Signing stock and meeting booksellers
Today, I'm starting a series of blogs on things I didn't know until I was published. I've chosen to start with signing stock and meeting booksellers because going into bookstores, signing your books on the shelves (called "signing stock", meaning you're signing the copies of your books that a store has in stock), and meeting booksellers is probably one of the first public things you'll do as a new author.
We all have our favorite local bookstores, and chances are we're in there often enough that we recoginze most of the staff, but we probably don't know them by name. If you're like me, you're the shy type who doesn't just come up to someone and start a conversation without a reason. Well, when you're a published author and your book is sitting on their shelves, guess what? You have a reason. Sign stock in your hometown stores; and if you're traveling, sign your books in stores there. A strange thing I've noticed is that no one will ask you for ID. I guess no one is nuts enough to come up to a bookseller and ask to sign someone else's books. At the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, I was having dinner with about eight other authors, and we all thought this was a hoot -- that no one had ever asked if we were who we said we were.
It's important to get to know your local booksellers, store manager, or CRM (Community Relations Manager). CRM is the Barnes & Noble title for the folks who arrange all in-store events. You need to know the managers and CRMs by name. Heck, I send my local bookstore managers and CRMs Christmas cards (with a postcard of my upcoming book tucked inside, but that's for another blog). Every last store manager or CRM that I've met have been simply awesome people -- they love books, and are delighted to find out that they have a local author. Or in my case another local author -- for some reason central North Carolina is positively seething with authors.
For starters, go to the information desk, introduce yourself and your book to the bookseller there and say that you're here to sign your books -- "Hi, I'm Lisa Shearin, author of Armed & Magical, and I'm here to sign my books" -- or something to that effect. (Important tip: Go and actually find your books on the shelves first. I always grab all of them off the shelf and bring them to the info desk with me -- even if they only have one copy. The bookseller will usually apologize for that, but I tell them that's great that they only have one copy, it means that you guys are doing a fabulous job selling my books. Always make the bookseller feel good. Cheerful and friendly is important.
I take my books to the info desk because that's where they usually keep the "Autographed Copy" stickers, and the bookseller there has always helpfully applied the stickers after I sign each copy. I generally just sign my name on the title page (the page with the book title and my name), and I write my website address at the bottom of the page. Unless you're doing an actual book signing and personalizing a book for an actual reader, do not put the date on your books. I bought a book for my grandmother once that the author had signed and dated -- two years ago. That looks rather pitiful to know that book had been sitting on the shelf unbought for that long.
Coming up: Coming up tomorrow, I'll talk about book signings. And next week I'll continue the series with promotion, where to get really cheap/free promo materials, tax write-offs, dangers of burnout, Amazon rankings (ignore them), gifts for your publishing "team", advertising, and more.
And on Saturday: Instead of the Saturday Fun Pic, I'll be joining the ladies over at The Book Smugglers for their "Chat With an Author." (The link will take you to their intro to the festivities for this weekend.) There will be cool prizes, and an interview where I tell how I got published, give tidbits of new characters in upcoming books, give a sneak peek at what I hope will be the ultimate fencing/fight scene between Raine and a new villain, and I'll also answer the question -- am I a Mychael or Tam kind of girl? ; )
Lisa
We all have our favorite local bookstores, and chances are we're in there often enough that we recoginze most of the staff, but we probably don't know them by name. If you're like me, you're the shy type who doesn't just come up to someone and start a conversation without a reason. Well, when you're a published author and your book is sitting on their shelves, guess what? You have a reason. Sign stock in your hometown stores; and if you're traveling, sign your books in stores there. A strange thing I've noticed is that no one will ask you for ID. I guess no one is nuts enough to come up to a bookseller and ask to sign someone else's books. At the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, I was having dinner with about eight other authors, and we all thought this was a hoot -- that no one had ever asked if we were who we said we were.
It's important to get to know your local booksellers, store manager, or CRM (Community Relations Manager). CRM is the Barnes & Noble title for the folks who arrange all in-store events. You need to know the managers and CRMs by name. Heck, I send my local bookstore managers and CRMs Christmas cards (with a postcard of my upcoming book tucked inside, but that's for another blog). Every last store manager or CRM that I've met have been simply awesome people -- they love books, and are delighted to find out that they have a local author. Or in my case another local author -- for some reason central North Carolina is positively seething with authors.
For starters, go to the information desk, introduce yourself and your book to the bookseller there and say that you're here to sign your books -- "Hi, I'm Lisa Shearin, author of Armed & Magical, and I'm here to sign my books" -- or something to that effect. (Important tip: Go and actually find your books on the shelves first. I always grab all of them off the shelf and bring them to the info desk with me -- even if they only have one copy. The bookseller will usually apologize for that, but I tell them that's great that they only have one copy, it means that you guys are doing a fabulous job selling my books. Always make the bookseller feel good. Cheerful and friendly is important.
I take my books to the info desk because that's where they usually keep the "Autographed Copy" stickers, and the bookseller there has always helpfully applied the stickers after I sign each copy. I generally just sign my name on the title page (the page with the book title and my name), and I write my website address at the bottom of the page. Unless you're doing an actual book signing and personalizing a book for an actual reader, do not put the date on your books. I bought a book for my grandmother once that the author had signed and dated -- two years ago. That looks rather pitiful to know that book had been sitting on the shelf unbought for that long.
Coming up: Coming up tomorrow, I'll talk about book signings. And next week I'll continue the series with promotion, where to get really cheap/free promo materials, tax write-offs, dangers of burnout, Amazon rankings (ignore them), gifts for your publishing "team", advertising, and more.
And on Saturday: Instead of the Saturday Fun Pic, I'll be joining the ladies over at The Book Smugglers for their "Chat With an Author." (The link will take you to their intro to the festivities for this weekend.) There will be cool prizes, and an interview where I tell how I got published, give tidbits of new characters in upcoming books, give a sneak peek at what I hope will be the ultimate fencing/fight scene between Raine and a new villain, and I'll also answer the question -- am I a Mychael or Tam kind of girl? ; )
Lisa
posted by Lisa Shearin at
8:00 AM
4 Comments:
Sounds like a fun thing to do. I bet if you do it just right, you could cause a bit of a stir at the bookstore, and maybe even end up with a run on the cashier by a mob of autographed book-wielding future fans.
Hey Tia!
LOL! It'd be nice if it worked like that. I've never caused a stir at the bookstore. Heck, I don't think I've ever produced a respectable ripple. ; ) To use a Southern phrase -- People in a bookstore don't know me from Adam's housecat. I'm just another person strolling around the B&N. ; )
I want to know what kind of pen you use to sign. I've seen everything from sharpies to purple ball-point. What do you like? :)
I use a Signo Uniball 207 medium point in black gel ink. I like the smooth flow and more complete coverage of gel. I tried the fine-tipped Sharpies, but it bleeds on the paper that most paperback books are printed on. Though it'd be great on a coated paper stock, or paper that wasn't quite as porous. Can you tell I used to work at a printer. ; )
However, I do carry both a regular tip and fine-tip black Sharpie, 'cause you never know what you're going to be asked to sign (ie tote bags and t-shirts).
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