My philosophy on Book Signings

I've done several book signings in the past, all with varied success. My usual operating procedure is to have my Eppie Award on display, provide bookmarks to pass out, offer a variety of candy and sell my books for $10.00 each.

I buy my books from either Lulu.com or Amazon.com at full price. I usually buy from Lulu when they are offering one of their sales as this generally covers the cost of postage. The reason I purchase at full price  is so it will show in the count for my publisher or on Amazon. When I get my royalty for the sale, it makes the book less and fairly close to what I would have paid had I gone through my publisher.

That said, each book is about $11.95 or $14.95 so I either lose a little or break even. (I also have to pay state tax on each sale but that's nominal)

This weekend, we had a great turn out of the Houston Indie Book Festival. In a split decision, I changed gears. I sold my books for $5.00 each. Had I not set the price so low, I would have only sold maybe 3 but probably only 2. Most stopped and took a second look when they were told the price. I took a loss for each sale but ... I don't spend any money on promotional geegaws that most folks end up throwing in the trash. In my mind, the difference equated to promotion.

I always say, "one reader at a time." I'm hoping for a domino effect. If they read it and like it, they'll buy more. Most of the readers who bought, claimed they did not own an e-reader and preferred to read paper. They wanted to know if they could purchase more of my paperbacks from a bookstore. I directed them to go to the publisher's webpage or Amazon.

For the readers who didn't buy today, they went home with a bookmark and information and a reminder that first chapters were offered for free through my website or through the e-book providers like Amazon or B&N. I actually had 4 times the amount of traffic I usually have to my website.

Houston Indie Book Festival

Well it's been forever and a day since I posted here mainly because school has kept me very busy and I've been writing! Yay me. I have over 70,000 words now for the sequel to The Keeper of Moon Haven. My goal is to have the rough finished by the time I get out of school. That will give me June to polish and submit to my publisher, Champagne Books.

In the meantime, I'm going to be signing books at the Houston Indie Book Festival. So excited. It's been a year since I've done a book signing. And I get to join forces with fellow Champagne author, Linda LaRoque.

So, y'all come out and say hello. Would love to meet new friends, authors and readers.

Hill Country Book Festival

I usually attend book festivals of this nature with no expectations of whether I will sell books or not. In fact, if I sell none at all, I'm okay with that because I do a lot of PR. I pass out bookmarks and explain excitedly that books and samples are available for the Kindle and Nook, etc. I figure is most buyers are like me, they want to go home and test out the book first before buying. But yesterday was great. I sold a few books and that's always a great feeling. I shared a table with wonderful author, Linda LaRoque and I met four other romance authors as well. Tiffany Green, Fleeta Cunningham, and Golden Keyes Parsons. Photos aren't the best but I was using my phone. Check out Linda and I. We make a cure pair, don't we?

Bremond was a Success!

On February 5, I narrated a script for a silent play. The play was inspired by a scene from my book, Once Jilted and was only part of the goings on at the Bremond Library Fundraiser. It was a blast.

Besides the silent play, the Cowboy Church provided cowboy stew cooked outside along with biscuits and cobbler baked in a dutch oven. Kids were treated to a few old time type games while parents bid on silent auction items.

I invited Linda LaRoque to join me. After the play, they allowed us to talk about our books, t

hen afterwards we were allowed to sell and autograph our books. Way too much fun!

To the left are some of the actors in action. And to the right, I'm watching as Linda gives her speech.

The reason I was asked to participate in this event was because Bremond was once a stop for the orphan train and there are still several descendants of the orphan train riders living in Bremond. I really enjoyed giving the program and letting everyone know a little more about the orphan train riders.

Life is good

Sometimes things happen and you just have to think - wow.

Our computer tech guy at school is the most interesting character and knows a lot about things you rarely think about. I'm not sure what comment I made that got him started on Tai Chi but he looked at my room and told me he needed to practice and my room was perfect. It was after school and he invited me to learn basic Tai Chi moves. I laughed and said, sure. I'd be crazy to pass up the opportunity to learn, so we took our poses and went through a series of contortions that actually felt good after all was said and done.

He made a comment that most students of Tai Chi are women because men don't have the emotional stamina to withstand failing at the complicated moves and practicing until they master them. It's a very graceful set of exercizes, but not easy to learn. Even now I only remember one of the thirty some odd moves we did today. Too fun. He said he'd come once or twice a week from now on and teach me. We'll see. I hope he does. It was a great stretching activity.

Okay, so just more info. I'll be at a book signing tomorrow in Austin. I hope the rain doesn't keep folks away.


Book signing @ Borders South Park Meadows

Date:

Saturday September 12, 2009

3:00 pm -6:00 pm

Borders South Park Meadows
9500 S. IH 35 Service Rd.,
Austin, TX