Making Indie Inroads at Libraries

Author Aron JoiceGuest Post
by Aron Joice

I just had my first book signing, and it was a bit different from the signings and launches previously shared by some of the IU family. The signing was held at one of my local libraries.

So many changes are taking place on a daily basis for writers that I decided to go back to a grass roots mentality. Chewing my cud (now there’s a disgusting mental picture), and thinking things over, I went back to the place that I called home: the library. I used to practically live there, doing research, using the computer lab, and receiving help from an unbelievable staff. This particular day, my objective was to see how many bookmarks they would allow me to leave. Free promotion, right? The assistant director expressed more excitement than I could imagine, and kept asking me for more. She put them everywhere. It was then that my old gray cells told me to hit every library around. Eureka! I hit gold, well, at least fool’s gold. Now I was ready to put my plan into action. Continue reading “Making Indie Inroads at Libraries”

Making a Splash at Book Festivals

Tucson Book FestivalI used to live in Tucson, Arizona, where they started a new Book Festival back in 2009. That first year, there were over 50,000 attendees, and by the third year that number had jumped to 100,000. Quite quickly, the Tucson Festival of Books was rated in the top 5 book festivals in the country. I attended every TFOB until I moved out of the area, and it was gratifying to see so many people excited about books and reading. But being used to smaller events in book stores and libraries, I quickly realized that a book festival of this magnitude was a completely different animal, and there was a lot to learn. Every year I did things a little differently, and every year I had a more successful time. Continue reading “Making a Splash at Book Festivals”

Selling Yourself

Quentin BatesGuest Post
by Quentin Bates

How do you sell a book in the digital era? It’s a fraught question and if I had a sure-fire formula for authors to sell successfully, then I’d make a lot more marketing that than writing books of my own.

I came to this down the traditional route, via an agent (a small, energetic one) and a traditional publisher – until its recent takeover, one of the last of the old-school independent publishers with a long history. In fact, I can be proud of sharing a publisher with Bram Stoker, although he probably shifted a great many more books than I ever will. Continue reading “Selling Yourself”

Cake or Death? Yet Another Author Appearance

Author K S Brooks at the Library FundraiserThat’s pretty much how I feel each time I’m invited to do an event. Cake?: staying home in my hermit writer’s cave, glued to my WIPs, email and social networking. Death?: going to an event which makes me feel like I’m basically on display at the author zoo.

We’ve been through this – you know you have to do the event. (See my post here.) Sure, it blows half the day getting your stuff together, having the ghost of Leona Helmsley do your make-up, and dressing up like a monkey. Okay, maybe that wasn’t you. But you get the picture.

If you live on a dirt road, you don’t want to lean up against the car in your black pants. You also don’t want anyone to see that those same pants are covered in white dog fur. But you weren’t anywhere near the dog…doesn’t matter. Static electricity attracted every piece of loose fur in the house onto your pants. You are so static-charged that you could power the Las Vegas strip for an evening.

Then you get to the event during set-up time. You immediately realize that despite the fact it’s an evening event at the Country Club – it’s not formal. And, in your fitted suit, not only do you feel grossly overdressed, you’re now overheating because it’s hot as hell. You’re wishing you’d brought a change of clothes – and not for those reasons – but because the Country Club carpeting is stepping up the static in your pants and they are now clinging to you in a revealing manner from your ankles to your…well, you know. You’re afraid if you touch anything that not only could you cause a power outage, you might even spontaneously combust. Continue reading “Cake or Death? Yet Another Author Appearance”