What I learned from the Florida Writers Association 2018 conference
I can’t believe that it’s been almost a month since the FWA conference ended and I still haven’t gone through all my notes and the presenter handouts!
In my defense, my schedule has been crazy busy between client work (that pays the bills) and back-to-back book events and presentations. (This coming Saturday—a signing for RUT-BUSTING BOOK FOR WRITERS at my local Barnes & Noble—will be my last one for 2018, unless something exciting turns up!)
But I did want to get this post up, so it will be in the nature of a random summary of notes taken during the events—both from the fabulous line-up of presenters and my own tips, based on my experience. Since I primarily focused on workshops dealing with book marketing and promotion strategies, most of the following will focus on that, although there were many other topics covered as well during the four-day event.
My guess is that there may be a Part 2 coming down the road once I make it through the rest of the materials!
Succeeding at Book Marketing
Uniformly, the presenters all had the same message: successful book marketing requires a strategy and consistent time commitment.
In terms of strategy, this can include any or all of the following:
- Requesting book reviews
- Soliciting interviews
- Developing marketing materials (print and downloadable)
- Building an online presence (on your site and other platforms for authors)
- Generating book orders by contacting libraries and bookstores
- Scheduling in-person and/or virtual appearances
- Posting on social media (your own platforms or on those whom you are following)
- Doing market research on the audience for your book as well as other authors writing in the same genre or on the same topic
How much time commitment? At least an hour a day, every day—yep, that means weekends, too! Trust me, seven hours a week won’t be enough, but it will at least get you started!
Now for a deeper dive into some of the above.
Posting on Social Media
Because this is admittedly my weakest area, I was looking for anything that could make my S-M time more productive and less like torture. (How ironic that S-M also makes me think of sadomasochism, which most of the times it feels like!)
From the workshops, I learned that my current approach—hit ‘em all!—was probably not the best. What I should be doing is focusing on depth versus multiple avenues, looking for those platforms where my readers and potential readers hang out, because that’s where I can be a source of information and establish myself as an authority.
Once I grow that platform and see a solid engagement and results in terms of newsletter sign-ups and book sales, then I can explore others.
As for generating that “solid engagement” it’s not about a steady stream of “Buy my book!/Let me tell you about my book!/Here’s a link to my book!” posts but actually having a conversation: responding to other people’s posts as well as sharing what I know. One of the presenters (apologies to that person but I can’t recall who it was!) said social media interaction should include any or all of the 3 “I’s”: be informative, interesting and/or inspiring.
Generating Book Orders from Libraries and Book Stores
Amy Collins
Amy Collins, president of New Shelves, delivered an entertaining and informative presentation called Why and How to Sell Your Books to Libraries, which turned out to be a great (and free) “product placement” type opportunity for me as well. (More on that later.)
Why libraries? As Amy pointed out, 70% of registered voters (the demographic used for the research) visited a library in the past year, while only 52% visited a bookstore. That’s a difference of 8.6 visits versus 7.6 respectively!
Not to mention that, as Amy noted, there are four times as many libraries as there are bookstores!
From my own experience, I have had library sales (read about how I do it here) lead to paid presentations, which generate interest in my book, which has led to purchases by attendees.
But to be successful in getting libraries to order your book, Amy said you need to have a succinct pitch ready to go along with marketing materials ready to provide or email. (And yes, they do buy books from self-pub authors as well as those whose books are Print-on-Demand or POD as it’s called.)
If your book is available through one of the wholesalers they use (Ingram, Baker & Taylor or Midwest Library Wholesaler, for instance), your odds are greatly increased, since most prefer to buy that way rather than purchase directly from an author.
Then, have a short (and Amy emphasized “short”) pitch ready, explaining why the book will be of benefit to the library patrons and a sell sheet with all necessary ordering information (ISBN, price, brief summary and a few comparative titles) and a brief bio about you. (On mine, I included a few blurbs from endorsers in lieu of comparative titles.) The latter should be ready to email as well as hand out if you are doing in-person meetings.
Most importantly: the person who is the decision-maker is either the library’s Acquisition Manager or in some case, the library director. So whether you’re contacting them by phone or in person, that’s who you want: the person who makes book-buying decisions.
Amy had tons more information on this topic as well as others so if you get a chance to catch her in person, I heartily recommend it! (And she’s a lively speaker, too—no chance of you dozing off while she talks!)
Making the Most of Your Conference Time
I had three goals for attending the FWA conference:
- Display and sell my books through the conference bookstore, run by Murder on the Beach Bookstore (an option because I am an FWA member)
- Learn more about book marketing from every possible angle (since there is no way any of us can know everything!)
- Get contact information from presenters, industry professionals and other authors for my next book, RUT-BUSTING BOOK FOR AUTHORS, while sharing my information
It’s the last bullet that ties into Amy’s presentation. As a smart marketer, I always carry business cards along with bookmarks and postcards about my books. During the conference, I also carried the two books that I had made available in the bookstore: RUT-BUSTING BOOKS FOR WRITERS and TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES.
When Amy started her library sales presentation, she asked for a book to hold as a prop. Not being shy, I gave her RUT-BUSTING BOOKS FOR WRITERS, and for her entire one-hour presentation, she held up my book, mentioned its title, read from the front and back cover as well as the inside, and in every possible way, gave me more promotion than I could have done on my own!
As for bullet #1, I also used every opportunity to offer my book postcards to attendees as well as presenters, since you never know where it can lead. But what surprised me was how many of those attendees—many of whom were authors—didn’t do the same. Or didn’t even have anything to hand out! In some cases, the best they could do was scribble their name and email on a piece of paper to give to me.
If you are going to any book-related event, always be prepared to plug your work. At a minimum, have a business card that has your name, your genre or field of interest (“Writer/researcher covering Civil War era”) and contact information: email, phone number and website. If you’re an author, include your book titles or the name of your series.
Don’t make the recipient try to guess who you are and what you do. Make it clear on the card.
Well, that’s it for Part 1 of my FWA recap! Once I go through the rest of the materials, I’ll share more.
Now it’s your turn. Have you attended any writing retreats, workshops or conferences? What were your most valuable takeaways or experiences? Please share in the comments section below!
The post Tuesday’s Tips: FWA Conference Takeaways—Part 1 appeared first on The Writer's Place.