{"id":880,"date":"2010-07-18T07:50:16","date_gmt":"2010-07-18T15:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=880"},"modified":"2010-07-18T07:50:16","modified_gmt":"2010-07-18T15:50:16","slug":"a-day-of-exposure-for-authors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=880","title":{"rendered":"A Day of Exposure For Authors"},"content":{"rendered":"

I womanned the SPAWN booth yesterday at the Ventura Book Festival in Ventura, California and had a blast. It was a good event with a steady flow of visitors most of whom came to the event, seemingly, for good books to read. I sold a nice quota of books, gave away nearly 100 copies of our new print SPAWN Catalog of Members\u2019 Books and Services <\/em>and signed up 40 people who want to subscribe to SPAWNews<\/em>. I spent the entire day talking to people about writing, publishing and book marketing. Most of the day, people were standing two and three deep waiting to discuss SPAWN or their writing projects with me.<\/p>\n

I participated in a panel discussion with Irwin Zucker of the Book Publicists of Southern California and Kim Dower, publicist from Los Angeles. We spoke and responded to questions about book marketing. Around 50 people sat in on our session. And what a good group it was.<\/p>\n

Today, I am logging my book sales and following through with those individuals who gave me their proposals to look over or who asked me to get back to them with regard to a question. I also wrote to thank the organizers of the event. And I am going through my notes. For example, the organizers of an upcoming writers\u2019 conference approached me about participating in March. I need to log the dates. The owner of a local store that sells a couple of my books came by, noticed my wide array of books and asked me to bring more copies of more of my titles to her on Monday. I volunteered to review a book for SPAWNews\u2014so need to take a look at that. I also collected some business cards from people I want to connect with. So I will be contacting them.<\/p>\n

Do you know what the best part of the show was? The exposure we got for SPAWN, for my own books and for my consulting business. Fifty people picked up my brochure, 50 sat in on my panel discussion, 15 bought my books, close to 75 took my business card and probably a total of 500 people either walked past and noticed my booth, saw my name in the program or all of the above. That\u2019s what\u2019s known as exposure. <\/p>\n

Some people came to my booth indicating that they were acting on some of my previous means of exposure. Don\u2019t you love it when that happens? A couple came over and introduced themselves as SPAWN members. A few mentioned having my writing\/publishing books and finding them extremely valuable. Several said they\u2019ve read my articles. One knew me as a long-time contributor to The Toastmaster Magazine<\/em>. Still others recall speaking with me last year at this event. One or two said they attended some of my workshops over the years. That is an example of exposure working\u2014especially when some of these people come back and purchase a book for the first time or ask you to edit their manuscript.<\/p>\n

My presentation, yesterday, involved a list of the 10 top activities I would recommend most authors engage in. One, of course, was public speaking. In my presentation, I said that I am speaking in order to promote myself and my books, even though the audience may not hear me actually give a sales pitch. I explained that what I was doing was being helpful, offering useful information, advice and resources and that this would help to build my credibility among my audience. If I could give enough value in such a way as to create a rapport with these authors\u2014to gain their trust\u2014they would be much more apt to purchase my books and\/or hire me to help with their projects and\/or join the organization I represent.<\/p>\n

Exposure, exposure, exposure!!! That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. And that\u2019s why I am always nagging at you to establish and keep building on your platform. What does this mean? Get your name out there where your audience will see it often. For example,<\/p>\n

\u2022\tSubmit articles and\/or stories to the publications your readers subscribe to.
\n\u2022\tConduct workshops and engage in public speaking on your topic\/genre.
\n\u2022\tBuild a smashing website.
\n\u2022\tCreate your own blog and post at other blog sites.
\n\u2022\tParticipate in book festivals, conferences and trade shows.
\n\u2022\tWrite additional books\/booklets on your topic\/genre.<\/p>\n

You get the idea. I\u2019ve been telling you to do these things for a long time. Maybe now you will understand why this is a good idea.<\/p>\n

Learn more about me and my books: http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a> and my services: http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I womanned the SPAWN booth yesterday at the Ventura Book Festival in Ventura, California and had a blast. It was a good event with a steady flow of visitors most of whom came to the event, seemingly, for good books to read. I sold a nice quota of books, gave away nearly 100 copies of […]<\/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