People think writing is sexy. Lazing around in pjs. Sipping bourbon-spiked tea. Imagining fake people to life. Untold hours of bliss and leisure.
Well.
Writing is a dirty business. It takes a lot of meeting real people. Shaking hands and sharing germs. Giving book stump speeches. Being unflappable when people look you in the eye and lie.
Part of the Life of a Writer is signing up for showcase events over which I have no control. I show up at a big-ass room. I find my name on a plastic table. I organize my books into fetching piles of Words for Sale, and I do everything I can to entice people with at least 100 other reading choices displayed in that very room to give me their money. To pick my words over everyone else’s.
TO. BUY. MY. WORDS.
I’ve tried an exhausting list of Booth Babe tactics so far:
- Take Dad to said event. Have him roam the room and talk to people. He isn’t a babe, but he sure does sell.
- Run a computer slide show of pictures from my Trace walk.
- Encourage people to complete Make a Memory cards and drop them in a box.
- Incorporate signage at my table showing various media mentions that will be familiar to people and (possibly) impress them into buying.
- Never, ever sit. As soon as I make eye contact, I start asking people questions to draw them into my space.
- Have take-aways on hand for easy access.
Nothing really works.
I fail at Booth Babe.
So, I’m turning to you, Dear Readers.
What would entice YOU to
spend some time in a booth?
Please don’t answer like you know me. You’ve attended similar events. What made you stop at one booth over a gaggle of others? Why did you stay? Maybe even purchase? What made that booth compelling?
I’m participating in the Tri-County Literacy Celebration this Saturday. I’d love to have a few new tactics to try. Shout-outs next week to the people whose tactics actually work.
And, no. I will not wear a bikini.
Nobody wants to see that.
****************
People are snapping up their copies of Not Without My Father: One Woman’s 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace. Please enjoy a few pictures from a recent event.
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48 Comments
No bikini? How about lingerie? That should do it.
Oh, and snacks, always snacks. Well, snacks will get people to come and maybe even stay. Food may not get them to buy though.
Make sure to let folks know that you can take credit cards and checks as well as cash. Offer them a discount if they buy both books.
Oh and of course get them to sign up for your mailing list so you can let them know when the next book is coming out.
I see we both went straight to “bribe them with treats,” Mr. Carnell. Brilliant.
Food is tricky. It can’t be something they can open and eat while handling books.
I take any form of payment, and I offer a discount for buying both books (or even two of the same title instead of one.)
Free chocolate?
In all seriousness, this is where I’m headed, if things go as I plan, so I’ll be watching the results.
Gosh, these things are grueling. I really do feel like I should just wear a freaking bikini…….OR put a swimsuit on my books, hold them up and say, “See? SEE? Mine wins the swimsuit competition, SO BUY IT!”
Maybe your answer lies in your first few statements. If folks think writers lounge around in pj’s, give ’em what they expect!
Maybe add a stash of bon bons on the side, and get a pair of cute, but not inappropriate, pj’s and wear them!! Might be goofy, but it brings ’em out in droves every year in Shipshewana, and coincidentally, this year it’s on the 7th of February!! http://www.shipshewana.com/page.php?page_id=351
My mother will totally be wearing her pjs when she works a booth with me now………
THAT made me laugh right. out. loud!! Does she know yet?
Tough one. Sponsor a drawing? Fill out a ticket to win a free book? Grand Prize=both books?
Lots of people do drawings at business conventions and whatnot. I haven’t seen that done at one of these events……..might be worth trying.
Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be books. But something. Local gift certificate? Roy’s suspenders?
I always find asking the person questions about themselves really works. You know 1. Do you live here? 2. What is your favorite book? 3. Do you like movies? 4. (You are so expressive) Have you ever written a book? 5. Don’t I know you from the morning TV show?
I find that people just avoid eye contact altogether, because they don’t want to be put in the position of saying no. I do try to follow their interest and start a conversation based upon what they’re paying attention to, and that’s pretty effective.
