BOOKSTORE BOOK SIGNING
Although my mail order book sells were going well and the stack of books in the garage was going down, I still had a lot of books to sell. This forced me to contact one of the used bookstores regarding me having a book signing.
With trepidation, I took a deep breath and I made an appointment to talk to the "used" bookstore owner. I emphasize "used" because that's all the bookstores that were in my retirement community. I made an appointment and to my surprise, the owner agreed that I could have book signing.
On the day of the book signing, I had to bring my books to sell. The owner would take two dollars from every book I sold and I had to stay for two hours. After I walked out of the bookstore, I began to panic. What had I done? How was I going to get strangers to buy my book?
Before the book signing, I gave the bookstore, bookmarks and asked if they would give them to their customers. I also made a poster and placed it in the bookstore announcing my book signing.
I made flyers and posted them on various local store bulletin boards. When I bowled and golfed, I gave them out.
On the day of the book signing, I arrived early to set-up the table. I had brought flowers for it and a basket filled with candy.
What didn't occur to me was that at a "used" bookstore, people weren't looking to buy a "new" book. After all, they were buying books ranging from one to five dollars at the most and I was selling my book for ten dollars.
After thirty minutes of smiling, engaging people in conversation, and giving away bookmarks and candy, I sold my first book. If I didn't sell another book, it was okay because I had sold that "one" book to be a success.
The book signing was a challenge. I tried different approaches when engaging people in conversation. I asked questions such as, "What types of books do you like to read?" "How many books do you read in a week?" "Who's your favorite author?"
I would never be sure, but I think passing out bookmarks and flyers helped get the word out that I was at the used bookstore because I did sell 20 books. The bookstore owner was impressed because many of the people who bought my book had never been in the bookstore before and they ended up buying other books.
