It’s time for another edition of “Lessons from a Book Signing.” If you have been following, I am coming off two book signings one week apart, and I always write something about what I learned from my signings. I am a believer that everything must teach me something. Everything I do or am a part of must serve a purpose; every relationship and every experience must have value.
You wouldn’t believe the number of times I was asked at both signings (especially at the mall) if I was on IG. This question told me that if you’re a writer, Instagram is one platform you want to be on right now (especially if you’re a black writer, a lot of black readers on the gram). What I loved about both signings is that I gained something even if people didn’t buy a book. Those who didn’t purchase stood by my table and looked up my IG handle and followed me. Not once did someone ask me if I was on Facebook. Facebook is still an excellent platform, don’t misunderstand me, it just didn’t come up much except among the older crowd of authors at the Festival who wasn’t on Instagram. All I know is, I won’t be ignoring this real-time data. If IG is where readers are, that is where I want to be. (Follow me @yecheilyah 🙂 )
Cash App
Ladies and gents, brothers and sisters, I believe we have hit a technology shift in the way people do business. I have a card reader, but I didn’t have to use it, and I rarely had to give change. Instead, money passed through the air through Cash App. If you’ve been living under a rock, Financial apps like Cash App and Zelle allow people to connect their bank account to an app and send and receive money in an instant. No swiping and no chips. Many businesses are using these apps as currency. “You got Cash App?” was a constant question, and I am wondering how much longer I will need to carry my card reader (I didn’t use it at all). Are you hosting an author/business event? Consider having a Zelle or Cash App account just in case!
Keep Working: The right people are watching
I posted to my SM early Saturday morning stating that a young woman approached me at the venue to meet me. I was setting my table, and someone tapped my shoulder. She said she follows me on SM and wanted to come over and meet me. We hugged, chatted, and took a pic for the gram. She also gifted me a copy of her book. It was an exciting start to the day and caught me by surprise. But even more surprising, this kept happening!
I didn’t post every occasion to SM, but this kept happening throughout the night. Other young women came up to me and said they came to the event because of me, that my face popped up first in Google, and that they had been to my author website.
Even as I was packing up to leave someone ran up to me and bought a copy of I am Soul. She was so excited to have caught me before I was gone. Another young woman went further. She said that she had messaged me through Facebook (which I saw last week but went back to look, and it was gone so I forgot about it), because she wanted me to headline an event next month featuring Renaissance. (I will talk more about this later and how you can support it.)
Stuff like this happened to me all night, and filled me with gratitude. I don’t look for outside validation or anything like that, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to be appreciated.
Your book is always new to the people who have never read it
There is a widespread belief that I am Soul (which I just noticed spiked again and is #28 on Amazon’s Best Seller’s List) is a new book, but it’s going on almost two years now since its release in December of 2017. My Stella series has been out since 2016 and Renaissance just passed its two-year mark 7/15. The only new new book is my short story series; Even Salt Looks Like Sugar.
I did not order enough books to cover both my signings. After I sold my copies of, I am Soul at Greenbriar Mall I had to leave an additional four copies with Nia to restock on the shelf, leaving me with only four copies of I am Soul. I also only had two copies of Renaissance, so I put in an order for more of these books. But they told me my books wouldn’t arrive until July 23-24th.
I. Was. Livid.
The Festival was on the 20th; I didn’t need them after the fact. (insert eye-ball roll)
After getting out of my feelings, I stepped back and looked at my inventory. I grabbed the four Soul, two Renaissance, five copies of Beyond the Colored Line, and five copies of The Road to Freedom. These are books two and three of The Stella Trilogy series, but they can also be read as standalone novellas. I also grabbed a handful of Even Salt Looks Like Sugar (which I had plenty of).
To make a long story short, Stella showed out! Beyond the Colored Line sold more than I am Soul. It surprised me because Stella didn’t do very well at last year’s Festival and I intended on leaving it out of this one. Renaissance did sell out as I predicted it would (I only had two copies) but bringing some of my backlist books helped carry me. I guess Stella said shoo, don’t forget about me! (This mix also gave Renaissance, and I am Soul value being they were in limited supply. One reader was excited to have grabbed up the last copy.)
And as for those extra books I bought that will be arriving this week? They will go toward my reading event next month which will save me money.
Lights, Camera, Action
Be ready to talk about your book on the spot, just in case someone sticks a mic and a camera in your face! This is what I walked into returning from the bathroom. The ladies were hilarious and we talked for a good while.
The PBS Blog 
You right Instagram is the way to go and it might be the biggest platform currently as for Facebook the thing is people don’t trust it anymore that’s why no one asked you about anyway big up to you about your book signing and those pics are prove that you were having fun but the question is according to you do you think ebooks sells more than those manual we are used to?
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I would not say Instagram is the way to go for everyone because it depends on where your Target Audience hangs out, but IG is certainly a big player in the SM game for sure, and writers could do well to pay attention to that. (Anyone non-trusting of Facebook have good reason but they should probably just get off social media altogether. Nothing is private on the internet or 100% safe. IG is also owned by Facebook.)
To my knowledge, for Independent Authors/Self-Publishers, ebooks far outsell hardcopy. However, I believe in balance, and I would not recommend anyone to neglect to produce a paperback of their book as well. Conferences, Festivals, and Book Signings give writers with hard copies of their books a chance to network and connect with readers in real-time, face to face, and outside of the internet. It offers the opportunity to get those books into Independent Bookstores and Libraries. Many people still read, and many do prefer a paperback book.
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Thanks for your clearly and straightforward response…❤💙
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Agreed Yecheilyah (I can almost spell your name by heart<3) Anywho, all of these are absolutely correct, especially the one about CashApp. I was so glad my daughter had me download last year because at one event, it was just like you said…no one needed the card reader.
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Haha 😂
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And exactly about the Card Reader. I was so happy I had cash app or 😬 lol
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Well said! I always think that authors associate book signings with the amount of sales they make, but in the actual reality, it is really a drip marketing, where people get to know you and the more you show up on the media, the more they remember you and the tendency to buy your book later would be higher.
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True. Book signings are a great networking opportunity. Though, I think there’s a potential to do well in sales too depending on the strength of that author’s platform. What I’ve found is the more work you’ve put in on growing & building your audience, the better sales will be at the signing.
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Exactly. I think the part about sales depends on author branding. It’s about how much your audience know who you are and the values you’ve given away in your books. Which is why I always emphasize on author branding.
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Reblogged this on International Book Promotion and commented:
Well said! I always think that authors associate book signings with the amount of sales they make, but in the actual reality, it is really a drip marketing, where people get to know you and the more you show up on the media, the more they remember you and the tendency to buy your book later would be higher.
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