When you’re finally ready to go, you should once again thank the booksellers--they watched you bust your butt and are on your side.

If you didn't sell every copy, ask to sign the remaining stock, and affix stickers that say "signed by the author."

If the store doesn’t have stickers, use the ones you borrowed from the last place you signed at---the employees shouldn’t mind if you ask to take some extras, and you should always keep a supply of stickers on you from various chain stores.

If you brought your own books, don’t ask to be paid upfront---that’s bad business. Leave your contact information and let them know they can mail a check.

Most importantly, ask to come back in a month or two. I visit some local stores five times a year. Signed books really do well during the holidays.

Staying Positive. Every time I come into a bookstore and see that big stack of my books, I get a little sick inside. There's no way I'll sell all of those, I think. No one will come in to the store. People will ignore me. My pitch is crummy and won’t work. The staff is laughing behind my back. I’m a writer, not a salesperson.
Then I remind myself that the Great Wall of China was built one brick at a time, and that's how I'll sell my books--one at a time.

Each book you handsell is a book that never would have sold without your efforts.

Each person you meet is likely to talk about you to others.

Each reader who becomes a fan will become a fan for life and remember the time they shook your hand.

Each bookstore you visit will have employees who will handsell you for weeks, months, and even years after you’ve gone.

In my acknowledgements page on my latest book, I have a list of a dozen booksellers that I thank, because they’ve each handsold at least twenty copies of my first novel.

In the next book, I’ll be thanking over fifty booksellers. One particular bookseller has helped me sell over 300 hardcovers at one location. I named a character after him in my third book.

Your Goal. There’s no reason a booksigning has to be a stressful, unpleasant experience. In reality it is one of the cheapest, most-effective ways to build your career.

It’s your name on the book’s cover, and it’s your job to sell it. Sales is just like writing---the more you do, the better you become, the more success you achieve.Now go get ‘em, tiger!

Six Keys to a Successful Bookstore Pitch

1. Introduce yourself with a smile.

2. Explain the book’s premise, setting, and lead character in just a few seconds.

3. Compare your books to well known books the reader will recognize (It’s like a chick-lit version of Silence of the Lambs…)

4. Ask the customer a question. (Who do you like to read? What book did you come in for?)

5. Offer to sign and personalize a copy for them.

6. Thank them, whether they buy a copy or not.

Signing Survival Kit

· Snacks for Bookstore Employees
· 3 Good Pens
· 100 Business Cards
· 50 Flyers
· Poster of Book Cover
· Sign saying “Author Signing Today”
· Mints (gum annoys people)
· Bottled water
· Extra “Autographed Copy” stickers
· A Big Smile and a Good Attitude

© 2006 J.A. Konrath

J.A. Konrath recently signed his second three book deal with Hyperion Books for his Jack Daniels mystery series. His first novel, WHISKEY SOUR, introduces series heroine Lt. Jacqueline Daniels of the Chicago Police Department. The second in the series, BLOODY MARY, was released in July 2005.

Joe graduated from Columbia College in Chicago in 1992. He’s written for corporate and cable television, assisted the brewmeister at a local micro brewery, performed improv comedy on stage, and regularly speaks at mystery and horror conventions.

Recent short story sales include "On the Rocks: A Lt. Jack Daniels Novella" and “Street Music” to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, "Finicky Eater" to Horror Garage Magazine, "The Screaming" to The Many Faces of Van Helsing anthology edited by Jeanne Cavelos, “Forgiveness” to Cemetery Dance Magazine, and “Redux” to the Spooks anthology edited by Tina Jens, coming from Twilight Tales. He’s also written articles for Writer’s Digest and Novel Writing Magazine.

Joe has one wife, three kids (that he knows of), a dog, and a house in the suburbs, where he’s recently finished RUSTY NAIL, the third book in the Lt. Jacqueline Daniels thriller series.