Hand Selling Books: Putting It All Together

Part 9 of An Author’s Guide to Hand Selling Books
by David A. Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press
Readers, Writers & Royalties columnist
October 19, 2007
Copyright 2007 David A. Rozansky

[This is the conclusion of a nine-part series.]

In the first article in this series, I gave a general overview of why authors should sell their own books. In that article, I gave a list of the seven rules we teach authors about how they can hand-sell their own books.

To quickly review, these seven rules are:

1. The Rule of Use. Authors must use books to sell books. (Discussed in a previous installment).

2. The Rule of Sales. Authors must be mentally and logistically prepared to sell their books. (Discussed in a previous installment).

3. The Rule of 3 Feet. Authors must tell everyone that comes within 3 feet about their books. (Discussed in a previous installment).

4. The Rule of 200. Authors must prepare a list of 200 contacts and work those contacts as their core fan base. (Discussed in a previous installment).

5. The Rule of 5x5. Authors must make five separate contacts each day, five days a week, and try to sell their books. (Discussed in a previous installment).

6. The Rule of Writing. Authors must keep writing new books. (Discussed in a previous installment).

7. The Rule of Crowds. Authors must sell their books before large crowds, preferably on the Internet. (Discussed in a previous installment).

This article will discuss ways that these seven rules work together, and it will also list some techniques that retail booksellers use to sell books to their customers. The reader may wish to review all these rules in the previous articles.

Putting It All Together

Now that I have discussed all Seven Author’s Rules of Hand Selling Books, it is important to discuss some ways that these rules can be used together for better effect.

One combination I have already discussed is the combination of the Rule of Sales and the Rule of 200. An author should be trying to sell her book first to her list of 200 acquaintances. This is the germ of any good buzz-marketing campaign.

Mix in the Rule of Crowds to the Rule of Sales and Rule of 200 mixture, and the author has all the makings of a great publication party. This generally happens a few days before the publication date, to crate the biggest bang for the buck. The author should be ready to sign books, and to have plenty of special copies on hand. Many publication parties take place in bookstores, but nothing stops an author from hosting a special soiree at home, or a publicity event in an unusual location like a museum or a charity ball.

The Rule of 200 can also be used with the Rule of Writing. An author should send a complete catalog to everyone on her mailing list whenever a new book is added. The author can also send excerpts of the first draft for critique, to keep readers primed and hungry for the final product.

One way to combine the Rule of Writing with the Rule of Crowds is to write short articles and stories for sale on Amazon, through the Amazon Shorts feature. This is a great way to acquire new fans.

A mixture of the Rule of Crowds and the Rule of 3 Feet can involve standing in front of an important event and sell books to people as they pass. I call this “Bookcart Selling.” Some authors simply pass out postcards or flyers, but having books on hand for immediate sale is always a good thing.

It may be a truly Herculean effort, but I can see how all seven rules can be combined at once. This would be a type of online writer’s conference, where authors are selling books to each other and sharing contacts, five times a day, five days a week, on the Internet.

One might give this a fancy name, like Gather.com. Welcome to the 21st Century!

Bookseller Techniques

I would be amiss if I did not list specific techniques that booksellers use in selling their product to their customers. Authors can use many of these techniques, or assist booksellers with these techniques.

The most powerful technique any bookseller has is to place the book in the customer’s hands. This gives the customer a sense of possession, and for those that are sitting on the fence, this tends to give them the extra impetus to pay hard cash for the book.

A simple technique is to take all forms of payment. Authors should be ready to take credit cards. Paypal can set this up for most anyone.

Selection is the most obvious sales technique. People like to have a choice. An author who puts old books out for sale, garage-sale style, is likely to draw attention to her own titles. An author who has written more than one title should always have the entire selection available for sale.

Serving coffee and tea seem to be a great way to put people in a book-buying mood. A big comfy chair where customers can sit and read the book before buying it is a very powerful device that brings books and customers together. Authors should hang out in places where readers can sit comfortably in good light, preferably with a good cup of coffee.

Anyone who works at a bookstore knows that “face out” is better than “spine out.” Authors can keep small bookstands in their briefcases or purses, and when reading from the book before a crowd or when signing the book, the author should hold the book up so that the crowd can see the cover all the while.

Having the book placed in the front of the store on a table is also better. Authors should consider the position in the room when displaying their title. Taking a seat near the entrance to a conference will enable more people to meet the author.

Discounts are also important. Everyone loves a sale.

Booksellers will often present three or four books in the subject the customer is seeking. This often results in a customer who buys more than one book. An author may consider selling books by other authors in the same subject, to catch these multiple purchases.

In Closing

With these rules and techniques in mind, every author should be able to enjoy selling their own books at a substantial profit margin. While hand selling will not replace publisher direct sales, online sales or retail sales, it can be of great benefit to an author.

Just a couple of days ago, I met an author who proudly remarked that she once had a book that was selling very poorly in the trade. Not knowing what to do with the cartons of her own book that she had bought, she mailed them out to rabbis (it was Jewish-oriented fiction). The response was phenomenal, and the author not only sold thousands of copies from orders she took over the phone and in the mail, the book went on to be a national bestseller.

If she can do it, every author can do it.

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This is the final installment of articles on the topic of “An Author’s Guide to Hand Selling Books,” a series of articles in David A. Rozansky’s column, Readers, Writers & Royalties, a blog column about the book trade, from writing and publishing, to selling and reading. The next column article will focus on how authors can gain national attention, in response to a question from a reader.

Readers may find archived articles or subscribe to this column at <www.ReadWriteRoyalty.Gather.com>. Subscribe to all of Mr. Rozansky’s articles at www.FlyingPenPress.Gather.com.

David A. Rozansky is the publisher of Flying Pen Press. He has been in publishing since 1987, and has more than one million published words under his byline. Flying Pen Press is at http://www.FlyingPenPress.com. He is available for speaking or training in the fields of book sales, book marketing, and author publicity.