The 4-hour book tour (are bookstore signings for chumps?)
What's the burning ambition of every wannabe author? Touring the country, signing books for legions of fans at every Barnes & Noble, Borders, and independent bookstore from coast to coast.
It's a rabidly popular marketing discussion at Lulu.com, the self-publishing service company: How one self-published author defied the odds and got a signing at her local Barnes & Noble.
It's just common sense, right? You've got to get out there and pound the pavement to sell your book, right?Wrong. Bookstore signings are for chumps, according to Tim Ferriss. And he knows something, having written a #1 bestseller. With his first book. Without traditional advertising or PR.
Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek, and, naturally, didn't want to waste time marketing it. So he surveyed several bestselling authors, asking them to name the biggest wastes of time and money in book marketing. With this advice, Ferriss compiled a not-to-do list for his book marketing campaign:
Number one was no book touring or bookstore signings whatsoever. Not a one. All of the best-selling authors warned against this author rite of passage.
Bookstore signings require tons of time and money. Getting on plane after plane, staying in hotel after hotel. And for what? To sell 15 books per stop if you're wildly successful at it? No thanks.
Instead of bookstore signings, the experts told Ferriss to focus on Internet marketing:
* Go where bloggers go* Be there with a message and a story that will appeal to their interests, not yours
* Build and maintain those relationships through your own blog too
Ironically, one of the most talked-about author marketing Web sites I've heard about lately is BookTour.com, which is all about traditional book tours. Maybe they should add blog tours to the menu!
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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors
Labels: blog tours, book marketing, book signings, book tours
posted by Steve Weber at 8/07/2007
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4 Comments:
In Guerrilla Marketing for Writers (Levinson, et al) it says the average number of sales at a bookstore signing = 4.
Not good.
As a book publicist I have a strong opinion about book tours. Authors tend to think they are a great idea because they see Bill and Hillary Clinton, Rachael Ray, Howard Stern and other big names out on the circuit and think that’s the way to promote a book.
Frankly it’s just ONE way to promote a book and is an element in the overall marketing of a book. The reality is that unless you are well known it’ll be you, the flower vase along with your book at the little table waiting for people to approach you. Now don’t get me wrong, book signings can be very useful and even if you don’t sell books it gives the media a reason to write about your book right now in order to promote the event. Without that reason to do the story right now, they have plenty of other books to write about since most reviewers are deluged with dozens to hundreds of books every week. And that’s where I believe book signings and book tours are most useful.
The bottom line: There’s no way to know how you’ll be received in a book store, whether you’ll sell many books or even one book. But, unless you try it you’ll be wondering. So, my recommendation is to try it. See what happens. Frankly, often what happens is something good that goes way beyond simply selling a book. You might meet a local librarian who’ll invite you to speak to a library group, or a member of a book club who’ll do the same. You may find a member of the media who’s looking for a new angle on a story, or just trying to get some feature story ideas. After you’ve done a few book signings you can see if it’s worth your time and effort. You may just be surprised.
Scott, you make a good point. An author who has the initiative and persistence to even try for a book tour probably has what it takes to succeed no matter what.
I've been to lots of book signings myself and enjoyed them all. However, I think the reason it's so hard for Joe Author to get booked at a store is the bookstores know the economics are so dicey.
As a publisher, I do believe that book signings have their place, but they should never be considered the best way to sell books.
I consider them to be one part of a huge process. I try to make my authors understand that they should do signings, but they should not expect to sell a ton of books. Instead they should go with the notion that they are promoting their book.
I have discovered that a great number of books sold at a signing are actually sold after the author leaves.
If an author is going to invest the time in a signing, they need to make it worth the reader's time. Promo items, maybe the potential to win a small prize, and by all means, good conversation with no pressure.
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