Guest Post: Holiday Author Events

Holiday Author Events: How to Increase Holiday Book Sales

By Irene Watson


Book sales are typically highest for most authors during the holidays so authors should take full advantage of the holiday season. Many avenues exist during the holidays to increase book sales and a little extra imagination can always help, while a lot of the possibilities can also be effective the rest of the year. If you want to sell books, the holidays are definitely the best time.
Any dedicated author who wants to sell books will make sure the months of November and December are filled with opportunities for them, and while it would be easy to let your book marketing go onto the back burner because of all the other busy activities surrounding the holidays, this season is often the one that can cause the biggest jump in book sales. If you want to sell books, here are some tips for making a fun holiday season also a profitable one.

1. Plan Ahead. Begin in the summer or sooner trying to schedule your events in November and December. Many Christmas art and craft shows begin taking applications at this time, so to get in and get the best placement, spring and summer are the time to reserve a space. That said, often shows are not filled until the last minute, so never feel it's too late to call and try to get in if you didn't plan ahead. If you have a new book coming out, you might plan to release it in late fall-September or October are slower months for book sales, but a release at that time will give you a couple of months to plant the seed in Christmas shoppers' heads while catching those early shoppers, and it will give you time to build buzz about your book. Finally, the more time you give yourself, the more ideas you can come up with and the more you can refine them so they will be effective during the holiday season.
2. Schedule Events Every Weekend. Whether it's a Christmas craft show, a church bazaar, or a holiday book signing, make sure you fill the holiday season with events that will draw in people who are looking to purchase Christmas gifts. The more high traffic the area receives, the better. While a book signing at a bookstore might seem like a good idea, more people are buying books online, whether we like it or not, so bookstores may not get the traffic that other places receive. A Christmas Craft show, on the other hand, can often generate traffic that numbers in the thousands. Furthermore, people go to craft shows looking for craft items and are often surprised to find books there, which are often among the more affordable items. You receive exposure there to people who might never go in a bookstore, and you are bound to be seen by people with money in their pockets that they are planning to spend. Any event in a mall is also a good idea during the holidays.
3. Participate in Holiday Entertainments. If you've written a children's book, you might get yourself a booth at the mall when Santa is there so your target audience of children sees you. If you can find an open mike holiday event, such as a poetry reading, go and read from your book so people hear it and want to buy it. Is your downtown having a Ladies' Shopping Night? Then ask one of the store owners if you can sell your books that night in the store.
4. Donate Books for Christmas Fundraisers. Christmas is the season of giving. You can give copies of your books to local charity events, whether it's the church bazaar, the local Toys for Tots or another organization's book drive, an auction of items for charity, or anything else that offers your book a chance in the spotlight. And don't forget that giving of your time is also fruitful. Participate in an event where you might not only feel good about helping others-whether it's the church bake sale, a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for the homeless, or any other event-but where you will also meet new people and you can tell them about your book-granted, the homeless might not buy it, but the other workers there might. Remember, wherever you go, many people will treat you as a celebrity because you are an author. You don't have to flaunt your book, but when people ask what you do, simply remember to say with pride, "I'm an author." Many people find it exciting to meet someone who has written a book, and even if you only get one interested person, that person is often capable of spreading the word to many other potential buyers.
5. Offer Holiday Specials. Many ways exist to get people excited about your book by offering various forms of specials. If you attend a Christmas craft show, make a sign announcing you have an "Exclusive Show Special" and offer a discounted price for your book, or better yet, if you have several books, offer a "Buy Two, Get the Third Free" or other package deal. Perhaps you have an author friend who will share the book with you and you can have a special where the customers get one of each of your books as a special deal. Or if you have an artist friend, you could offer a discounted piece of art with the purchase of a book or vice versa. And don't forget your website! Offer specials there and send out emails to your readers, plus post messages on Facebook and other online places where you can reach your online readers to let them know you have a special limited time offer, or even that you are offering free shipping until Christmas. Anytime you can let people think they are getting a deal, they are more likely to buy.
6. Be Cheerful and Festive. Exude the holiday spirit! Wear Christmas colors-red and green, or fun Christmas ties or sweaters. At events, decorate your booth with holiday ornaments, from a Christmas tablecloth, to giving away Christmas candy, or anything else that will attract people to your booth, putting potential customers in the holiday mood and making them feel welcome. Remember, nobody wants to do business with a Scrooge, much less read his book. A Christmas Carol has already been written. Now it's time for people to read your book.

