When I was a marketing executive mingling in direct selling circles (think: Tupperware and Mary Kay), I heard a speaker once tell a crowd of salespeople that the secret to her success was “open your mouth.”

She didn’t have magic fliers or special gifts for hosts or exactly the right words to say, she just put herself out there and talked to people about the products and opportunity she had to offer (thanks, Lisa K.).

That’s how it is with promoting one’s book, too, I believe.

I secured my first (note: “first”) book signing by walking into a locally owned bookstore on Saturday and opening my mouth: “Do you ever sell books from self-published authors?”

Turns out, the answer is yes, and sometimes they host book signings for self-published authors, too!

The “open your mouth” trick worked today at the post office, too. While I was busily packaging and addressing review copies of “The Percussionist’s Wife” for the press, I struck up a conversation with the woman behind the desk, who asked what my book was about.

“Oh, it’s a memoir about my first marriage,” I said. “I was married to a man who was investigated and prosecuted for a sex crime involving one of his students. I wrote it for other women married to liars so they could learn from my mistakes. Does that sound interesting to you?”

The answer was yes (oh, joy!). We chatted and before I left, I gave her my business card with this website on it and told her she could check it out to learn more about my book.

Since this approach is working so well, I’ll ask here on She Writes: Would you be interested in participating in a blog tour about my book where you review it on your blog? If you’re interested, drop me a note at mindfulmonica@yahoo.com.

Monica Lee is the author of “The Percussionist’s Wife: A Memoir of Sex, Crime & Betrayal.”