Welcome back to Guerilla Marketing 101 where we offer up grass roots techniques for selling your books. This is boot camp and here you'll get the tools to win the war with the fickle book-buying public. These are techniques that are cheap (hopefully even free) and--most important--effective. It's nice to talk about what a publicist can do, but what can the author do to help sell her books herself? That's the information we have here. Today's Guerilla warrior is Broad Universe's Martha Wells. A wonderful author and smart promoter, she comes bearing one of her favorite Marketing secrets. You'd do well to quick-march over to the mess tent to hear her speak.

25 May 2005

Guerilla Marketing at the Conventions: Help the Booksellers Sell Your Books
by Martha Wells

Martha Wells is a fantasy author whose novels include The Ships of Air, (HarperCollins Eos, 2004), The Wizard Hunters, (HarperCollins Eos, 2003), the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, (Avon Eos, 1998), Wheel of the Infinite (HarperCollins Eos, 2000), The Element of Fire (Tor, 1993), and City of Bones (Tor, 1995). Her next novel is The Gate of Gods, and it will be out in hardcover from HarperCollins Eos in November 2005. She has also had a couple of short stories appear in the magazine Realms of Fantasy, and her books have been published in eight languages, including French, Spanish, Russian, German and Dutch.

My favorite marketing technique is to sign stock for the book dealers at the science-fiction/fantasy conventions I attend. It costs nothing in money, takes very little time, can increase sales at the convention, and incurs the goodwill of the booksellers. I do this whenever I attend a convention, whether I'm on programming or not, and I've never yet encountered a book dealer who didn't appreciate it.

When writers participate in convention programming--on panel discussions or at readings--sales of their books in the dealer's room usually increase. If the dealers have signed books to offer, this can improve those sales even more, which is great for the dealers and the writers.

I usually try to sign stock in my first swing through the dealer's room. Of course, you always want to ask before signing, since some dealers prefer writers to wait until the last day of the convention. This is because some fans just like to get their books signed in person, though you can always personalize an already signed book.

There's sort of a science-fiction/fantasy writing urban legend I run into occasionally, where a writer is sitting at the autograph table of an SF convention, and someone rushes up to the table with a stack of multiple copies of the writer's books for signing. People seem to think that this is a poor example of fan behavior, that it's some kind of imposition on the writer.

I'm always confused as to how it's supposed to be a bad thing. If people are willing to buy the books, I'm willing to sign them.

Deadly serious book collectors sometimes buy multiple copies, one to keep in mint condition and one as a reading copy, and they often want their books just signed, with no personalization. Otherwise the people who might be bringing multiple copies to the signing table are the booksellers themselves. Hauling stacks of books to the signing tables is a big hassle for people who are often stuck at their booths in the dealer's room all day, so anything you can do to make their job easier will probably be appreciated.

Some dealers do like to have signed books available for sale throughout the whole convention, which is especially good for me if I'm not doing an autographing as part of programming. If it's a very large and busy convention like WorldCon, it may also be difficult for the people who want a signed book to find me or to make the scheduled signing time. Having signed books available in the dealer's room is a real convenience, and can make your books stand out from the others and increase sales.

The good will of book dealers is a vitally important thing for a writer, especially a new writer just starting out. There is an annual science-fiction/fantasy convention in my home town, so when my first novel, The Element of Fire, was about to be released, I took cover flats (flattened copies of the cover with marketing and ordering information printed on the back) by the booksellers' tables, introduced myself, and let them know the book was coming out. If you do this with your first novel, be sure to just hit the dealers who will likely carry your books. Some dealers at conventions specialize, and may only carry non-fiction or children's books, small press publications, or used and rare books, or are only providing an outlet for one publisher.

Some convention book dealers also have stores or online book selling businesses. They recommend books to their regular customers, and independent booksellers can give better positioning to books they like, something which salespeople at chain bookstores may not be allowed to do. Obviously, a book dealer is more likely to read and recommend the work of a new writer when he or she has met that writer in person, and the writer is polite and accommodating.

I've signed stock for dealers since 1993, when my first fantasy novel was published, and I've done it for each of my subsequent books. It's great marketing and it's also often great fun to meet and to get to know the wonderful people who are selling your books.