Ten secrets to selling IRL
What’s the secret to selling in person?
It’s really quite simple: engagement. Remember, every point of contact is a point of sale. You might not sell a book with every point of contact, but unless you make those connections, you won’t sell anything at all. You have to engage.
1. Put yourself out there. You can’t wait for people to come to you. As we say in the journalism world, you have to meet people where they are. And increasingly they are online. So, establish a place for people to connect with you. Social media. Website. Newsletter. Some kind of online platform. Pick one to get you started, and run up the flag. It’s a little dated now, but Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work is a great guide for doing this, without doing your head in.
2. Reach out. Connect with organizations that want writers to interact with them in the real world. Friends of Library Groups. Writers associations, like the Mystery Writers of America, for example. Offer yourself up as a resource.
3. Say yes. If someone offers you the opportunity to go to an event where you can represent yourself and your work, say yes. Book clubs. Library events. Talks to senior groups. Talks to school literary groups.
4. Prepare. The more prepared you are, the more relaxed and natural you’re going to be when you get to the venue. Learn about the event and the organization running it. Read up on any other writers that will be there. Have your business cards ready. Bring more books with you than you think you’re going to sell. Arrive early. Dress appropriately. All of this will endear you to the organizers, and that will generate more engagements.
5. Get out in front. You will be given a table to sit behind. If fifty people are lined up in front of it, ready to buy your book and have it signed, great. If not, that table is a trap. Once you’re behind it, you’re restricted to interacting with people who come to you. You don’t have a way of making points of contact and drawing people in.
6. Find an ice-breaker. Look at the people passing by. What books are they carrying? What are they wearing? What are they interested in? How are they enjoying the event? What talks have they been to? Start with an open ended question.
7. Be a good human. Make eye contact. Be polite. Smile. Don’t push yourself on anyone. All the rules of good manners apply.
8. Be curious. These are book people, which means they’re you’re people. They are interested and interesting. Show interest in them, and they will reciprocate. Eventually they will want to know about your work. Be ready.
9. Have your log line ready. A log line is a short (usually one sentence) description of a movie, used to pitch a project. Work up a logline for your book, and be ready to deliver it when queried by a reader. Practice in the mirror. A lot. Be comfortable enough with your log line to adjust to the reader’s taste, so that you can play up the romance in your book, for example, to one reader, and the theme of racial tension to another.
10. Don’t be attached to the outcome. Not everyone is going to be into your work. Not everyone is going to buy your book. That’s okay. If you had a good conversation with a person, they might recommend you to a friend who is into what you’re writing. Remember, it’s all about the interaction. That’s the fun part. The sale, if you make one, is the icing on the cake. You’ve still made a point of contact that can bear fruit in other ways. And you’ve achieved several other goals: you’ve thickened your skin; you’ve worked out your social muscles; you’ve made a friend and probably learned something. You’ve also probably boosted your social score: that person might well spread the word about you. Which could lead to more sales down the road.
Good luck!
