I had to share this post from friend and author, Dan Alatorre because Dan has some excellent tips here for authors on preparing for a book signing. Not all of us have done one live yet, and it can be quite intimidating for many of us who are used to hiding behind the screen and our books. But Dan has been getting some good experience at this, and besides informative, it’s always fun to read Dan’s advice, which always has some entertainment value because . . . well, that’s Dan!
9 Ways To Avoid A Humiliating Public Failure At Your Book Signing Event
You finally worked up the nerve to ask a real, live bookstore to have you sign books at an event!
Okay, you emailed them.
But they replied and now you have a signing event! Woo hoo!
Uh oh…
A real live event.With people.
Or worse, maybe with NO people.
I can hear your heart pounding from here. You’ve heard horror stories about signings. Nobody came. Nobody bought a book…
Yeah , that can happen. IF YOU DON’T PLAN FOR A SUCCESSFUL EVENT.
It can happen even if you DO plan. So what do you do? After all, for the most part you tend to be humiliation-averse.
Good thing I was here!
I have 9 tips for what you need to make your signing a hit, plus some bonus tips for before and after the event, and a few planning/social media suggestions.
The biggest thing to remember is: don’t act like getting people to the signing is solely the responsibility of the bookstore. In fact, assume they won’t get anybody there.
If you’re unknown to the masses, you can’t really expect people to line up to see you – unless.
Unless what?
Unless you follow these 9 tips. Come on, work with me.
Gleaned from my own prior blog posts, 10 Winning Strategies For Your Author Event and Should You Participate In A Book Fair? Three Points To Consider, and from “35 Ways to Make Your Next Book Signing an Event!” by Larry James, The Internet Writing Journal, January 2000
BEFORE THE EVENT – Days/weeks before
Go meet the folks hosting you. Shower and dress nice, the way you might for the event, and bring a copy of the book you want to push. This meeting is kind of an audition, even though you already got the gig. Stopping in to meet the manager/owner/person in charge, at a time that’s good for them, shows them in person how friendly you are and how well you’ll do for their store. CONTINUE READING , , .
Source: 9 Ways To Avoid A Humiliating Public Failure At Your Book Signing Event | Dan Alatorre – AUTHOR
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