Thursday's Guest Thoughts with Carol Hoenig

Authors: Consider Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
By Carol Hoenig


At first, when Susan Driscoll, then CEO for iUniverse approached me, wanting to hire me to write a book on how authors could have successful events, I couldn’t imagine I’d be able to actually fill pages on the topic. I kept thinking that I didn’t have enough material. Yet, there was no way I could turn down a generous paying writing gig and decided I’d somehow have to pull it off. I was surprised to discover that I knew more than I realized.

I suppose, in part, that was because my novel, “Without Grace” did very well and Susan was impressed with how I managed to get events in support of this quiet little book. But without a doubt, it was also because I had the experience from the other side, having been a community relations coordinator and then a national event specialist for Borders Books for over eleven years. I had the opportunity to work with authors and publicists from both small and large publishing houses by booking events for Borders stores across the country. Most of the authors were published by traditional houses, but occasionally, if it made sense for them to do an event, I would book a local, self-published author. And, want to know something? Often, their event filled every chair in the room, as opposed to the mid-list author who didn’t think they needed to work so hard to bring people in since they had their own publicist.


More often than not, pressure was on me to be sure people attended an event, but with limited resources, there was only so much I could do. Some authors were understanding and just happy to see that their book was front and center, thanks to the scheduled event. However, there were other authors who grilled me, wanting to know what I’d done for their event. I explained how I’d written it up in the newsletter, made intermittent announcements over the PA, splashed displays throughout the store announcing the forthcoming event and instructed the booksellers to be sure to let customers know. They would then ask if I’d placed an ad in the New York Times. That’s when it was apparent that they had little idea just how pricey an ad, even the size of a thumbprint, could be. The thing is, when I did have the budget to run an ad, even a decent-size ad, it didn’t do much in the way of event attendance; however, it did boost the author’s ego, which often seemed to be the main issue.


Soon, though, I got savvy enough to create a take-away folder for these authors with copies of the flyers, newsletter and a long list of where the press release announcing the event went out. Yet, most of these authors didn’t realize that the success or failure of their event was some of their responsibility. I haven’t been with Borders for over five years now and without a doubt successful events are even more difficult to pull off. Yet, that doesn’t have to be discouraging to authors since we are entering a new phase in this precarious industry.


As a fulltime writer and publishing consultant, I work with many authors, a large portion of them self-published. They often hire me because they realize how difficult it is to get bookstore events. The reason they cannot acquire these events, though, is often because their book is not returnable. Bookstores don’t want to take the risk. So, authors believe they’ve hit a brick wall, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Yes, bookstores have books, but that does not mean that is where you’ll find your audience. Authors need to get creative in securing events. For instance, if you have a novel that has something to do with food or cooking, you may want to consider contacting the manager at your local grocery store to see if you could set up a small table with some light snacks and your books ready to be signed and sold. Glamorous? Not really, but it may be where you’d attract some attention. Or maybe you’ve written a children’s book. Why not see if the local school will let you do a story time event where you give a portion of the proceeds to the PTA? That would stir some interest, maybe even an article in your local paper, not to mention sales.


The point is, there are many possibilities where you can do events and you must be willing to take the risk just as I did when I told Susan I’d be happy to write “The Author’s Guide to Planning Book Events.” I had little idea where it would lead, but getting out of my comfort zone was a good lesson for me, one I hope other authors consider.  So, when you think of doing an event for your book, don’t limit yourself to bookstores, since there are so many other lucrative opportunities yet to be tapped.