Trying to promote your book during the holidays can be time-consuming and exhausting-at least many authors have told me that as their reason why they don't do it-but I find that when you connect with people at holiday events they are usually in a cheerful mood and cheer you up, and when you imagine people tearing open wrapping paper to discover your book under their Christmas trees, it can be quite an invigorating experience. As far as book sales go, most authors should wish it could be Christmas all year round.
Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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Guest Post: Selling Books to Schools

Selling Books to Schools

By Barbara Techel


As authors, part of our goal is to sell books, and as children's book authors, selling books through school visits is a wonderful way to do this, though it can have its challenges.

Some schools for various reasons, will not sell books. Period. Some reasons are that it is not fair to those kids whose parents can't afford to buy them or they may just not know how to organize a sale.

So how do authors make it easier for schools to sell their books? Because as we know, we feel an autographed copy a child receives inspires them to be a reader, as well as helps them to grow.

Some schools may feel it is a hassle, so it is up to authors to eliminate that hassle. As an author, as well as independent publisher, I've designed a custom order form to make it easier, which any author can do whether self-published or published through a publishing house.

I instruct the organizer, which is typically a parent, teacher or librarian that the book order form should be sent home two weeks before my visit. They handle taking care of collecting the money and order forms. Three to four days before my visit I call or email to see how the book sale is going so I have an idea of how many books to have with me the day of my visit. This also helps if a large quantity is pre-sold that I can inscribe my personal message inside each book before my actual visit, which helps save on time.

After my presentation, I handle signing sold books. I place the order slip in with each corresponding book sold to make it easier for the organizer to distribute. I always carry 100 books of each of my titles in the back of my car. If a school sells more than 100 copies of my books they know beforehand from my information I share with them that those will be drop shipped to the school and name plates will be forwarded within 5-10 days.

Some schools may want to arrange an actual book signing with kids lining up to get their copy personally signed by you. This is a wonderful way to connect with kids during that autographing session. But if this is not possible, or selling books two weeks before your visit is something the school is against doing, encourage consideration of having your books in the library as well as a copy or set in each classroom.
Often times, especially given the tough economic times, I don't pre-sell many books even with the help and enthusiasm of the school and organizer. So to encourage more book sales, I ask if the school is willing to send out another notice after my visit and I will pay for shipping of books to the school. Quite often I have been pleasantly surprised with many more orders.

If you don't carry inventory of your books, you can still help the organizer's task easier in helping sell your books. When you send out your contract you can send a list of booksellers in their area. Supply them with the title of your book, the ISBN, the price and a brief synopsis. If they choose this route, offer them a copy of your book order form so that they can customize to their needs for collecting orders in this way.
Books can also be ordered through the publisher which offers schools the best discount. All you will need to do is provide the organizer with your publisher's name, phone, and or email to make it easy for them to contact the publisher.

So the key is being proactive in helping make the job of the organizer's as easy as possible to help sell your books. By doing so, your books will have a great chance of becoming a permanent part of a young child's library and life.

For a sample of a book order form send an email request to barb@joyfulpaws.com

Barbara Techel is the award-winning author of the Frankie the Walk 'N Roll Dog book series. She has shared her story of hope and inspiration about her dachshund, Frankie, who is in a wheelchair, with thousands of children and adults since 2007. Barbara is also a speaker and publisher. Barbara and Frankie are also avid volunteers as a therapy dog team and routinely visit a local hospice community, hospital, and senior assisted living facility. To learn more how to sell more books through author visits visit http://www.promoteyourbooktoschools.com

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The 20th Century Way of Selling Books

I have been seeing an increase in emails and phone calls lately which go something like this:

"Terry, the release date for my book was two weeks ago. I have been to 12 different major bookstores, and I haven't seen my book in any of them. What are you doing to promote my book?"

