Booksellers demand store event plans from authors.
Being traditionally published is a longtime goal for lots of authors. One advantage that the agented or small-press book is supposed to have is bookstore sales. You’ll only get those slots on the store shelves if you work to tell the world that your book’s for sale at the store.
Put plainly, those bookstores don’t want to stock or promote books that don’t have buyers. This brings us to the fabulous moment of an author’s life: the release event. You partner with a store to make an effective event. Jane Friedman’s HotSheet reported advice from bookstores on how to get on a store’s event calendar.
Your store event will probably have to be scheduled at least six months from when you start pitching. Your publisher’s marketing people, or an outside publicist, reaches out to the prospective store. If you do this yourself, make your first ask over email — not on a busy Saturday in person.
Another no-no: never mention Amazon in your pitch to the store, or send a store’s event manager to your Amazon page. Your author website is the right place to send store planners, and it should include a link to Bookshop.org for purchases, or indie bookstores, not just Amazon.
At BookPeople in Austin, where my friend Scott Semegran had his novel release event, it’s considered good form for an author signing to offer a book copy you’ve purchased from the store. You send your readers an email with a link to the store’s web shop and then have attendees buy the book and pick it up. Of course, they can buy live the night of the event. You will be expected to generate a nice crowd. Get out your email contact lists. Promo the event on your social media, including a link for that book purchase. Be as persistent as a Scout, Boy or Girl.
You want to make the event a success for the store, not just your book. Booksellers take on books “because we want that book to have legs year after year [in our store],” Javier Ramirez from Exile in Bookville in Chicago said in Friedman’s article.
Bookpeople was an obvious target for Semegran and his novel The Codger and the Sparrow. It’s the biggest store in Austin, where the author lives. Friends, allies, and the authors he’s helped through Austin Liti Limits could attend after some city driving. You could also choose a store because you went to college in the town and know alums, or belong to a church that has a presence, or can collaborate with a local. An author in another town whose books sell in the store can be your entry point. Semegran had novelist James Wade interview him. A pair of voices from the stage is always more fun for the audience.
You should also think about how to make the evening an audience event. Giveaways during the program were fun at the Lark & Owl Books reading for the latest Mitch Rapp thriller. I had my local grocery bake a small sheet cake with the cover of Stealing Home frosted onto it. One author I know hired period actors to mingle during his event for a historical novel. No, it’s not free for you. But if you tell your crowd that your event is free, it’s only worth saying that if you’ve produced something for them — even if it’s just a nice set of beverages and snacks.
You can seek co-sponsors for your event, getting the store’s help for who might be a good match locally. Thinking of the bookstore event as a traveling show will put you in the right frame of mind. Send your reviews and any book coverage to show the store manager you’ve got a good product.
You shouldn’t read your book at the event if you’re not a good reader. It feels rewarding to you, but hearing those scenes or deep, meaningful narrative may not be something you can perform. Try yourself out on some casual friends (not the close ones) to get a feel for whether reading is for you. The conversation with a fellow author is likely to entertain the audience as much as any reading. Your conversation partner might even want to read your book to the crowd, if they’re better at that than you.
Don’t fixate on how many readers turn up for the night. A book release event is as much for the staff to get to know you and your book, so they might hand-sell it or write a nice Staff Pick card about it. You can build fans through your store event and help the bookbuyer remember to re-order, or just take more copies of your consignment book.
