Setting Up a Successful Book Signing!

Once your book is written and published, you can sit back, relax, and celebrate. If you believe this is a correct statement, you are seriously mistaken. Your job as a writer has just begun and it's now time to refocus your energy on putting your book and yourself to work.

Promoting your book is one of the most exhausting and time consuming tasks as a writer, though a must if you want to make all of your previous efforts worth it. The book signing is the primary promotional tool available to you to start the ball rolling in your initial promotional push toward success in the writing industry.

Many writers have heard about book signings, but never thought about doing them. However, this is the fastest way to make money as a writer just starting down the promotional path. Waste no time after publication to start promoting your books locally.

Here is a simple process to help prepare you for a book signing.

Determine your "SAMPLE". SAMPLE is an acronym used to remember the following key factors of signings:

S - Sale price of you book at the signing.
A - Allowance or amount of books you want to bring to the signing.
M - Materials you need to set up your booth.
P - Promotional aids to let people know you're having a signing and to hand out when you sell books.
L - Location and time of the event.
E - Expense planning for your signing.

SAMPLE is not in the correct order, but does help you remember all of the key fundamentals to consider for your book signing. Successful signings take considerable prior planning before they can be executed.

The first step is to consider a workable budget, part "E" of SAMPLE. A safe budget to start with depends on a few other factors such as cost of your book, your promotional materials, and materials you need for a successful book signing.

Usually, when you purchase your own books, you pay cost of the book plus publisher's royalties if you didn't self-publish your book (one of the perks for self-publishers). You should purchase at least twenty-five books for your first signing. This is considered your "Allowance" and will help you test the waters and give you an idea of how well a signing can be in your specific location. More books is better than not enough books at an event; just don't go beyond your budgeted means.

Materials needed are either sold as a book signing kit from a publisher or other sources. They should include at a minimum:

- Three to five full-color posters (11" x 17") featuring the cover of your book to post around the area of your event.

- Twenty-five to fifty full-color flyers (8.5" x 11") featuring your cover and ordering information for your book.

- One hundred invitations to a book signing with matching envelopes.

- Three ball point pens to sign the books.

Next, determine the location and time for your book signing. The best place to have an event can be an establishment that sells books, though other places such as mall hallways, libraries, and large retailers aren't out of the question. You should start with book stores to get your feet wet.

To arrange a successful signing event, simply ask the store owner or manager if you can have a signing at their store. Let them know that you are a new local writer and give them a copy of your book. They will either tell you yes or no depending on their policies. If they say you can have one, they usually will charge you a small percentage of your proceeds for use of their store. Fifteen percent or less is acceptable; any more than that, try to talk them down. Your goal is to make money, not lose money.

Now that you have a location, you must let people know that you are having a book signing. Make sure you have fliers and posters hanging at or near the location of the event at least a week in advance. Also use other forms of advertising such as word of mouth, personal invitations, classified ads, shopping center billboard ads, or other similar advertisements to let people know when and where your book signing will be.

Finally, before the book signing, determine a fair sale price for your book so you can overcome your expenses and make a profit. Here's an example of how to determine profit for your event (got to love math):

When actually computing the math, first determine the cost per book based on the cost of the book, the cost of promotional items per book, and how much you want to profit per book. Then take that total (Total A) and multiply that by 25 to get your total proceeds before the cost of the store is added in. Divide that number by the percentage the store is charging (in this case, ten percent) and you will get a large number. Divide that by 100 and that is the amount the store will get total. Add that to your total proceeds before the cost of the store is added in and this is the total income you will make per book. Divide that by the number of books you have to sell and the final number is the price you should charge per book.

Your numbers will vary based on actual figures and costs, but this will give you a base to work with.

You are now ready to start promoting your book with a signing. Ensure you are at the location of the event at least thirty minutes early to set up and above all, have fun while you are selling books.

Be enthusiastic, talk to your customers, and tell your customers to let others know about your work. This will start the residual ball rolling and foster future sales of your book once word spreads in the buyer's networks.

On a final note, have at least ten to twenty extra copies of your book available for the store to sell after the book signing and establish a regular supply of books to that store for future sales. As sales slow down, schedule another signing with even more books and keep the cycle going.

Jason W. Moser is a self-published fiction author and master niche website manager. He has published several self-help articles for fiction writers including Setting Up a Successful Book Signing.