Saturday, May 31, 2008

Book Promotions

"Without promotion something terrible happens...Nothing!" ~P.T. Barnum

Report on last night's Borders book signing:

OK, book signings are fun, if only because you get to see other authors (provided you're doing a multi-author one), hang out in a bookstore, enjoy complimentary beverages, and talk to readers. But I'll affirm what other people have said: I'm not so sure they're the best use of time and money. After 2 hours, 2 of the 5 of us had sold 1 book each. Now, I only drove an hour to get there, and enjoyed dinner with hubby and my mom as well. But gas prices being what they are, I would not be the person who drove 2+ hours one way to sit there for 2 hours and sell nothing. I think other forms of promo are better. But of course, I'm still learning~

Also, we discovered that, as romance authors, we did NOT pick the best Friday night for our signing, since the "Sex and the City" movie opened last night. Guess where all the 18-40 year old women were? Not in the romance section of Borders, but standing in line waiting to buy tickets for a movie that began about 15 minutes before our signing. Oh, well.

Today, a crack at a different kind of promo: I'm mailing 80 envelopes to various independent bookstores in NY/CT/MA/RI/NH with a general tip sheet about my book(s), a handwritten note introducing myself and asking if they'd like more info or bookmarks or a visit from Yours Truly, and a self-addressed, stamped postcard that they can return if so. The cost of this honestly isn't that high; it's more the labor of researching the stores and putting the mailing together, but it will be interesting to see what kind of return I get. That, of course, will let me know if I should do it again.

So I'm off to stuff and seal envelopes!

3 comments:

Marianne Arkins said...

As I've said before... I'm so glad you're doing this first! LOL...

Good luck.

Dru said...

I'm sorry it didn't turn out well for you guys.

Good luck with your mailing promotion.

windycindy said...

Hi, I hope you find your niche in the promotion world! I am sending positive thoughts your way. Take care, Cindi