Let me answer that question with another question:  why are you so hung up on the 20th Century way of selling books?

I don't know if you have noticed this or not, but bookstores are in trouble.  Borders has filed for bankruptcy and closed 200 stores nationwide.  Barnes & Noble is relying more and more on digital content, specifically for its Nook e-reader.  In 2009, major chain bookstores accounted for just 27 percent of all book sales in the U.S.    While that is nearly one-third of the market, where are the other books being sold?

The rest of the books were sold through other types of retailers, online, mail-order book clubs and through other niche market venues.  The average bookstore can hold about 10,000 titles, and the superstores may be able to stock as many as 100,000 titles.  Last year, more than one million titles were released in the United States, when self-published titles are taken into account.  That means a lot of titles are not going to make the cut and get stocked in a bookstore.

The decision to stock a book in a bookstore is completely up to the buyers for the various bookstore chains or the manager/owners of the locally-owned independent bookstores, not the publishers.  They stock books that either already have a track record of sales or are written by authors who have a track record of sales under their belt.  Bookstores are taking less risks with new, unknown authors, especially in today's economy.  It is up to the authors to prove themselves by bringing in crowds to their book signing events and selling a lot of books. 

Bookstores will give a title a certain amount of time to sell, and if it doesn't it's getting sent back to the publisher.  The photo you see at the beginning of this article shows the books in my office that have been returned by bookstores.  These are the books that did not sell, and they are just a small portion of the books that were returned by the bookstores last month.  Returns cost the publisher and that author money.  That is not good.

I think there are three main reasons authors want to see their book prominently displayed on a bookstore shelf:

1.  They believe it will help them sell a lot of books.  As we have already seen, there are no guarantees this will happen.  Unless the author is actively pushing their readers through their platform to go to specific stores to purchase their books, those books are merely being displayed, not sold.

2.  They believe they aren't a "real" author unless their book is in a bookstore.  This is nonsense.  You became a real author when you published your book.

3.  Vanity.  They want to be able to tell their friends and family "my book is in the XYZ bookstore!"  That's great...if the book is actually selling.  If not, it won't be in that bookstore for long.  It will wind up in that pile you see in the photograph.

I am not downplaying the importance of bookstores.  I happen to sell a lot of books to bookstores, as does my company.  I was disappointed and saddened to see Borders file for bankruptcy.  This is not a good thing for readers or for the publishing industry.  When a bookstore fails, it gives publishers fewer sales avenues and readers fewer choices. 

However, one thing I always try to stress to authors is when it comes to selling their book, bookstores are not the only choice they have available.  Bookstores should be a part of every author's marketing plan, but it should not be the only part.  Authors should be doing book fairs, book festivals, speaking engagements, connecting with their readers via social media, making appearances at other types of retailers, contacting the media, blogging and many of the other activities that I have mentioned here frequently on this blog.  If you are concentrating only on bookstores, you are only going to potentially reach 27 percent of the book-buying public...maybe.

During the 20th Century, bookstores were the main way of selling books.  As we move further ahead into the 21st Century, that is no longer true.

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The Benefits of Having More Than One Book to Sell

The Benefits of Having More Than One Book to Sell

By Irene Watson



Writing the second book is one of the best things any author can do. It may not be an easy thing to do, and it may not always seem worthwhile at first, but numerous reasons exist for why writing a second book is one of the best ways to reap the greatest benefits from your role as author.
Whether you are traditionally published or self-published, once your first book is out in public, you as the author have to commit a great deal of time to marketing it. This commitment can be exciting and exhilarating, but it can also be exhausting and time-consuming. You may find yourself putting so much time and energy into promoting your first book that you don't have time left over for the second book. Perhaps you even wrote the first book, not because you like to write, but to boost your public speaking career or to look like an expert in your field to increase your business; you may feel your first book accomplished that goal, so you don't need a second book. Whatever the case, good reasons exist for why writing the second book should be an integral part of your business plan.
"Why? My first book isn't even selling," you might say. Maybe not, but a second book will help make that first one sell. Here are some primary reasons why:

