[TIPS OF THE TRADE] How to Fill an Empty Room

One of the great pleasures of being an author is reading from and signing your book at a bookstore, library, or other community venue. But unless you’re famous, even a bookstore (in fact, especially a bookstore) is just an empty room – and it’s your job to fill it.

Here’s my checklist for how to fill an empty room, based on what I did when I read and signed at Porter S quare Books, a wonderful independent bookstore in Cambridge, MA.

At least eight weeks ahead:

Set a goal. Given the size of the room, I set a goal of 40 attendees, of whom I hoped 15-25 would buy books. In the end, 100 people came – standing room only – and the store sold its entire stack of pre-ordered books.

Make your contact list. Wrack your brain for every single person you can think of. I haven’t lived in the Boston area for decades, but I was able to draw up a list of 100 names, including my friend Mimi from when I was nine, high school friends, old roommates, and former coworkers. It took me a couple of hours to sleuth out all their email addresses.

Send the venue your headshot, cover photo, and a brief description of your book. I also sent (and later also brought with me, in big print) a one-paragraph introduction for the staff to use on the night of the event.

Arrange with your publisher, if possible, to “co-op” with the bookstore or other venue. The bookstore placed ads on local radio and in local newspapers, and my publisher helped with the cost. (Note, I also arranged to speak at a local university, which covered my travel expenses and paid an honorarium.)

Six weeks ahead:

Email a press release to local newspapers, radio, TV. I concentrated on the local Jewish newspaper, and instead of trying for a feature article, I sent an opinion article (including a notice about the talk), which ran close to the time of my reading.

Create a recruitment team. I picked out five likely people from my list of 100 contacts and asked if they would draw up their own lists of five or ten people to invite personally. (And I thanked them at the event.)

Add an after-talk gathering. On the Internet, I located a casual-seating restaurant near the bookstore where people could gather informally after the talk. My Team of Five and I invited our contacts to come to the talk and to join us afterwards for conversation. This added a warm note to the invitation. We asked for RSVP’s for the gathering, which gave people an opportunity to make a commitment (albeit non-binding) to come.

Design an e-mail invitation for use by yourself and your team. Include a brief description of the book, the time and place of the reading, and the restaurant invitation. Add: “If you can’t attend the reading, you can buy the book here,” with a link to your website, your publisher’s website, or a bookseller of your choice.

Notify organizations whose members will be interested in your talk. Email them a notice to post on their website or bulletin board. You can also track down the Facebook pages of organizations, “friend” them, and post a notice yourself.

Three weeks ahead:

Send email invitations. I sent to my list of 100, and my Team of Five sent to their lists. As RSVP’s began to trickle in, I kept a tally, so I could get a sense of whether there would be enough people or whether we needed to work harder. I also kept a list of those who sent regrets, so I could exclude them from the reminder email that went out just before the event.

Let EVERYONE know, even people who don’t live in the target area. They will tell friends who do. I posted on my Facebook, page, sent out a notice on Twitter, and wrote an “e-blast” to my full list of contacts.

One week ahead:

Send a reminder email, and ask your recruitment team to do likewise. (Send them a ready-to-go text, so they won’t have to compose one themselves.) Remember to exclude people who’ve already said they can’t come.

At the event:

Enjoy!

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Have some advice to add? Join the conversation!

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Ellen Cassedy’s book is We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (University of Nebraska Press, 2012). Her first post for SheWrites was “Who Cares about Your Family Story? Ten Tips to Ensure Readers Will ... Her [TIPS OF THE TRADE] series appears monthly. See all of Ellen's Tips for Writers.

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Comment by Lizzie Eldridge on December 27, 2012 at 12:36am: Thanks so much for this brilliant piece, Ellen. I'm organising a book event for my novel, Duende, and your ideas and advice are really helpful. I've bookmarked this page so I can come back to it again and again so a majorly big thank you!

Here's the link to the book I'm launching:

http://www.amazon.com/Duende-ebook/dp/B006OG03SS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digit...

Comment by Ellen Cassedy on October 28, 2012 at 9:08am: Anne -- Thanks so much for this comment. Your scriptless method sounds warm, appealing, and impressive. I agree with you that enthusiasm on the part of author, bookstore staff, and others is contagious and makes for a great event.

Comment by Anne Bennett on October 28, 2012 at 5:14am: Hi,

I have been a writer since 1996 and my next book is number 17, called "If You Were The Only Girl" and published by Harper Collins and comes out in January 2013. To promote my books I have given talks and radio interviews all over the UK and I totally agree with Eilen about the need to fill the room. I can tell by the attitude of the staff at the venue whether it will be well attended or not within a few minutes of my arrival. If they are enthusiastic and have given out the promotional leaflets the publishers will have sent, displayed the posters in a prominent place and talked to people about the talk in my experience many will come. My style is totally relaxed and I have no notes no bullet points and never intend to change this It means I am not tied to a script, which may or may not suit the audience I am addressing and also means I can watch the people's faces. I encourage questions and so if interest is expressed in one area of the talk that take us off at a tangent then that is all right for I have no script to return to. I haven't given many talks in the last two years due to the very serious illness of my husband. Thankfully he has recovered and now my publishers are anxious for me to return to this aspect of publication which I am eager to do because I enjoy it so much myself.

Comment by Mariana Dietl on August 29, 2012 at 7:51pm: Great post, Ellen. Thanks so much for your valuable tips! Mariana

Comment by Patricia Gligor on August 29, 2012 at 7:04am: Ellen,

Thanks for the tips! When I had the book launch event for my mystery novel, Mixed Messages, I did most of the things you mentioned and it was a success! The only thing I didn't do was to create a recruitment team. I really like that idea and, thanks to you, I'll be sure to do that for future events.

Comment by Frances Brown on August 29, 2012 at 2:48am: Great post with vital information. I will be printing this out as well for a guide when I get to this point. Also nice to read some practical tips on keeping the printed book, and the face-to-face way of selling them, alive.

Comment by Catherine McNamara on August 28, 2012 at 10:55pm: Really useful tips here. Especially about using a recruitment team for leverage, and your specific time frames. I will be making use of these. Thanks Ellen!

Comment by Kathy Leonard Czepiel on August 28, 2012 at 3:10pm: Fantastic--thanks! Printing this out for immediate use!

Comment by Flora Morris Brown on August 28, 2012 at 11:14am: This is great info for getting folks to our book signings even in non-bookstore venues.