Yesterday I listed some real time activities that you really should be pursuing in order to put a personality to that book of yours\u2014to interact with your readers face-to-face. Maybe you\u2019ve heard: personality sells books.<\/p>\n
Some of you read over the list and took mental notes that sounded something like this: \u201cI tried that\u2014failed. Won\u2019t be doing that again.\u201d <\/p>\n
Perhaps you didn\u2019t try hard enough. Maybe you could improve the way you approached the activity. Here are some tips:
\n\u2022\tChoose an appropriate venue and time for your activity. One author I know discovered that it was useless to schedule an indoor activity in her home town on a sunny day because everyone would rather be outdoors. Pay attention to what\u2019s going on during the day or evening you choose to speak, for example. Your local high school graduation night is not a good time to speak at the library about your career guide for high school seniors. You might not get many senior citizens to your presentation on exercise for the elderly if you schedule it as late as 8:pm. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tPromotion is highly important to the success of any activity. Here are a few ideas: <\/p>\n
1: Plan a program with benefits\u2014promise that it will be entertaining and\/or highly informational. Give something away and\/or make it interactive, for example.<\/p>\n
2: Send press releases to local newspapers and any other regional publications. Generally this is done 10 days to 2 weeks prior to when you want the announcement to appear.<\/p>\n
3: Solicit an interview or two with reporters to be published during the week of the event. <\/p>\n
4: Contact everyone on your email list 10 days in advance of the event. Cordially invite them and ask them to bring friends. Get commitments if you can.<\/p>\n
5: Create posters and post them at the venue and other appropriate places\u2014library, downtown bulletin board, etc.<\/p>\n
6: Post announcements at your website as well as your twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, etc. pages. <\/p>\n
7: Blog often about the upcoming event.<\/p>\n
8: Send reminder notices to your email list a few days in advance.<\/p>\n
9: Attend other authors\u2019 signings and presentations. Your gesture of support is likely to encourage them to attend your presentations.<\/p>\n
10: Ask the press to cover the event. In case they don\u2019t show up, always have a camera handy and someone willing to use it. After the event, submit a photo and story to the local newspapers and follow up with posts at your website, blog and other social media pages.<\/p>\n
11: Send thank you notes to the store manager, librarian or program chairpersons after the event. Also send notes of thanks to those who attended. How will you know who attended? Always have a sign-up sheet where you can collect email addresses. Add them to your growing email list. <\/p>\n
If you have a viable book project, if you follow these guidelines and if you continue to improve your presentations, you should begin to experience more success when you go out to face your readers.<\/p>\n
Speaking of success, how does one measure it? We all have very different formulas. The one I want you to consider is the exposure factor. Oops, this post is getting rather long. How about if I go into the value of exposure in tomorrow\u2019s post?<\/p>\n
In the meantime, you know the drill, I want you to purchase my two latest books\u2014yes, you can\u2019t go wrong by ordering them both and Amazon is bundling them at a good price. I\u2019ll offer you a bundle deal, too. Order both books from me and I\u2019ll give you a full 90 minute consultation or editing services. This offer expires Sunday, August 19, 2012. <\/p>\n