1. Increased Expert Recognition. The first book has made some people perceive you as an expert on your book's topic. While many people will be impressed by you and think you are a celebrity just because you wrote a book, you won't impress everyone. Let's face it-especially if you're a self-published author, some people will view you as an amateur. Writing that second book shows that you are committed to being an author, that you are professional, that writing, or at least the topic you write about, is your primary career focus. A second book is a great addition to your credentials.
2. People like Variety. People might have noticed but not been sold on buying your first book. But when the second book comes out, it gives them a push to buy. They now have an option between books-they now have a choice, and people like choices. People will now notice both books and rather than ask themselves, "Should I buy this book?" the question will become, "Which book should I buy?" Many people will decide to buy both to avoid having to make the decision.
3. People Don't Want to Be Left Behind. When a second book comes out, it makes people who haven't read the first book feel like they are behind the times and better hurry to catch up. The second book's publication will then encourage them to buy and read the first book. I know many authors who have reported that their first book continually outsells subsequent books because people want to start with the first one, and each time a new book comes out, the first book's sales go up. People who buy the first book may never get around to reading the second or third book, but at least you got them to buy the first one.
4. People Like to Get a Deal. People always like a bargain. Even if it's just saving a dollar or two, if they think they are getting a deal, they are more likely to buy. If you have two books, you can sell them together and let customers know they will save 10 percent, or whatever amount you decide on, if they buy the books together.
5. You Already Have an Audience-So Sell to It. If people already bought your first book, a good percentage of them are likely to buy the second. Why do you think movie studios make sequels to films? Because a fair percentage, probably 50 percent or more, of those people who saw the first movie will come back to see the second. If people like your first book, they're more likely to read your second book, and they'll choose it over another book by an author they don't know because it's more of a sure thing.

Writing that second book can only increase your sales and strengthen your position as an author. And once the second book takes off, the more you write, the more people will be curious about you and want to read more. Agatha Christie hasn't sold 2 billion copies, half of them thirty-five years after her death, by writing just one book. She wrote eighty-and only the Bible has outsold her. Would Harry Potter have been so successful if J.K. Rowling only wrote one book? You know the answer. Get that second book on paper or your laptop as quickly as possible.Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.



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Guest Post: How NOT to Sell a Book - Learn the Seven Deadly Sins of Book Marketing

Today's guest post is courtesy of Marsha Friedman, the CEO of EMSI Public Relations.  As a publicity expert, she recently debuted her new book, Celebritize Yourself, and began a national media tour.

Marsha Friedman launched EMSI in 1990. Her PR company represents corporations and experts in a wide array of fields such as business, health, food, lifestyle, politics, finance, law, sports and entertainment. Some of the more prominent names on her client roster are Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, Former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane and the famous Motown Group, the Temptations.

She consults individuals and businesses on a daily basis and is frequently asked to speak at conferences about how to harness the power of publicity.

As a radio personality and public speaker, Marsha can be heard every week on the nationally syndicated talk radio show “The Family Roundtable” where problems that modern families face are discussed. Marsha and her co-hosts have enjoyed interviewing family experts as well as celebrities such as Tony Curtis, Ed Begley Jr, Augusten Burroughs, Faith Evans, Vicki Lawrence, Denise Jackson, Janine Turner and Rose Rock.

Not a day goes by that I don't hear this same question from people who contact me to help them market their books: If I do PR, how many books will I sell?


This seems like a straightforward question at first, until I start asking some questions myself:  Do you have a Web site?  What's your marketing plan?  Is your book available online?  What's your message?


