Flawless Event Planning - Part 1

Your event is coming up quickly! Are you prepared?

It’s exciting to take your book to an event where you’ll engage customers and hopefully sell them your book. You want to make sure that you have an exciting display and all of the tools necessary to do business.

What do you bring? This question has plagued authors all across the country for years. Here’s Lisa’s list from doing over 350 national, regional and local shows from budgets of $250 to $90,000.  What she learned is to be prepared for the strangest things to happen! The items you bring along, and a little advance planning can make or break your show. 

1. Know who is attending the show and how your product benefits them.
2. Know if your fellow exhibitors are your REAL audience 
3. Know how you are going to follow up on your leads BEFORE you even go to the show
4. Have your spiel memorized, practiced, honed and perfected. And don’t change it from person to person!
5. Keep your messages simple and to the point for the audience you are seeking. Don’t try to be all things to all people.
6. Know how long it takes you to present your book to a prospective customer. (Learn how to stop talking and let them ask a question)
7. Know your goals
8. Know your budget and stick to it
9. Know who is in charge of the show itself: their phone number and name (It doesn’t hurt to bring a pack of Thank You notes and a couple of little gifts just in case.)
10. Don’t get hung up on little annoying distractions – be prepared with a Tradeshow Kit* so you don’t have to waste time hunting down minutiae.

Part 2 - Tune in next week for the essentials in packing for your events!

Book Marketing Summit Summary

Well, we did it!  We gathered, book publishing professionals and authors of all types, in one room and shared ideas. There is just something about hearing an author talk about their passion, and what is working for them, what they have tried and what didn't work as well.  Sixteen people joined us for the first Monthly Book Marketing Summit at Swanson Library to exchange ideas. There are lots of writing groups, but I wanted something different: A meeting of published authors talking about marketing!

There were children's authors, non-fiction authors, and fiction, with greatly varied topics -- but the one similarity tying us all together is their desire to share a story with others.  Some of the topics that were shared were:

Blogs, Facebook and other social media - The discussion was "Do they actually translate into sales?" The general consensus is that they don't work in isolation -- you have to use them concurrently and frequently.

Traditional print media - Newspapers, magazines -- risky for books because unit cost is low for an individual sale, Must have distribution through bookstores for this to be effective.

Publicity - Is it worth the trouble?  The discussion was the full spectrum with one individual thinking it doesn't really work anymore, one person thinking it is the holy grail and the rest of the room happy to spend a few hundred to distribute a press release a couple of times a year.

Events - Book Festivals: (No general book celebrations in Omaha or the area; too snooty); Farmer's Markets: good for some types of books for the right author (but not for everyone and you have to be accepted); Craft Fairs: A lot of work, but can be lucrative with good placement.

Next Book Marketing Summit: December 10, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm - Millard Public Library