Support for Indie Authors discussion

By far, most of my sells have come from selling to friends and people associated with different groups I am part of such as Church, a hiking group, veteran ministry, etc. Second best has been events that I have scheduled and conducted. I thought it would be a good idea to share some of what has and has not worked for me and hope that others will respond with their ideas and experiences.

I scheduled and advertised presentations and book signings at the local library and community hall. I sold 6 at the community hall event and zero at the library. I have done two Outdoor School presentations on hiking the Camino at REI stores; 3 books sold at each. I have also done presentations for veteran groups, a book club, and at a few 55+ communities. 19 sold at 5 events. I spent two days with a display talking to people walking by outside my favorite coffee shop and sold 13 with several more potential on-line sales from cards I handed out. I tried a Farmers Market booth, but only sold 2 which did not earn back the book fee. I looked into getting a booth at county fairs, but they were too expensive. I sold a couple at my own garage sale and a few more by taking them to a couple neighborhood community events and starting conversations with people. I've done two art shows/fairs and sold 8 at one and 2 at the other. I have reserved tables at a couple holiday bazaars this fall. We'll see how that goes. A local book store charged me $20 to be the "Featured Local Author" with a promenade display for two months - good deal I thought; but was disappointed to sell only one. National and international book fairs have proven to be a complete waste of money (a lot of money)!

I look forward to hearing what has and has not worked for you!

Which all goes to show, marketing is hard work! I find I sell a couple if I am at the annual Fusion Festival, where the library kindly gives us a table for nothing. Most stalls are too expensive to make it worthwhile. I have not found consignmets to local bookshops very successful, but some of the local bookshops have bought my books, as did one of the local Post Offices. You seem to have targeted your audience well and I would say your efforts are successful, as long as you don't want to live on the earnings! I sell a few to libraries and I take whatever author interview opportunities come my way, although to little effect.

I know I will not get rich, but I would like to get back the investment I made to publish through a self publishing firm (likely a mistake). I also pray that my words may inspire a few people to make a difference in the world around them and to look at things from the perspective of the overall world situation instead of their sheltered personal worldview. Who knows, maybe someone will be inspired by my spiritual journey to move along in their own. Whatever the results, I guess I am enjoying selling it. Keeps me busy in my retirement!

Gift stores. My book is set in France, so I approached French-themed gift stores and they have been my most successful sales points. In your case, with the Camino your subject, I'd try the Outdoor adventure/camping stores. It is not an easy gig for sure.

Tracey wrote: "By far, most of my sells have come from selling to friends and people associated with different groups I am part of such as Church, a hiking group, veteran ministry, etc. Second best has been event..."

Thank you for sharing. I have also have more success with friends. :-) I was wondeering if I should get some business cards printed; from your post, this seems to be a good idea.

I think I mirror the OP but since then have done a number of book fairs. I never break even. It is fun but fatiguing to tell the same story to people.

Roxanna wrote: "Tracey wrote: "By far, most of my sells have come from selling to friends and people associated with different groups I am part of such as Church, a hiking group, veteran ministry, etc. Second best..."
I've just had bookmarks made that will serve as my business cards. Hoping the novelty of it will keep people using them. I have one side as just a regular book mark w/ an inspirational quote and then the back is my information. I'm going to start handing them out at a book event this weekend.

M.J. wrote: "Roxanna wrote: "Tracey wrote: "By far, most of my sells have come from selling to friends and people associated with different groups I am part of such as Church, a hiking group, veteran ministry, ..."

Great idea. Please let us know how it goes. Good luck! :-)

Bookmarks are great for handing out and leaving in shops etc. I always put one inside the cover of a sold book too.

Here is what has worked as far as ebook and print book sales so far for the latest--putting "snippets" of parts of the book according to different genre-type categories on your blog (goodreads or otherwise author blog); putting links to the various online stores on each blog post you put on your blog (goodreads or otherwise); post your blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, etc.; community-real world advertising; local writer's groups and conferences (heck it even works in rural areas!); not worrying about sales recorded, lack of reviews, fame and fortune...folks it takes years and learning marketing skills to sell even a decent amount of books. I had my first two books printed before I even got internet and finally last year I broke even on printing costs of the first two books printed in the late 90s! As for learning how to market, the only way to learn how to market is to market! See what works! What does NOT WORK--deceptive practices and trying to force your books on others, and phony reviews--the folks at Amazon aren't stupid and they will either kill the review or throw you off their list. If you can learn to write you can learn to market.