At the risk of demystifying what I do for my clients, let me make it abundantly clear, there is NO magic wand that will help you sell your book.  PR, advertising, promotions, Web sites, social networking, none of it will guarantee you a bestseller.  However, I think it's imperative that I point out a few things which, if absent, will practically guarantee barely any sales beyond family and friends.


It's important to understand that leaving out key elements of book marketing will make any of the tactics you use ineffective.


1.  No Web Site: If you don't have a Web site for your book, you're missing one of the most basic elements of book marketing.  According to recent stats on Foner.com, about 48 percent of ALL books sold in North America are sold online.  So, if nearly half your potential customers are buying online and you don't have a Web site, how do you expect to attract potential buyers and make sales?


2.  Poor Web Site: Having a Web site is a step in the right direction, but if it doesn't effectively market your book, it's almost worthless.  The good news is that researching effective book Web sites isn't difficult.  For starters, look at the Web sites of your favorite recent book purchases.  Also, look at the Web sites of a few bestsellers and see how they do it.  I'll bet you find the same basic elements (synopsis, about the author, excerpts, testimonials), but more than that, you may gain valuable insight about marketing tactics to implement on your Web site that can also work for you.  The bottom line is in order to be effective, your visitor has to have a reason to want to buy your book, and your Web site has to give it to them or you lose the sale.


3.  No Book Marketing Plan: Marketing plans don't cost anything to create.  Even if it's your first attempt at marketing, having a marketing plan in place is essential.  Even an elementary one is far better than having no marketing plan at all.  And, to take it one step further, even if you've developed marketing plans in other industries, it's important to realize that marketing your book is like nothing you've done before.  So, while researching the topic of book marketing, look for ideas you can apply to your own book marketing that have been successful for other authors and publishers.


4.  No Publicity Plan: Books are not magnets.  They're made of paper, for the most part, and as a result they won't inherently attract anyone to buy them if the public isn't aware they exist first.  Being interviewed as a guest on radio and/or TV or having the book mentioned in newspapers and magazines is the first measure of awareness your book will receive.  Will it sell 100,000 of your books?  Not by itself.  Will you sell any books without it?  Not likely.


5.  No Amazon or E-Book Availability: We've already mentioned that about half of all books sold in North America are sold online.  Moreover, the e-book is a growing category that is beginning to chart some serious numbers.  If you aren't listed on Amazon and you don't have an e-book, you are literally telling more than half of your potential customers that you don't really want them to buy your book.


6.  No Message:   Every book has a key message intended for the reader to walk away with.  That key message is undoubtedly the passion that drove you to write the book in the first place.  That's why your ability to communicate the essence of that message is an important element to selling your book.  I've seen it happen all too often where the author thinks his message to the consumer is "buy my book."  That doesn't work.  You've got to give them a reason.  You need to answer the question, "What's in it for me?"  What will the reader know after reading your book that they don't know now?  What problem might it solve?  What will they learn?  Without identifying the answers to these questions, your marketing and publicity plans will go nowhere like engines without fuel.


7.  No Budget: The old axiom of “you get what you pay for” is 100 percent true for marketing a book.  At the very least you will need a small budget for things like hiring someone to build your Web site (ideally you hire a pro who can program AND understands marketing), buying books from your publisher to send out to the media, support material for book signings, travel expenses, postage, and working with a PR pro.  Even if you don’t hire a PR firm, you still need a budget for purchasing the media lists in order to perform your media outreach.  Whether you are published by a traditional publisher or self-published, these are real expenses that will need to be accounted for.  So plan in advance, because getting that first shipment of books from the publisher is not the end of the race.  It’s just the first milestone.


Writing a book is an arduous task, to be sure.  And, I don’t want to mislead you into thinking this is ALL there is to do. There are other components that will determine the total effectiveness of your book promotion efforts, but these are the crucial ones that ALL authors must have as a bare minimum. Honestly, without these, it's naive to think you can reap the wonderful rewards from having written your book.

