go into your closet that day and panic because nothing fits or nothing is suitable. Look professional. You want to be respected, so show it by wearing a nice dress or pant suit, not jeans or a t-shirt and shorts. You worked hard to get this far, present yourself with pride. Make those hair appointments ahead of time, making sure you have extra time to fix any color that didn’t turn out right, or haircut gone bad. Think of your nails also. If you want to have them done, do it. Or if you want to grow them long and polish them nicely, don’t cut them a week before your signing.

Now that you’ve paved your way, you are ready for the big day. Stay tuned to next month’s article to tell you what to do once the day of your booksigning comes and what to expect once you get there.

Elizabeth Rose

Part 2

Page designed and Maintained by:	©2003 Web Design by Lisa Ramaglia
Web Design by Lisa Ramaglia ~Web Pages at Affordable Prices