12 Tips to Market Your Book at Shows

My ISWG post this month is on marketing/selling your book at shows.

Regardless of your interest or niche, there's bound to be a show or exhibition to celebrate it. These events can be strategic opportunities to market your book. I recently attended Supanova, an annual expo on all things pop culture. I go every year with the kids, because they love the cosplay (visitors come dressed as their favourite characters from films, books, games, comics, etc). This year I took the leap and booked myself a stand. It was a great experience. Some things I did well, and I've learned a few tips for my next show.

Yoda... or some weird zombie dog?

Here's my tips on how to market your book at shows:

1. Choose the show carefully. Who is your customer and which shows would they attend? Romance novels based on weddings, would do well at a wedding expo, the visitors are mostly female and obviously interested in weddings and most likely romantics. Supanova was a great choice for me because of the zombie aspect of my book. I'd also be keen to do any shows where the visitors include a large percentage of children.
2. Stock up. I signed 74 books at Supanova and went home with only 6 copies (which I had to post out the next day for orders anyway). I did order more stock, but not in time. Make sure you won't run out!
3. Have freebies. I took along magnets to give away and promote the book. I get these printed through Vistaprint very cheaply, and each one includes my website address, or a QR code. I give them away freely. I am careful not to make the image look solely like an advertisement, because people (especially kids) would be less likely to even want them.
   
4. Follow up sales. I also have postcards printed up (Vistaprint), which promote the book, include a blurb and all necessary contact details to make it easy for someone to order books after the show. 
5. Signage. I have a good sign with bright colours, to promote my stand and books. I've decided the sign should be a little bigger for these events, but luckily, I can get one made up for very little cost (yup, Vistaprint).
6. Price wisely. I put a discounted price on my books just for Supanova. At $10, it's cheap enough for parents to happily fork over the dough without having to think too much about it. I also had signage announcing the price so people knew before they approached my stand.
7. Dress it up. A plain fold-out table looks unprofessional. I didn't plan this ahead, but thankfully remembered to bring some fabric. Mine was green fur (appropriate for the book), and I covered that with purple tulle just to make it stand out. 
   
8. Bring back up. My kids were keen to attend the show anyway. And although they spent most of the time off exploring, it was good to have someone to mind the stand for bathroom breaks and fetch me a cuppa every now and then.
9. Chat don't sell. When people came up to my stand I'd chat about the costumes and celebrities at the show. I don't jump into a sales pitch for the book. Just make them feel welcome to come and have a sticky-beak. Most people will then choose to turn the conversation to your book by asking questions.
10. Display the book. Don't leave all the books lying flat on the table. I'd have some books sitting upright on top of stacks of books, so they're easy to spot at a distance (these are my own copies that I feel comfortable bending). The other copies are stacked and fanned out at the front of the table, so no matter where a person stands, they'll be right in front of a copy.
11. Get to know the other stand-holders. It's such a supportive environment. I sold a few books to other people with stands at the show, and even did a couple of book swaps with authors. Another bonus for me was being right next door to some awesome artists doing caricatures. One of the artists did a great zombie dog drawing for me!
    
12. Build an email list. This is something I didn't do, but will include next time. By having an email sign-up sheet at your stand, you can build a list of future customers and let them know when you have a new book out. Anthony from Book Cover Cafe has all the best advice on how to create and use an email sign-up sheet: Building your email list at live events

That's it, it was a great weekend and lots of fun! The girls and I had a Doctor Who theme going, but some of the other costumes were very original!

Have you signed up for the Dognapped? blog tour?

I'll be emailing participants in about a week (give you time to recover from A-Z first) and aim to release the book about mid-May. There'll be competitions and prizes:

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Supanova!

Big weekend for me! I'm heading down to the Gold Coast for the annual Supanova Pop Culture Expo. 

This is an amazing event where lots of people come dressed as their favourite characters from pop culture tv, books, games and film. The first time I went, I never even knew what one of these was:

But since then I've become a huge fan and what I want to see most this year is:

I'm also going to have my own stand! I'll be selling and signing copies of:

The kids love to dress up:

I won't, but maybe I'll just wear a cool hat:

My next big event? In May I release Dognapped?

Help me celebrate the release of Dognapped?

I'll be releasing Dognapped? in May and I'd love and appreciate your help! Dognapped? is a mystery novel for girls aged 9-12yrs. If you'd like to join the blog tour, sign up below. I'll email you closer to the release date to provide you with a fully-formatted post you can simply add to your blog to save you time and effort (or feel free to write your own, send me interview questions or provide a topic you'd like me to write about for your blog).

Will there be prizes? YES! I'm thinking... Kindle Fire and Amazon gift cards.

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7 Tips for Choosing Your Book Cover Art

Cover reveal! Dognapped?, the first book in the Dog Show Detective Mystery series is almost ready for release! Can you tell I'm excited? If you'd like to be involved in the Dognapped? blog tour, check for details at the bottom of this post.

Cover design is an essential elements for your novel if you want a professional product. And you do want a professional product. The first impression readers will have of your novel is your cover. Make sure it entices!

