Pamela Palmer signing the back of a fan's Nook at the RWA big benefit booksigning in Orlando, July 2010. (Photo: me)

“Sign my Nook, please.”

Fans didn’t just buy books to support literacy programs, I saw a quite a few people handing over their Nooks for authors to sign. The backs are easily removed, and replacements come in different colors. One reader said her plan was to hang signature-filled Nook-backs in rows on her wall.

I love it!

And what’s on my eReader? I have a Kindle app for my iPhone, and I am slowly reading Edward Rutherfurd’s massive tome, New York whenever I find myself with a few minutes without a book in hand (I still love paper!). But Max has a Nook, and I just transferred my HarperCollins eARC of Kathryn Caskie’s The Duke’s Night of Sin to hers and plan to ensconce myself with it tomorrow afternoon. I am calling it “working” (I have the BEST job).

And in case you missed the previous post, Awesome Things, Part One lauded the incredible accomplishment of Julia Quinn hitting the RWA Hall of Fame. Let’s all take another moment to say “yea!”

photo courtesy of Barnes&Noble.com

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

As an author, when you ask a reader to select your book to spend many precious hours with, you are commanding a high price point. Your book may be only $6, or a $10 ebook, or it might even sell for $16 or more, but hours of someone’s time is far more valuable. Obviously if your book fails to enchant the reader they may feel cheated. But what else might be jarring about the experience of reading your book? What else might leave the reader thinking: “Really?”

How about an ugly bookmark? One that clearly says, “I spent as little as possible on this.” That bookmark might actually be a liability, leaving your customer with the feeling that you didn’t think that they were worth anything more than your cheapest effort.

Analogy:

When I bought my house last year I spent a few stressful hours in a title company conference room signing a massive stack of paperwork. For the privilege of doing so, plus the title company’s legwork to ensure that the title to the house was clear (very important), the title company charged a significant 4-digit figure, their regular price point.

At the end of the session I was handed a vinyl envelope as a “gift” — swag, as it were. A takeaway. The envelope was emblazoned with the company’s logo and is the right size to house some paperwork. In it was a heavy, substantial feeling key chain — appropriate for a title company, yes? I instantly saw it as my spare key set chain. Back in the car with the vinyl on my lap I held the key chain in my hand, rolled its weight from one hand to the other as I nervously contemplated the huge purchase I had just made. I then reached into the vinyl envelope and pulled out a couple of unimpressive one-color notepads and an incredibly cheap pen — one of those pens, the ones you never choose.

I sat there holding the pen thinking, “Really?” I expect a cheap pen when I walk out of a Home Depot, or the cash-strapped library. But at the title company’s price point (especially for as little work as I felt that they did), the pen felt wrong. The effort of the key chain was overshadowed by the obvious cheapness of the pens — the company would have been better off leaving the pen out of the mix entirely. And as a brand player, I now associated “cheap” with the that company.

One supposes if I had pulled out the pens before the key chain perhaps the key chain would have made up for the pens, but do you really want to have to make up for anything?

Segue to:

When we recently printed some bookmarks for a client (they are so pretty!) the printer accidentally grabbed the wrong paper and printed the whole stack of them on something far thinner than I had specified. The bookmarks looked beautiful, the color was so vibrant, the cover beautifully displayed, but the piece felt cheap.

They were reprinted.

Go for nice design and substantial paper for your bookmarks and business cards. It matters.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

A couple weeks ago I went to a booksigning at a A Great Good Place For Books in the Oakland Hills. It was cozy and intimate and, as I realized upon entering the store, it was the first such booksigning I had been to in quite a while. The last few had been either big multi-author signings tied to a conference, or a gaggle of people crammed into an alcove of a busy Barnes&Noble. And while these types of signings are valid, informative, and helpful to an author’s career, there is something very grassroots about hosting an intimate event.

When author Christi Phillips stood up and began speaking in the bookstore, the energy of the entire bookstore was focused upon her. Small booksignings like this go great distances to allow the author to make individual connections. This can be hard to accomplish at huge signings where the line is kept moving.

Christi began with a reading from her new book, The Devlin Diary, moved on to  Q&A, and closed with signing copies of either of her books for the few dozen locals who turned out. She had some simple but pretty trays of snacks, and a little basket of cookies by the signing area. And while I do not remember the actual text from the reading, I do remember thinking “Now, that’s something I would like to read,” and I how comfortable and charmed I felt at the signing, how kind and approachable the author was. In short, she intrigued me.

