Everything you need to know about...Booksignings

I've been trying to catch up on a few blogs I missed while I was gone, and noted that JA Konrath posted an AWESOME entry on booksignings this past Sunday.

Booksignings: Everything you Need to Know

Joe tackles everything from how to do drive-by signings (finding stores, mapping your route, who to talk to), setting up a book tour, setting up at the bookstore, how to turn a not-so-great event into a successful one, and how to survive both book signings and whirlwind book tours. It's a long post, but one every writer should print off and memorize!

For those who have ebooks, you're probably thinking, "Book tours/signings are all well and good for print publications, but what if you're published electronically?"

The answer: WORD OF MOUTH. That is the best tool an ebook writer (any writer, really) has going for her. Start by getting the word out to friends and family. Mention it to people in line at the post office or grocery store. Talk it up on message boards and other writing networks (working within their guidelines, of course). Include your book info in the signature line of all emails and message board posts (try to avoid "billboard" type signatures that are bigger than your post, though--they tend to put readers off).

Enlist the help of friends by asking all those who blog to mention your book, whether they post the blurb with links back to your site and/or the publisher's (I try to do both), or write up a short review of their own. Ask people to submit reviews of your book to Amazon or other sites that accept reader reviews. Volunteer to do interviews or write an essay or article about your book, or a subject related to it. For example, as a tie-in to her last single title release IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS, romance writer Toni Blake also published an article in ROMANTIC TIMES on the inspiration for that book, and popular author of romance and women's fiction Debbie Macomber has an article on her writing practices in the August issue of THE WRITER on sale next week.

These are all things you can do yourself to help garner book sales. Your book doesn't have to be print bound in order to be a success!