The Ojai WordFest – A Successful Book Signing Event
In spite of it being a very unusual cloudy and chilly Sunday afternoon in Ojai, the 2nd Annual WordFest was an extraordinary success! Probably due to the weather, the attendance was rather low for an event of this type, but I met some very interesting authors including one who was more than a little familiar with the area of Upstate New York which is the location of my novel First Class Male.
There were the usual wanderers who were only walking through the park on the way to the tennis courts, but when I noticed one showing even a little bit of interest in my table, I shouted “Read a book with living, breathing human beings!”
That usually got a laugh.
As expected, I did hear a few “what’s the book about” to which I handed them the back cover and told them the 10-second rule, which also got a laugh.
I also asked those who appeared to be of my age if they were fans of the TV show “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”. (For some reason everyone remembered Illya Kuryakin but not Napoleon Solo) That was followed by my very quick “elevator pitch” about the plot of Undercover Reunion.
At the end of the day, I signed and sold FOUR books!
I also gave a coupon for a free ebook of my other titles and promoted the Bourbon for Brunch Interactive Novel Project which led to my being approached by the owner of a local bookstore who me to host a book signing event at his store, at no cost to me! Not one person asked me who my publisher was, they were just interested in what the stories were about and if they were available in Kindle. (Of course they were!)
All of which reminded me just how much I loved these events!
Here are a few pointers for a successful book event:
1) Even if you have a chair, don’t sit down. You want to look potential customers in the eye when you’re talking to them
2) You don’t need to spend a great deal of money for your display, but do buy a few book stands and acrylic paper holders especially if the event is outside.
3) Offer a book fair discount or some special deal if they buy your book.
4) Don’t waste money printing bookmarks or other handouts. These won’t help sell your books and most will be tossed. Business cards with your email and website are all you really need.
5) Have a sign-up sheet for your “newsletter”. Even if you don’t have any news at the moment, and email list is always good to have.
6) Ask them to go on-line and write a review when they’re finished with the book. Most people will say they would be happy to, some won’t, but if you don’t ask, no one will.
7) ALWAYS THANK THE PERSON WHO BUYS YOUR BOOK!
And, no matter what… HAVE FUN!!!
Erase the “Self-Published” Label – Become a Publisher!
Once upon a time, a very long time ago – actually, it was only about a decade ago, but it seems like a very very VERY long time ago – the question everyone I met at book signings and festivals was “What is your book about?” If they liked the answer, they bought a personally signed copy and I happily took their money.
Soon after, the question most asked at these same venues is “are you self-published?” This is usually followed by a silent “so your book isn’t worth anything” followed by a series of questions as to how they can find a publisher for themselves.
My short response was for them to go on-line. When they walk away without a personally signed copy of my novel, I’m thinking I should have told them to go someplace else. Someplace a lot hotter.
When I respond that my publisher went out of business, so I re-published the print copies with Createspace and the Ebooks with Smashwords, suddenly I became a “less than” author. The old tag “vanity publishing” invalidated all the work I’d put in to the writing of my novels, the many hours searching for an agent, finding an agent, firing the agent, getting a publisher, having the publisher go out of business, etc. just didn’t matter.
Neither did the fact the books sold more than 15,000 copies, and were ranked in the top 100 at Amazon for all of two weeks. Neither did the fact that self-published authors have greater control over their work and earn more royalties than many authors, or that even authors who have managed to go the traditional route find it not to be the “stuff that dreams are made of” the self-published tag is still considered by most of the reading public to indicate that your work just isn’t as good as someone else’s who is published by a third party.
After iUniverse and a few others hit the scene in the 1990’s, the number of subsidiary publishers exploded. Anyone with a manuscript and a few hundred dollars could now be a “published” author. Authors were no longer “self-published” even though they were paying to have their books printed, they could respond to the question with “no, my publisher is…” And for a time, that was sufficient to appease the masses.
It didn’t take that long for those masses to get wise to this deception.
So, with many of the traditional publishing houses going out of business, and the cost of subsidiary publishers, for the most part, being way beyond what most starving writers are willing or able to spend, we began to seek other means of solving both the eliminating the self-published label and being a published author without having to mortgage the house to do so.
