A Hard-Won Milestone

Today, while selling my six mystery titles at a Christmas craft fair, I hit a milestone. I sold my 1,200^th print copy of my first self-published mystery, Taxed to Death. When most unknown authors barely sell 100 print copies of their novels these days, (or so I’m told—I don’t know the actual number) this may seem like quite a feat, and it is, but not for the reason you might think, i.e. making money. You see, this didn’t milestone didn’t occur easily or quickly, and that’s the point I want to stress.

I’ve talked with a lot of writers and crafters over the last five years who all want to sell their products and make money, understandably. But I’ve also come across too many people who expect quick success. My craft fair season, which is from early November to mid-December involves both small high school craft fairs plus large three-day events. Time after time, I listen to vendors complain at the six-hour high school fairs (table rentals are $35 to $40) about not having cleared a $600 profit. I average $150.00 profit at high school fairs, and I’m happy with that. Hey, I don’t have lofty expectations. Craft fairs and, dare I say all bookselling events, are unpredictable. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life is that tenacity pays off.

As I mentioned, selling Taxed to Death hasn’t been an easy ride. Would you be surprised if I told you that the book was published twenty years ago? I still sell it because I believe in my work and because the story’s centered around fraud, a more timely topic today than it was when I was first wrote about it.

Here’s the thing, though. I had to overcome a lot of hurdles to sell that book, and to be honest, there were years when I made little effort to sell Taxed to Death at all. I remember 1997, when we filled an order from the Chapters chain that necessitated a second print run (and this is before the POD days), only to receive over four hundred  returned copies months later and learn that our distributor, who owed us $1,000, had gone bankrupt. I had to make cold calls to independent bookstores along with personal visits, asking managers to consider carrying my book. Happily, over twenty stores did. All but two of them are gone now. I spent many hours doing a massive mail-out to nearly 1,000 libraries (which resulted in nearly 200 sales), and then I found Christmas craft fairs and summer farmers' markets. 1,200 copies later, I’m most proud of the fact that I made the effort and stuck with it, That, to me, is the big accomplishment.

Wise writers know that the writing biz is a long-haul journey. For the vast majority of us, there is no easy money or instant fame and fortune. But there is belief in your work and opportunity and tenacity. It’s up to you to decide what you want to do with it.

Debra

Tools That Have Helped Me Sell Books

Following up on last week’s blog about becoming a writing entrepreneur, I want to focus on something I started doing in earnest about five years ago, which is to sell my six titles at farmer’s markets and craft fairs.

It didn’t take much research to learn that there are many opportunities to sell books beyond the traditional stores. A couple of crafting friends encouraged me to try at my local Curves’ Christmas fair back then. I enjoyed it so much that they gave me the names of other fairs.

Handselling at these types of events has been much more fun than standing behind a table in a bookstore trying to draw people in. Craft fair customers are never in rush and take the time to chat, to ask about my books. Some of my customers include teachers who buy copies for their school library, others belong to book clubs. I’ve landed a few great speaking engagements from customers who’ve invited me to speak at their organizations.

In addition to an attractive table covering and book display, I’ve found other useful tools along the way. First, professional business cards and bookmarks are a must. Growing numbers of customers want to know if my books are available on Kindle or Kobo. Taking away a reminder could definitely result in future sales.

Second, have an eye-catching banner made. Many of the fairs and trade shows provide curtains to attach banners to, and I constantly see customers looking at those signs before approaching a table. Third—and this one has really improved sales—use Square or something similar to conduct credit card transactions.

Square was recommended to me a couple of years ago and is easy to use on an ipad or my iphone. The first winter I used it was at a huge Christmas craft fair. One woman bought $75.00 worth of books on her card. Without Square that sale would have been lost.

Today, I was at a smaller, four-hour event. Over 50% of my sales were made through Square. I hate to think where I’d be without it. They’re inexpensive to buy (in fact, your $10 investment is refunded by Square) and easy to set up even for luddites like me. Square takes a tiny percentage of each sale, but money from those transactions (for which Square takes a tiny percentage) is always in my account by Monday morning.

If you want to sell print copies of your books, don’t rely just on the traditional means. There are plenty of other ways that can be fun and profitable.

Debra