Happy Saturday! Today we are going to talk about the different types of events authors can host, and how to make the most of your opportunity.

Choosing your event type

The kind of event you host is dependent on the genre of your book and your target audience. Event types include:

• An author meet and greet (M&G), where guests approach a table and get their prepaid books signed. Interaction depends on the length of time available, from as short as thirty seconds to as long as several minutes.
• An author Q&A followed by a M&G and signing.
• A speaking event at a different location from the store, followed by a Q&A and M&G.
• An author panel with 3+ authors of the same genre, followed by a M&G.
• A reading or story time, followed by an author M&G.

If you’re a picture book or Beginning Reader author, I always recommend asking if you can do a story time. If you have any artwork from your book available to print, make copies and bring them for the kids to color in. Not only will they engage with your book, but they can take the drawing home and be reminded of the story every time they look at it.

Another huge opportunity for both Young Reader (YR) and YA authors is to get into schools. I had relationships with several schools and would offer them a free assembly on writing, or several large story times for younger readers. We would set up two to three assemblies with several grades at a time, and the author would give a thirty minute presentation on writing or how they became a published author. Afterwards the author would take questions for about ten minutes and then I would inform the crowd that they could meet and speak with the author that evening at such and such Barnes and Noble.

Getting it done

Schedule the store signing for 3:30pm – 7pm so parents have the option to either go directly after school or once the family has had dinner and completed any errands.

I had two tricks for getting students to actually come to the store, and they both involve giving them something to look forward to. I worked with one author who had written a Sherlock Holmes style YR novel, so I organized a scavenger hunt. The kids were given the sheet at school and then I had extra copies at the store for the students who inevitably lost or forgot theirs.

The second trick was much simpler and works with all genres and ages: at the end of the assembly, ask everyone a question that they can answer when they meet you. Popular questions were: what kind of books do you like to read? Tell me who your favorite superhero is? (This was for the author of a superhero themed YR series.) Do you have any pets? What are their names?

For YA authors with an older audience, I recommend asking the store if you can hold a reading and Q&A session geared towards inexperienced writers. The opportunity to pick the brain of a published author is enticing to all authors, young adults especially.

Promoting your event

Your job between the time you book your event and the day you take out your signing pen is to promote, promote, promote! Stores will order signage to post both inside and on the outer windows, as well as giving daily announcements. I recommend stopping by the store and taking several pictures with any signage, as well as your books on the shelf. While you’re there, ask the MOD if they wouldn’t mind having the Social Media Manager put up a post about your event, and offer to send them the photos you just took.

Signing Day!

Drink your coffee, eat your Wheaties, today’s the day. Before you leave the house, run through a checklist. Favorite signing pen? Promotional material?

Show up fifteen minutes early, but no earlier. The store should have already set up your table and however many chairs you asked for. The location depends on where the most foot traffic is for that particular store. It’s generally a choice of right by the entrance or in a predetermined event space, sometimes in a larger department that can be cleared for chairs.

If you didn’t bring a preferred signing tool, ask for either ballpoint or Sharpie. I always have both on hand for my authors.

Connecting with customers

If you take away just one thing from this post, let it be this golden rule:

Engage and interact.

By far, the most successful authors were the ones greeting people as they walk in the door and engaging with customers.

I would never want to make any of my authors anxious or force them to step outside of their comfort zones. But the cold reality is, authors who were outgoing and conversational sold upwards of three times more books than those who simply sat and waited for customers to approach them. Publishers and agents would come to me to increase their authors’ readership and ultimately, to make them a profit, and I would always be perfectly blunt with them. If you want to engage readers, you have to actually engage with them.

I would offer my authors a list of questions and talking points they could use to interact with customers:

Sealing the deal

A fool proof way to grab peoples attention is with free stuff! Everyone loves something for nothing. My recommendation is bookmarks, which you can print with your book cover and info on them. I’ve never seen bookmarks fail.

At the end of the day, you and your book are unique and worth sharing with the world! Remember to take photos, have fun, and last pro tip: Take those event signs home with you! Ask the manager if you can have the big one in the window and any smaller ones within the store.

Best of luck, my friends!