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Top 5 Reasons Niche Marketing Is More Important Than Ever

Today's guest post is courtesy of Jim Miller.  Jim also writes his own blog at http://aftertheinkdries.wordpress.com


If you’re satisfied with your book’s progress up to this point in its life, then you might not need to read any further. If you’ve been frustrated with your book sales, it might be because you’ve never seen the importance of niche marketing. I hear from authors all the time who believe that their book will sell if only X number of bookstores carried it.

The boxes of returned books I have in my office tell me otherwise.

Top 5 Reasons Niche Marketing Is More Important Than Ever

5) RETAIL STORES ARE STRUGGLING – Borders just announced a freeze on ordering new books. They are struggling financially, and that has forced them to make a move that makes them less competitive, which almost guarantees they will struggle even more. Barnes & Noble has been looking for a buyer off and on for the past year. The leaders at both stores have flirted with each other about a merger, which would mean more stores closing. These are the two largest bookstore chains in America! 

4) MORE BOOKS ARE SOLD ON AMAZON.COM THAN ANYWHERE ELSE – Think about why you buy a book on Amazon: because you heard about it somewhere else. Without a known name and reputation and without word-of-mouth, few people will buy your book on Amazon. Niche marketing is the only way to build your name and reputation and begin the ripples of word-of-mouth.

3) THE MORE EVENTS YOU HAVE, THE MORE AMMO YOU GIVE ME – Publishers have the greatest pull with bookstores, and with them scaling back and closing, all publishers are scrambling to figure out how to reach the masses. When you have an event for me to promote, the media are more likely to care. When that event is more about helping people than promoting your book, people are even more likely to care, and they are more likely to promote your book. And you get more sales. As a publisher, we believe in your message and in the work we’ve both done to package it. But readers don’t listen to publishers. They listen to other people who they perceive as able to help them.

2) NICHE MARKETING IS FUN! – Your book may have a wide appeal, but there is always a narrower niche that is looking for your book even if they don’t realize it yet. These are the people who are just like you. They love your stories, they laugh at your jokes, and once they get to know you, they will become your fans and evangelists. It is indeed hard to break the ice, but once you do, you will have a blast being around the people in your niche.

1) NICHE MARKETING IS THE ONLY THING YOU AS AN AUTHOR CAN CONTROL – You can’t control bookstores. You can’t control what people you’ve never met will buy. You can, however, control your efforts. The more you do, the more you expose people to your book and message. This is not about you; it’s about your message. Your book is the only thing in the world that contains your message, and you are the one to whom your message was given!

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How to Sell 100 Books Now

When it comes to generating sales, authors like to see immediate results.  What is more immediate than directly selling 100 books?  Why did I pick the number 100?  Well, other than being a good round number, it's a way of gauging the impact of your marketing efforts.  Find what specifically works for you and keep repeating it, and before you know it you have sold hundreds, if not thousands, of books.

I asked my fellow marketing reps to brainstorm with me and come up with a list of things that have helped our authors sell significant quantities of books.  They may not all work for you, but I encourage you to try each one.