She did not have autographed by the author stickers, but not every signing can be perfect (and I feel she and the store will get them in hand!)

There are many people for whom this type of effort is not balanced by enough return. If you do it by sheer numbers, with the possibility of selling a couple dozen books at the royalty rate most authors enjoy, then the entire profit is spent on the refreshments and you have spent resources promoting it and then of course you are out the evening and whatever travel time. And while this cost-and-return approach has its merits, this is not why an author does these types of events. The intimacy of a small booksigning allows the author to meet readers. And the readers who attend booksignings are predisposed to talk about books. These are fans you want. The brand relationship between reader and author is significant. Courting them is worth the effort.

If you can seal the relationship with your voice and a shared experience within your fictitious world you have created (and a cookie helps), then there is a very good chance you have drawn that reader into your world and intrigued him or her enough to explore more. Maybe they will read one of your books (and hopefully it’s a signed, stickered keepsake, complete with leave-behind bookmark reminding them of the lovely evening you, famous author, hosted for them). Maybe they will leave a comment on your blog or enter a reader drawing on your site, or interact with you further in some other way your website offers.

Fan bases are built one reader at a time. Go out and meet them.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But the story brings up the importance of having a sort of calling card. For authors, the bookmark is actually better than the business card when meeting fans. It makes sense that you would hand out a bookmark rather than a business card for a few reasons: 1) you don’t really want to hand out your personal information to random strangers, but you do want them to read your book. Also, 2) since you are likely reprinting your bookmarks with each book or series, they are promoting your current book, which is presumably where you want to direct your sales efforts. And yes, your spouse/parent/child/dogwalker can hand them out, too. They can’t easily carry your business cards.

I wrote an article once (a long long long time ago) attesting to the importance of your business card as the number one piece of promo you had. This was back when Clinton was President and websites weren’t yet as important as they are now. Certainly websites should be your main spot of promo resources right now. But when you actually meet someone, and they shake your hand, it is key to leave something in that hand. When you are at a booksigning, you hand your book (and hopefully get your reader to review it). But when you are just meeting someone at a party, or at preschool drop-off, or in the case of Stephanie’s husband: on the train commuting, a bookmark cements what was established: you write books and they were interested enough to inquire. Now they have something lovely and not cheap-feeling to remind them that they were interested. Hopefully then they will act upon that and go to your website where your order links are prominently displayed… Unless…

Unless your order links are not prominently displayed (in which case you need a new web designer). Or unless your bookmarks are cheap-looking and cheap-feeling. In these cases I can’t say how your bookmark will work. Probably not so well. Maybe even negatively. But that is fodder for a different post.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Why Greenleaf? Waxcreative and Greenleaf don’t share any mutual authors. But Greenleaf does something that no other publisher –as far as I know– does these days:

photo: deborah sherman photography

Greenleaf gives their authors Autographed by the Author stickers.

“We tell our authors to bring a Sharpie and their stickers, sign and sticker their stock, shake some hands and kiss some babies,” says Tanya Hall, Greenleaf’s Business Development Manager, “then watch their books get face-out placement in the ’signed by author’ section with no co-op fee!”

Tanya Hall, Business Development Manager, Greenleaf Book Group

Invaluable advice. And yet, some authors really do need this explanation and urging — they simply don’t know what to do with the sticker or why it helps.

And did Greenleaf know that they are one of the only (if not The Only) publishers who actually provide a roll of stickers for each of their authors? Tanya seemed surprised.

“But it’s such an inexpensive way for publishers to support their authors.”

Exactly.

So if you aren’t lucky enough to be with Greenleaf, you can get your stickers on your own. And get more tips for a successful signing, too!

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Julia Quinn with her RITA in her MacGyvered-with-stickers dress. Morrow/Avon Editor Lyssa Keusch in background left (in the pretty mint-colored sweater). Photo: Morgan Doremus

Said sister is me.

Here’s what happened: it was a few minutes before she was set to meet her editor (the fabulous Lyssa Keusch) for dinner. JQ was in a lovely dress that fit perfectly, provided (we discovered at the last minute) she didn’t move in one particular direction. Make that move and the snap (which was weak, we discovered at the last minute) unsnapped and part of the dress flapped. It wasn’t a wardrobe malfunction of the indecent sort, but clearly some adhesive was required.

The winning book with the winning sticker. Photo: Deborah Sherman

I grabbed a roll of Autographed by the Author stickers, appropriated two for the cause, and stuck a couple more in her purse to prevent later-in-the-evening emergencies.