To me it sounds like you’re doing everything right already. When I think back on the events I’ve attended the two things that stand out in my mind are: 1) clear, professional signage that tells me exactly who you are; & 2) a smile as I pass by. Not the most earth-shattering suggestions, but there you have it. Best of luck on Saturday.
Better signage is in the works. I have some now, but it isn’t what I want.
And I always smile. 🙂
Wear red!
I have a red outfit that might be perfect. I hope we’re still on for lunch tomorrow…..
Bikinis and baskets of chocolates draw folks in, which is step one, but unless you are selling what’s in the bikini or the basket you still have to sell people on the book.
Seed the hall with 5 or 6 people/couples who randomly come up to the table squealing and saying loudly, “oh, Ms Watkins, I loved your book it was so etc. I am making my book club read it as our next book. Can I have your autograph” Run them up in pairs (either girl friends who are both in the book club or a couple with the man holding back (chick author), until he grudgingly says, a bit louder than might be expected, “yeah, I read it and I actually liked. Embarrassed head duck, “I didn’t think I would but it’s really good!”
Take this prescription every 20 minutes or so and see what develops.
If I ever attend a large book event (like Miami or similar), I’ve actually thought about hiring several local actors to do this. I am shameless. I’m afraid the other authors would out me, though.
I’m not the type to be attracted by bonbons and bikinis. I know what doesn’t attract me to a stand: well-oiled commercial tactics that make me think of salesmen selling miracle vegetable shredders and carpet detergent. I look for what you already have, Andra – someone who appears human, approachable and happy to be there. C’mon, I’ve bought your book on the strength of the good vibes I got from you – and that’s from the other side of the Atlantic!
If you have to put anyone in a bikini to hand out bonbons, it could be your two main men – now THAT would be original!
I am still laughing at the image of you tooling around the French countryside singing “Rednecks WHIIIIIIIIITE socks and Blue Ribbon beer!” That made my whole week, Joanna. Thank you.
You wouldn’t have laughed if you’d seen me today. A sack of spuds on stilts, wading through porridge. But I made it through the second run with my whiiiiiiiite socks!
Read your book in Kindle. As I’m from Britain I don’t know the trail you walked but still enjoyed your journey. A great read with interesting characters. Your parents are great 🙂
Suggestions – a map with pins as a visual to show the distance and a powerpoint display with photos from the trip interspersed with relevant quotes from the book.
Good luck
Eileen x
Thanks, Eileen. Please come back and let me know how you found my book. I always like to know what’s working.
Map with pins is a great idea! Thank you.
I’m a fan of Robert Johnson’s comment. Definitely! Your pictures would draw me in if I didn’t know you.
Some people do watch the picture slide show, but I can’t always project it. These event people can be very strict about boundaries and ancillary devices and whatnot. It’s almost like they do everything they can to have the author NOT sell anything.
I’m still not seeing a login for wordpress, just that I can put my name and email address in, so not sure what’s the haps there. I’ll post this in both places in case it gets lost on the website somehow. Worst case scenario more people will see it and maybe give their additional thoughts on what I say.
Since you’ve already shot down the brilliant bikini idea I guess I’m not sure what you could do more than you are. I saw a lot of comments about giving stuff away, which the idealist in me thinks you shouldn’t have to do, but maybe that is what motivates some people. When I see something where there are booths with giveaways I am usually less likely to stop there because I just find that whole situation awkward. The only thing that has drawn me to a booth ever is actual interest in what is on display there.
So that said, I would say make sure people know what is going on at the booth somehow. Clear signage is huge. A picture of you holding the book so they can put two and two together and think “OH, THAT’S THE AUTHOR RIGHT THERE” and not wonder if you are just a random person working the booth (the bikini would make them not care if you were just a random person working the booth of course lol)
Once they’re there I think they are yours. You are great at talking to people, and getting them to talk. And you are personable. And since the newer book is a memoir that is even more important on this book than the last, because you are the protagonist, if they like you they will likely enjoy the book.
I’d also like to get a life-size cardboard cutout made of Dad, but again, space……..some of these people won’t let me bring in a bunch of stuff like that.