Here are my tips for choosing the perfect image:

1. Represent your genre. Research to see what styles are trending in your genre. E.g. Romance readers like a couple embracing or often a hunky fellow with his shirt off. But if you write romantic comedy, you might show a couple back to back instead (to emphasise the conflicts rather than the romance scenes).
2. Professional images. There are so many sites such as Shutterstock, where you can purchase a licence to us professional images. Many will need very little manipulating to turn into a brilliant cover. If you are illustrating your cover, keep in mind composition. Make sure the artwork covers the entire space, it looks terrible when it doesn't quite reach the edges.
3. Don't over-clutter. I see a lot of covers where the author has tried to include every element of the story, setting and characters on the cover. It just gets busy. Less is more. A simple symbol (like a crow or tombstone for horror  stories) is more effective than a crowded cover.
4. Go with the trends. For YA novels, the grunge look is huge with the faded or blackened edges. Almost all genres are embracing the vintage look too now, with a silkscreened or cut-out look that you would expect from the 1950s.
5. Experiment. If you're releasing an e-book and you can't narrow down your choices, upload one for a while and then change. See which one sells better.
6. Trust the experts. I always have a clear idea of what I want on my cover, and then my graphic designer (www.bookcovercafe.com) shows me something better. Don't be stubborn, be open to ideas and suggestions.
7. The reader's choice is more important than yours. My books are mostly for kids 10-13, so even if I love, love, love a cover design, I have to listen when a whole bunch if kids tell me they don't like it.

Want to know more about cover design? Here's some more links:

DIY Book Covers - an overview of everything you need to know.

How to Font Your Cover - Font, it's more important than you think!

Help me celebrate the release of Dognapped?

I'll be releasing Dognapped? in May and I'd love and appreciate your help! Dognapped? is a mystery novel for girls aged 9-12yrs. If you'd like to join the blog tour, sign up below. I'll email you closer to the release date to provide you with a fully-formatted post you can simply add to your blog to save you time and effort (or feel free to write your own, send me interview questions or provide a topic you'd like me to write about for your blog).

Will there be prizes? YES! I'm thinking... Kindle Fire and Amazon gift cards.

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Writing Blurbs

Kitty's little dog Spade, sometimes known as 'No-Spade-No!'

Dognapped? A Dog Show Detective Mystery is almost ready for release. As the cover is getting put together by the team at Book Cover Cafe, I'm writing the blurb. Hey, it's just a short description for the back of the book, how hard can it be? 

Um, yeah. How to summarise the story without making it sound dull or too complicated? 

There are no rules, but, I try to include: Character (this is the most important part for me), premise or plot, setting, conflict and a hint at the theme or message of the story (although I don't think it needs to be stated). Then I try to find a creative way to portray this, so it doesn't read like a list.

So how do you start? I cheat. Yep, I do. I grabbed about twenty novels in the same genre (girls' mystery novel) then rewrote their blurb out with my story's information. 

Here's an example changing Trixie Beldon's story to suit mine:

Kitty can't believe she's stuck in this sleepy little town with nothing to do and no friends. Then she enters her miniature schnauzer Spade into the local dog show, and things start to liven up. A lost dog is found, and another stolen, a secret inheritance is revealed and Kitty teams up with an unlikely sleuthing partner. Could all this lead to murder? Maybe living in the country won't be so boring after all!

I didn't stop there. I rewrote at least ten more. By the time I finished this exercise I knew which things were important for me to include, and what could be left out. If the blurb is too long, the reader will lose interest. Then I took the parts I loved, tweaked and merged them and came up with this:

One dog found

One dog stolen

A mysterious will

All this equals murder!

Introducing Kitty Walker and her mischievous dog Spade in the first Dog Show Detective Mystery: 

Twelve-year-old Kitty, friendless bookworm and amateur sleuth. All she wants is to gain her mother's attention, spend time with Spade and avoid Miss Perfect, Jessica Jones. But now she needs Jessica's help to find the owner of a lost dog, hunt down a dognapper and solve a murder!

Can you solve the mystery before Kitty?

And look, I managed to get a list in! What do you think, does it work? Do you like writing blurbs? Any tips on blurb-writing?

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Writers have a lot of balls

Wait, what did you think I meant?

With the popularity of authors breaking out on their own and publishing their own works, the role of author is expanding. I know many authors who are also their own publishers, editors, marketers, promotors, sales coordinator and graphic artist. Phew! It's a lot of work, for sometimes very little return. 

Through my small press publishing house, Hot Doggy Digital Press, I produce my own books and ebooks, but I definitely am not a one-woman show. I rely on lots of beta-readers (including avid readers, writers and my target market which is usually kids), employ professional editors, work with graphic artists and book designers and enlist various marketing programs. This costs money, but produces much more professional results than I could ever achieve alone.

Right now I'm sending out the final draft of Dognapped? A Dog Show Detective Novel to beta-readers. I'm also playing with cover designs. I like to do mock-ups, so when I talk to my book designer I have a clear idea of what I'm after. While this is going on I'm beginning edits on Undead Kev, writing short stories for submission, designing writing workshops for kids, attending my writer's group and undertaking masterclasses for editing. Soon I'll be designing and ordering promotional material for Dognapped (bookmarks, postcards, magnets, etc) and planning a book launch.

It's not easy juggling all those writer's balls (you thought I was going in a different direction with that post title, didn't you?). To be honest I find it easier to label all my balls, but only toss one in the air at a time. How are you going with time-managment and multi-tasking? Got a lot of balls?

Here's some of the very rough drafts of cover ideas for Dognapped? Feel free to be opinionated!

 

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