I learn over and over that you never know if and when a gesture or a contact will result in a book sale. <\/p>\n
A few weeks ago someone I met briefly at a book festival ten months ago contacted me about editing her manuscript. She had saved the brochure she picked up that day at my booth. Yesterday, I received a book order from a former classmate that I reconnected with at a reunion last year. She said she was going through her purse and my business card fell out. That\u2019s when she remembered she wanted to order one of my books. She visited my website, however, and ended up ordering two.<\/p>\n
I once got an email from a new author from Wisconsin asking if I\u2019d work with her on her book project. I had met her in at a writers\u2019 conference nearly three years earlier. She had purchased one of my books for authors at that time.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve had a rash of new people signing up for SPAWN membership these past two months. Several have said they heard about SPAWN from me. Some of them, I don\u2019t recognize their names and don\u2019t recall having done presentations anywhere near where they live. I can only guess that they discovered this blog and read about SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) here or at Twitter or in one of my articles… <\/p>\n
I\u2019m not telling you this to brag. NO! I\u2019m sharing these examples with you so you\u2019ll understand the importance of exposure\u2026putting yourself and your book out there everywhere and constantly. Diligently hand out business cards, promo material and\/or brochures. Post at your blog often. Maintain a useful website. Use social media. Show up at various activities and events and talk to people. Get involved to enlarge upon your profile. Seek out opportunities to connect, mingle and support others. Become expert at recognizing opportunities when they occur.<\/p>\n
And most of all, don\u2019t become a gloomy Gus when you sell fewer books than you expected at the events you attend or during your push to make seasonal sales. Look at all efforts and all appearances as great opportunities to become known to more potential customers\/readers. Keep in mind that there\u2019s more to simply making on-the-spot sales when you go out and speak on your topic or when you talk to visitors at book signings or book festivals. If you\u2019re doing your job, you are promoting these activities before the date through your blog, your website, press releases, newspaper and newsletter articles, announcements to your online and real time groups, word of mouth and so forth before the event. AND, if you are on the ball, you are getting even more publicity after the event by mentioning it again in your blog, in thank you emails to your list, through your groups and etc.<\/p>\n
For much more on how to get the most out of your publicity and how to create, organize and perform a variety of appearances and other live and recorded events and activities, read \u201cTalk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.\u201d It\u2019s available at amazon.com in print and on Kindle and at most other online and downtown bookstores. http:\/\/amzn.to\/ZMJndK<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I learn over and over that you never know if and when a gesture or a contact will result in a book sale. A few weeks ago someone I met briefly at a book festival ten months ago contacted me about editing her manuscript. She had saved the brochure she picked up that day at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t