OK, you’ve written your book. Now what do you do?
Well, depending on your Publishing Contract “Read carefully before you sign anything” you can do a book signing. Not only do you get your book out there, but yourself as well.
Twenty plus authors did just that right here in Mesquite, Dec. 14-15. The Mesquite Arts Council put on this event with the help of the Bank of Nevada and the Eureka Hotel Casino. I attended with note pad and camera in hand as a local columnist.
Quite frankly I was invited, but was caught unprepared “I will get back to that.”
Book Signing events where several authors sell and sign their books for the general public are not uncommon, but are associated with events like the LA Times Book Festival and other venues like that. More common are the “Lone Author Signings” that you happen onto in a book store like Barns & Nobles.
The first thing you as a writer must have to attend an event is a published book. The second is “Meet and Greet Skills.” Most authors, like most of us, are not big on “Meet and Greet” in public gatherings. Like most first time authors tend to forget the first law of getting noticed is “Getting Out There”. The second thing is finding out about these events. There are many ways to find out about Book Signings. One is to get involved with other Authors’, Writer’s Clubs, Guilds, or Groups. Now the author needs to learn how to sell themselves and their books and Writer’s Groups is a good start.
The thing that you must do as a “Self Published Author” is keep on-hand copies of your work, or works. The majority of the authors attending were self-published. There are right ways and wrong ways to do this; this has to do right or wrong as far as your investment, and return, that is where picking a “Publisher” comes into play. Do a little nosing around when shopping publishers. I have and what I have found out is once you sign the contract or agreement, you are largely on your own.
There are various web-sites that tell you the pros, and cons of self-publishing and you should read them. The large majorities of these self-publishers just get your money and let you do the marketing and you buy your own books from them. This cuts into your bottom line; the percentage of return varies wildly.
There are other ways to go but to dig up these secret gems of knowledge you have to get out there, ask questions and educate yourself on this other side of the world of writing. But, buyer beware the pool is filled with sharks.
As a closing note: I said that I would get back to why I did not participate, I had just broke with a publisher for many of the reasons that I have pointed out and I am now into writing a children’s novel, under consideration.