Creative people come up with creative solutions.
Start your own publishing company!
There are many sites on-line which will help you in the details on the “how-to”, but the why is simple. Being “published” by anyone OTHER then yourself adds credibility to your book! When you contact bookstores as a publisher on behalf of your author, they won’t slam the phone in your ear. (Ok, so you can’t exactly slam cell phones, but whatever…)
You’ll be able to register at book fairs as a publishing company, not just your name. Even if yours is the only book your company publishes!
Yes, it is a bit of a lie. You’re still a self-published author but it’s your publishing company who is publishing your book. Unless you reveal the facts, no one is going to know, or care. You’ll now be able to answer that question posed by an inquisitive author at a book faire who probably isn’t going to buy your personally autographed copy of your book anyway, with a catchy publisher’s name!
And who knows, if that author sends you their manuscript, you might make a few extra bucks in the process!
Author Raven West 
Answering the “Are You Self-Published?” Question
Raven West ♦ April 6, 2013 ♦ Leave a comment
It happened again.
Just after posting my last blog on the topic of being labeled a “self-published” author, I was once again asked that very same question last night when I showed a co-worker a copy of the just released 2013 Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) catalog of books which featured my latest novel Undercover Reunion. I very excited to have my novel included in this very prestigious publication, but when I showed it to my co-worker, he glanced at the page where my book was listed and without even bothering to read the blurb, asked, “Are you self-published?”
Now, those of us in the industry who have been reading about all the wonderful advantages of self-publishing wouldn’t necessary take this as anything more than a casual inquiry. An innocent question which would have normally solicited an innocent, and honest response.
If that were the case, I would have told him that publishing with Createspace, wasn’t really “self-publishing” because there was no cost to me and I maintained full rights and complete control over the publication. I would have told him the royalties were much higher than having to pay an agent a percent of my income at the very low percentage that traditional publisher were offering. I would have listed all the many reasons why I chose to use Amazon’s publishing division for this novel and cite each and every point made on other writer’s blogs to validate my decision.
But this guy was not in the industry. What he was asking, in a somewhat condescending tone, was whether or not my book was good enough to have passed the “test” of agents, editors and finally some “magic authority” who deemed it worthy enough to pay me some pittance of an advance to publish my book. What his question really meant in regards to my book being listed in the catalog was, as my father (may he rest in peace ) would have said, A glick hot dich getrofen. Which roughly translated, means “a piece of luck happened to you” or in the vernacular, sarcastic and highly insulting; big deal.
What I should have replied to his question was, “Does it matter?” What I actually said was “No, I didn’t self-publish. You can buy it on Amazon in print or Kindle.”In reality it wasn’t a total lie. Unlike many self-published authors who pay a subsidiary, such as iUniverse, LuLu, Fastpencil and the like, to “publish” their manuscript, Createspace charges absolutely nothing. I never have, nor will I even pay anyone to publish my work. So in effect, I didn’t exactly lie, I just didn’t tell him the entire truth. Either way, that little bit of truth seemed to satisfy his need to find my book worthy of his interest. He read the blub, paid no attention to the name of the publisher listed as Createspace, said it sounded like a good story and promised he’d go on-line later and download the ebook. We’’ll see.
Which leads me to my next thought.
Next weekend I’ll be participating in the Ojai, California WordFest “A Celebration of Words” bookfair. I’ll have a table where I’ll be selling and signing all four of my published books; Red Wine for Breakfast, First Class Male, Undercover Reunion and Journey to Dimension Nine – Collection of Erotica Short Stories.
I’m also going to display a poster which will state the following:
FAQ
Q. Are you self-published?
A. Why does it matter? Buy my books
Q. Who is your publisher?
A. Why does it matter? Buy my books
Q. What is your book about?
A. Read the back cover. Buy my books
Agent/Publishing Advice – $1.00 per minute. (will have a “tip” jar for this)
For more on my philosophy on bookfairs (and also the back story as to how Raven West came to be) read my article “On the Road to Riches – You Are What you Drive”
Will let you know how it goes!
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