He has sold over 7000 copies. That's a lot of books. And a fair amount of cash too. If he's not careful he might actually become that ultra-rare species of author who actually (shh) makes a living from writing.
So how does he do it? And could you do it too?
Well unsurprisingly it requires a lot of hard work, and persistence, and, I suspect a rather thick skin. Alan Gilliland is a one-man marketing machine, arranging in-store events up and down the country for (at first) his children's book The Amazing Adventures of Curd the Lion (and Us!) and now his second book (a young adult ghost story) called The Flight of Birds too.
He told me that he is booked up pretty much every weekend of the year - the organisation and planning alone must take a fair chunk of time - and he spends a full day at each bookshop, chatting to readers, talking them through his books, enthusing them about his stories and illustrations and finally selling and signing copies. The effort to achieve sales therefore is considerable and it not only takes a certain type of person to maintain this level of effort, but it also requires the author to be extremely confident in promoting his own work. This is unfortunately where many writers fall down - many (most?) feel uncomfortable standing up to say how good their own book is - in fact it is far more common to hear an author downplaying their writing. Which is a shame.
This, then is the hurdle to success that many self-published authors face whatever the price, format or genre of their book. Without the pr machine of a big publisher clanking into action on their behalf, a self-published author is left with the task of standing up and shouting about how great their book is - and many, quite simply just don't want to do that.
Gently persuading, using other people’s good opinion, in a hopefully amusing way, rather than shouting (one’s own praises), works better on the whole, I’d say.
ReplyDeleteMy only tips to authors doing such signings (ie as an unknown author) are these.
Never bring a friend. Never sit behind a table, looking busy. Wander round and chat to people. Never argue or respond to dismissive customers, even when they almost ‘swat’ you aside. Keep smiling. After all, there’s always another customer (and some even come back and apologise, having mistaken you, the author, for a, presumably, ‘swattable’ salesperson!)
Alan, that is good advice, especially about not sitting behind a table.
ReplyDeleteAs in any sales environment you have to know your product and if you believe in your book (and presumably the author does or else why write it) it should be easy to talk about it and tell the customer(prospective reader)what the book will do for them etc.
Great advice here. Thank you Clare and Alan.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the most obvious techniques are those most people never bother to try. Good blog.
ReplyDeleteRussell Brooks
Author of Pandora's Succession
Thanks for your comments. Although this post is about self-publishing, more and more it applies to traditional publishing too. The author has to be marketer, pr guru and sales person all rolled in to one - as well as write the book in the first place!
ReplyDelete