• Contact a local book club about your book, ask them to read your book as one of their selections and attend their end of the month meeting to discuss the book with the club.  Be sure to ask them if their friends might be interested in using your book for their book club too!
• Contact a local nursery/day care/school/magnet school about presenting your book to their students.  Be sure to watch for any venues that host a story time event, ask them to read your book at their next story time.
• Sign up for a community event or a festival to promote and expose your book to the community.  Be sure to let people know what types of events you are available for.  Speaking?  Story times?  Signings?  Presentations?
• Contact your local Chamber of Commerce and let them know they have an author in town.  Ask them about any upcoming events.
• Contact the local rotary club (or similar organization) about being their next Guest Speaker.  Ask them to sell books after your presentation.
• Have a fitness/healthy living book?  Contact your local running groups or race expos about setting up a small table at their next event.
• Schedule a blog tour, click here for more details!
• Contact the local independently owned movie theater about selling books in their lobby on a Saturday afternoon.
• Make 5 phone calls to decision makers regarding scheduling a speaking event.
• Watch for any community newsletter or event programs that might spotlight your book.  Most events have a program that is distributed to event attendees, ask them to mention your book in the next program.
• Have you considered doing an event at your bank/financial institution?  I have many authors who have done this and they have been successful!
• Mailing out a card?  Be sure to place a promotional item for your book inside!
• List the link to your book in our bookstore or your website link in your e-mail signature.
• Have you contacted the local museum?  Be sure to ask them if you can sell your books in their gift shop.
• Brainstorm on the organizations in your community that your book is a great fit for!  Examples:  Alumni group, MOPS, Rotary Club, FCA, Girl Scouts, YMCA, Boy Scouts, etc.  Contact your local chapter about attending their next event.
• Have you contacted the local independently owned gift shops in your area about a book signing event?  Examples:  Cupcake shops, boutiques, gelato shops, ice cream shops, donut shops, barber shops, florists, specialty shops.  Start with the locations that have the highest foot traffic for more exposure.  Send me a list of 5 locations that you would like for us to contact for you!  I need their address and phone number.
• Have a book trailer or an upcoming event?  Post it on all of your networking sites.  Be sure to set up an “event” on Facebook to invite people to your signing.  
• Personally pursue your own pastor for a church signing, and donate a portion of the proceeds to the church. 
•  Do events at private homes (sort of like a Tupperware party).  From marketing representative Jim Miller:  " One of my authors was the perfecter of this. She had a friend host a garden party for her and 10 other ladies. She told them the story of how the book got published, answered questions, and then sold a book to each person there. Then she said, “Who would like to host something like this and invite friends that I don’t know?” All 10 said yes. She asked that question at every party and went from house to house for 6 months. She also got 3 church speaking engagements and a radio interview out of it."
• Contact your local media and follow up on media contacts made by your publisher/publicist.  Sometimes personal contact by the author makes a difference in getting an interview or coverage for your book.  Use these media opportunities to promote your upcoming book signing events.  

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Guest Post: Selling Books By Giving Back

Selling Books by Giving Back

By Irene Watson


Promoting a book to make money doesn't mean you can't be human or caring. By giving back to the community, authors create positive images of themselves and get their faces and books in front of people who otherwise might not be interested in or ever hear about their books. Selling yourself by helping a good cause will not only help you to sell books, but in the end, you will feel good about yourself and feel more connected to your community and the world at large. You might also have some great experiences that will inspire your future books.
While you could go work in a soup kitchen or just donate money, authors can find ways to contribute to their communities that also will help to promote their books. Following are just six of hundreds of possibilities for how authors can give back:

• Visiting Senior Citizen Centers and Assisted Living Homes. Senior citizens represent a large portion of the reading public, largely because they have more time to read. They also appreciate visitors and interacting with others, and they are likely to tell all their friends and family members, who include children, grandchildren, great-nieces and nephews, in-laws, and cousins, about a book they like. In other words, senior citizens have a lot of connections and can provide great word-of-mouth referrals for your book. Especially if you are writing about history, healthcare, or topics especially of interest to seniors, you might find a group of seniors to be the perfect audience for your book and your message. Many senior centers, assisted living, nursing, and veterans' homes have reading groups and book clubs, and they are always looking for ideas for event planning. Authors might choose to volunteer to read to seniors at these facilities once a week or month, or simply visit and give a talk about their books. During the visit, be sure to pass out cards or book markers; seniors may not always have the best memories and might not remember your name, but if your book interests them, they will show books they buy or book markers to their visitors and tell them about your book. Seniors also enjoy engaging in the discussions, and if authors are willing to listen, they will have great stories to tell-material for future books.