Well said, Kenneth. And it seems I can no longer log in to the blog posts via Facebook either, so I remain faceless in my comments now. 🙁
Whaaat? You mean your sunny Natchez Face isn’t getting the masses to stumble over themselves as they rush to get your Jane Hancock? This just will not do. I suppose you could cosplay as Lewis or Clark (but not Roy, as he’s an original) and see what happens…
Most people have never heard of the Natchez Trace. Walking it does not impress them.
I suck at this, so take my input for the quarter it’s worth and feel free to toss the parts you can’t use over your left shoulder with some salt (so the salt demon doesn’t eat both of us).
Here’s an idea I had, though it gives me serious cotton-ball-in-the-mouth syndrome.
Band up with the people beside you to draw attention to each other. When someone comes to your table, don’t hog them. Instead, draw the author beside you in, so that now the reader is engaged with not just one, but two of you. Or even three. Ask them to do the same for you. You might lose a few sales to your neighbors, but you will also make yourselves collectively look like this fun group of people doing something awesome, and THAT is far more appealing than intimidating.
When you focus on sale-sale-sale, you’re putting yourself in the position of having to present your book like it’s a used sedan on a seedy lot. When you focus on The Andra Experience (Uh, could I be more cheesy?) you instead offer people information and fun, and they get to you and remember they oh yeah! CAME here to buy books and these are really reasonably priced. They don’t feel pressured, and you have a prayer of wearing down resistance. (Having your dad working the crowd is therefore brilliant.) Plan it out with the people around you in advance while you’re setting up. Figure out common topics and funny things to tell each other later.
Make yourselves the “It” group that nobody wants to miss, NOT because of book sales, but because everybody who misses out on your company has missed a “you had to be there” moment. If you can make it over the hump of considering each other competition (you’re not – this isn’t a race, no matter what Amazon makes it sound like) you’ll make yourselves less intimidating to the reader. And when nobody is at your table? Chat like mad with each other, and make it funny as hell. You have a kickass laugh, and EVERYBODY always wants to know what’s so hilarious over there. People are more likely to come to see what has you cackling than they are to come over so they can feel pressured by you.
Can I do this?
Not so far.
The only thing that has ever worked for me is to get people engaged with me personally. They don’t give a shit about my books until then. Sometimes I can engage someone online, and sometimes it’s face to face, but it’s almost NEVER in a group, unless it’s a group of people who already know me. I CAN and do speak on conference panels so that people will hopefully notice and maybe interested in me. I can do presentations without batting an eyelash.
I can speak on a panel or get in front of a group and then talk to people one-on-one. But if I have to talk in a meeting-like situation, workplace anxiety slams me, and I babble like an idiot. And putting a table between me and my potential buyer is like scrawling “MEETING” on the door REDRUM style. I’ve tried it a couple of times. I suck.
You’re really good at the eye catching thing, and the person who said you already ARE doing things right has a point. There is only so much you can do. The best way to sell books at a booth is to be the speaker people came to hear and to give teasers in your presentation that stop just short of something crucial. Make them want to know what happens next, then deftly change the topic so they don’t realize you left a loose end, but they DO remember thinking “I want to read that” and they DO come back later and think, “Well what DID happen when…”
But mostly, keep in mind you build your fan base one reader at a time, and it’s fucking slow. I tell myself daily that this must be true. I extend myself in the ways I can and hope I can reach enough people to get sufficient momentum to make this work.
I did work with the author next to me at the last event. I even gave her advice about several things when we had slow periods, and I bought a copy of her book for Cooper. It ended up being a nice bit of camaraderie.
Unfortunately, I don’t always have control over who’s around me at these events. Some people want to connect. Others won’t even make eye contact. Still others come over to complain that I have visual aids and that’s not fair. (?????)
But you’re right. People who feel a connection to a writer buy. And building those connections takes lots and lots and lots of time.
Too true — and the assholes who aren’t happy about your visual aids ought to have brought their own! It’s that “we are competition” attitude. It holds authors back. Ours is not a football field, and we succeed by holding each other up.
