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Tips on Marketing to Bookstores
Elizabeth Burton, executive editor at Zumaya Publications, LLC has offered up some useful tips for authors who intend to approach bookstores for an event. The key is to have a marketing plan in place to show what you can and will do to attract people to the event and business to the store.
Her tips are attached and she has given permission for this information to be shared as long as she is properly credited.
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MARKETING TO BOOKSTORES.doc, 28 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly Golden Malmgren on -
I used to work for B. Dalton's back in the late 1980s-early 1990s. We used to get approached by a lot of local authors wanting to have readings and signings at our store. It was rare that my manager agreed to them, mostly because our store was so small, but also because of problems with returning books that didn't sell.
That being said, if an author approached her and seemed to have a good plan, she was more likely to say yes. I think the mistake a lot of the authors made was that they wanted the bookstore to pay for all the advertising around their planned events without thinking that many stores don't even have a budget for that sort of thing.
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Permalink Reply by Zetta Brown on -
Good point, as is the point that the author must make an appealing pitch--just like when he or she did when they wanted to get published.
I haven't done a book signing event, mainly because my targeted audience is 1000s of miles away and there are few bookstores where I live. But I'm glad for the information because authors should approach bookstores with a "Let me tell you what I can do for you," rather than a "What can you do for me" attitude.
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly Golden Malmgren on
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Even though your targeted audience is 1000s of miles away, you may want to contact your local bookstore and ask them to keep a few copies of your book on the shelves. If they have a local authors section, even if your book isn't about the place where you live, they are more likely to display your book there. It's another way of at least making sure people see your name on the cover. :)
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Permalink Reply by Zetta Brown on
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That's a good idea, Kimberly.
I did (perhaps still do) have some copies at The Dock Bookstore in Fort Worth, TX (plug!) on consignment. But that was a few yrs ago and I have no idea if they are still there. The last time I was in TX I was too involved w/family biz to stop by.
However, I did recommend one of our authors to have an event there and he's had 2 so far, and another friend is happy that I put her on to this bookstore because she's never heard of it.
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Permalink Reply by Mia Loveless on -
The proper information of knowing about the marketing plan is giving the great chance for anyone in attracting people to the event and business to stores. Thanks Zetta for the information :-)
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