In this multi part series, I will be looking for different places to host book events from small business coffee shops to large sci-fi/fantasy conventions. You will be able to follow my process from the beginning all the way to the biggest success from one of these. I refuse to do many bookstores unless it is my only option as it is difficult to sell your book among other books while its easier when you are their only choice.
As of writing this post, I haven’t had any full contact with many event venues. Some places I have looked at included Cleveland Concoction which is a fantasy convention, a board game bar called D20, and a coffee shop that is in my town called Coffee Expressions. Conventions were an easy choice as many were smaller and accepted smaller guests at their events while larger conventions would cost me hundreds out of pocket and then I had to hope I could sell enough books there to make my money back and then some. The bar choice was more it is a unique place in our area already and having a book event there could aid me. Afterall, people drinking will be willinng to part with a bit more money for an extra book if they are already buying drinks and enjoying themselves. Finally, the coffee shop is a small place I have seen local artists attend for events and what better combination is there than coffee and a good book?
This is my first time trying to contact someplace to have a book signing/event that didn’t already have events like this so it was nerve wracking to try and contact them. The convention accepts guests all the time so that was more seeing if I could get accepted and if they took authors there that were small like me. However, the other places were new to me and just simply asked if they were capable of doing events there and if they would be interested in hosting me. After that, I will work from there to try and sell them in accepting me and see what sort of messages work and don’t work in getting into a location. My biggest problem thus far is probably messaging them on facebook but if the only other option is calling, sometimes I just prefer to message them. It opens them to take their time to think on the issue and not feel put in the limelight to give an answer right then and there.
Overall, I am excited to write these posts and am looking forward to reporting back on all of it as news arrives.