You need a friendly puppy to go with your bowl of chocolate. Or a couple of hot bodies from the local gym, wearing swimsuits and holding your book. If people don’t want to look you in the eye, there has to be something else to draw them in. I’m being a smart-aleck, Andra, but I’m also not good at rational suggestions for your booth.
I guess I could hire hot bodies along with actors who “build excitement” for my books. Ha.
At our community college high-school recruitment shows we’ve tried everything and so has every other school there. Usually, there are two of us at the table, so we tag team the kids. We lure them with cheap but cool junk, candy, and anything else we can think of that is legal. We have an engaging chatter going on, non-stop, work with the tables beside us…in fact, everything you’ve mentioned. Sometimes we do well with the kids, but sometimes they look right through us to the Oil and Gas Department which has computer screens the size of of mini-vans or the Marine recruiters who bring their own rock walls. We just can’t compete with a rock wall:)
So, you’re doing it all, Andra. You’re showing your love of writing, sharing your awesome story, and spreading the word!
Cheap-but-cool junk is key, isn’t it? I’ve got several ideas going………..
And nobody could compete with the rock wall, Nancy. Nobody.
The standard geek answer is to dress up like a viking warrior. Meaning you need a fur bikini and a big sword or an axe. And you can’t forget the winged helmet and fur lined boots. But that seems to only be appropriate at a gamer convention.
I cannot imagine how much a fur-kini would itch, John. YIKES. But Alice and I decided today that we need to take a trip to one of these gamer conventions for ideas. I don’t think MTM could stand it, but Alice is game.
Andra, if you go to like Dragoncon or something, I want to go with you! I’ll be your nerd translator!
Anything worthwhile takes a lot of hard work, time and patience. I know that you are not afraid of hard work and patience. You have come a very long way and we are proud of you. I am thinking that the most powerful tool that you have at your disposal is who you are. That, and your relationship with your dad and how he supported you on your trek. I can’t help but believe that your story and the father daughter dynamics will be a powerful motivation for people to want to dig into the real story. As I have been reading your 2nd book I have been reminded of how real and authentic you are. I do not have any suggestions with regards to the booth and I do wish you lots of luck. You have gotten a lot of great suggestions from what I read Andra. I also believe that you are in this for the long haul and that you are going to be pleasantly surprised to find out that your fans are going to be there for a long long time.
Well, Booth Babe today was a bust. The organization didn’t have me on the list or assign me a space, though I was one of the first people to register. I ended up in the very back of the room, sharing a table with someone else in a high-traffic area. Everyone pushed past my table in a claustrophobic bid to move on. Sold a few, but couldn’t do any real chatting with people. Any time someone stopped, they got pushed along by impatient people behind them. VERY FRUSTRATING, as I signed up early and was assigned a prime spot.
First of all, Roy’s face in these pics. I die, I die.
Love him so much.
Re: booth babe-ness (as an aside I refer to it as booth bitch, but I’m crude that way)… I would say, pick your targets and adjust accordingly. If you spy a painfully shy introvert approaching, dial back a bit. Entice them with a shy smile and a quiet opening line, “…What a crowd! This is pretty overwhelming, huh?”. Establish rapport and common ground, then start selling. 🙂
For those that look more open to engagement, flash that winning smile, blurt out something raw and real from the book, “Hi, I’m Andra, and I nearly crapped my pants while walking 444 miles! I’ll bet my ‘most embarrassing moment’ beats yours!” 🙂
You have a magnetic personality. Use it!
xoxo
Tried all those tactics. Just have to get better at it. People typically come to these kinds of book sales to buy children’s books and photography books. Too bad the photo book wasn’t ready. I could’ve probably sold a few.
As others have surely said, food and/or a costume. I, too would likely feel like a failure at a booth event bc I am averse to acting like a trained monkey ON COMMAND. I’m fine with acting like a trained monkey… when I want to. However, I am sure you are much more charming and effective than you give yourself credit for.
I made the best of the abysmal circumstances and sold a few. Gave out lots of cards to people who said they’d buy online, but people take those just so they won’t have to say no or reject you.
I never feel less attractive/sexy than when I’m writing.
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