So note one more good use for these must-have stickers: they double nicely as in-a-pinch fashion tape, and you are always assured of a makeshift wardrobe repair for your author event, whether it be black tie with awesome shoes and a gold statuette, or jeans at a neighborhood signing.

Every author should always have these stickers on hand.

QED.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Do not let the visitors to your booksigning get away without ensuring that they are on your newsletter list. Consider two options: First, if you have a laptop (and a second person to monitor it in case your signing gets busy), you can encourage people to sign up for your mailing list through your site right there. This might work in odd situations — when stars align to allow it without it being pushy or weird. You run the risk, of course, that they might be drawn into your site and want to surf. Plus, this is your chance to meet people away from the computer. You may not want to compete with the internet. (In one anecdote a client reported that her laptop, there to introduce visitors to her site, got usage on eBay and MySpace while she was busy talking with people. Hmmm.)

The second option is pretty easy. Offer an attractive newsletter sign-up sheet. Ours is free and downloadable from this post — one more helpful tool in addition to our stickers to make your booksigning a success. Why spend the time to download and use this one instead of just whipping out a sheet of blank paper at your signing? People respond to good design. Something nicely presented (like a clean home for a party, for instance) speaks volumes: “I took the time to present nicely for you. You matter to me.” That kind of validation is rarely articulated, but most certainly felt.

Please note that you will want to write your URL in the appropriate place on the sheet, especially if your url is anything other than yourname.com — those dot-nets and hyphenated URLs are very forgettable, unfortunately. Having a take-away piece, such a a nicely designed bookmark to stick in the book helps reinforce your url.

Being a design studio, we couldn’t help but to take this a step further and personalize it. Not that fans of Julia Quinn won’t know who they are meeting when they get to her table at a signing, but branded collateral cuts a very professional presentation for anyone, whether NYT or debut. And it contributes to help reinforce the overall positive experience of meeting you. It doesn’t take very long for us to do it and you’ll have it forever. Email us and ask about it. (And yes, we can add snail mail info if you wish.)

Be aware that there are all kinds of laws surrounding electronic newsletters (referred to as CAN-SPAM laws) and options for enlistees, and new ones being added all the time. You will want to sign these people up yourself through your back-end (or type in the names and send the list to your web studio and ask them to do it), as otherwise they will get a prompt to complete the process. They have already given you their permission to be on the list (hang onto your sign up sheets in a file somewhere, at least until you have sent out a newsletter or two), and you may lose them if they need to respond to a prompt, especially if that prompt is more than a day later.

More booksigning tips and strategies to come!

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.

“I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to seeing your reader review on amazon.” *

WOW. Take a moment to consider what you have just done. You cemented a relationship with a reader, and then not only suggested a course of action: read, enjoy, comment — you indicated that the relationship will be part of that. “*I* look forward to seeing *your* review.” You may as well say, “We’re not done here, you and I. And I look forward to the next time our paths cross.” That that point of contact will be on a content-sharing forum and not face-to-face again is irrelevant. Social networking, baby.

Your Autographed by the Author sticker on the book will serve to visually remind the reader of your meeting and the expectations on both parts: the reader is expecting to be entertained, and the author is hoping for a specific follow-up action. When the readers sees the bright shiny foil stamp they will remember the meeting, and likely the interchange.

Let me restate: when speaking to your audience, whether on your website or in person, be clear in your request. Is it: Read, Buy, Click, Go, Act, Consider…? What do you want them to want to do. (Read that sentence twice. It’s the key of this whole post.)

Look at Barack Obama’s site for example. There are navigational cues everywhere: Meet Barack and Michelle, Find out more about issues, the list is plentiful. But his site makes it visually clear what the desired primary action is. Notice the obvious big red button — essentially the only red thing in the window: DONATE NOW. As you get further in his site that red button keeps beckoning. Brilliant.

There are many options, but the action the site wants you to take is clear. When you hand your book to your reader, encourage them to “vote” for you on amazon.com. It’s very possible that that course of action simply never occurred to them. You have planted the seed and left a bright, shining reminder to do it.

* Please note: I say “amazon” here as an EXAMPLE. By all means insert your preferred content sharing site. But amazon is the industry leader and will likely appeal to the widest comfort zone. In your ten-second window to relay this information, you will have to politically pick and choose.

©2010 Waxcreative Design Blog. All Rights Reserved.