• Speaking at Career Day Events for Students. Budding young writers are everywhere, and offering to speak to high school students or college freshman at career day events, or participating in events like Young Authors, can be a great way to give back to your community and provide the encouragement needed that you received or wish you had received as an aspiring young author. Besides speaking to aspiring writers, authors who have written non-fiction books might wish to speak to future historians, doctors, businessmen, or other groups of students whose field of study is relevant to their books' topics. While students don't typically have a lot of money to buy books, that doesn't mean they won't remember the encouragement you gave them and buy your books when they are older, and they might also tell their parents about your books or ask for them for their birthdays or holidays. Best of all, authors will be planting a seed in young people so that new "keepers of the flame" are born to carry on the gift of writing and storytelling.

• Public Radio and Public TV fundraisers. Public Radio and Public TV stations love to offer gifts to their listeners and viewers as incentives for donating to their stations. While your book may only cost $25, viewers who give the station $100 might receive it free with their donations, which sells a book for you and helps out the station so it can afford to buy more programming to enrich people's lives. These stations will want to buy your book at a discount, usually equivalent to what bookstores desire, such as 40 percent. You may not sell a lot of books or make a lot of money directly through this venue, although some authors have done very well this way, but it is a great way to advertise for your book, and while all the viewers might not donate the amount needed to get the free book, you can bet many will buy the book at regular price at bookstores or online. In addition, you'll now have media contacts at the station who might invite you back when your next book comes out, or interview you, or recommend you to other stations. Some authors have even had local PBS stations make films out of their books if their books are of local interest to their viewing audience.

• Donating Books. Donating a book may seem like a financial loss, but it can result in publicity that helps sell books, and again, it provides a benefit to an organization. Many libraries that receive donated books from authors have connections with the local media and will take a photo of the author donating the book for their newsletters or even the community spotlight sections of local newspapers-great publicity in exchange for one donated book.

Donating books as raffle prizes can also be effective. For example, if your book is donated for a church bazaar's raffle, everyone who buys a raffle ticket may see it listed as one of the prizes. That could be hundreds of people who see your book title, and while only one person might win the donated book, several others might decide to purchase the book for themselves.
Benefit dinners are another great place to donate books. Communities are always hosting spaghetti dinners and other events to raise money for people who have cancer, leukemia, or other health conditions that result in large medical bills. Donating a book to help with a raffle or auction at one of these events will not only help you get public attention, but it may help raise money that could save a life.

• Promoting Literacy. As authors, we love to read. But can you imagine not being able to read, or not having books to read? Illiteracy is a major problem from which poverty, prejudice, and many other social ills stem simply because people cannot read, and therefore, cannot be informed or educated. Multiple ways exist for authors to help with literacy.

Visit schools and talk to children about the importance of reading or make an author visit and read your children's book to them to get them excited about reading. Volunteer your time to help students by tutoring or helping them with a workshop. Tell children about your own experiences as a writer. Get them excited about the world that will open up to them once they are able to read. Explain to them how reading and writing are important for almost every job out there today.
Don't forget adult-education programs where you may find more people interested in your book. If your topic interests them, your book could be a stepping-stone for them in learning to read.
I know of one author who got a grant to offer a workshop where she'll help at-risk teens write and publish their own books. She's found editors and book printers who have agreed to donate time or print books at cost to help these students publish their books, which will give them the confidence that if they can write a book, they can achieve anything they want in life.

• Donate a Dollar for Every Book Sold. Many authors have donated a dollar for every book sold to a charity or cause that is important to them. This situation is especially true with non-fiction books. A book about Alzheimer's might result in a dollar per book sold going to the Alzheimer's Association of America. A children's book author might donate a dollar per book to causes that promote literacy. A wildlife book might result in one dollar for every book sold going to the American Humane Society. Beyond sharing their profits, authors are likely to sell more books, the volume of sales thereby making up for the loss of profit per book. Furthermore, you can speak at conventions for these causes or sign books at conferences. People are more willing to part with their money when they feel it will go to a good cause and they'll getting something for it, like a good book.

Many ways exist for authors to give back to their communities. Whether or not these avenues result in more books being sold, authors will come away feeling good about themselves and knowing they've made a difference, the results of which can never be measured or underestimated.
Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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