I Went For A Book Walk Last Weekend Part 2

Truthfully, it's been a couple of weekends now. 

The Struggle To Sell

Events like the book walk organized by Nutmeg Lit Fest last month are all about bringing readers and books together. Which sounds very nice. What they're really about is money, which doesn't sound as nice. We are talking about marketing books. Whether you are a self-published or traditionally published author, marketing is difficult. In large part this is due to the 2 million books that are published each year, which I mentioned last time. There are nowhere near enough readers to read all those books. In fact, as I also mentioned, eighty percent of those books will sell fewer than 100 copies.

Given those facts, being able to sell more than 100 copies of a book becomes a major achievement. But what about some other figures?

A Traditionally Published Author

Hal Johnson sketching in my book

I met Hal Johnson, the author of  Impossible Histories, published by a Macmillan imprint, at the book walk. He was one of two traditionally published authors I talked to, though there may have been more there. In our conversation, Johnson said that he took part in events like this one because traditional publishers don't do much marketing anymore. This is something I hear a lot to the point that I'd almost call it common knowledge now. But I don't really know what it means, because it's been so long since I've had a book published, myself.

Back in my day, boys and girls, marketing from traditional publishers involved:

• Sending arcs of your books to professional review sites
• Including your books in their seasonal catalogs
• Maybe taking your book to teacher and library conferences 
• If your book received a certain number of starred reviews, you'd get an advertisement in a professional publication of some sort
• The Hero of Ticonderoga was included in a one of those box displays in bookstores, but I can't remember why.

Are traditional publishers doing less of the above now? Or does the above have less impact because of the overwhelming number of books out there? 

It doesn't matter, of course. The end result is the same. It's hard to sell traditionally published books.

My husband and I used to think that handselling like we saw at the book walk didn't matter, because the number of books you'd sell would be so small, it couldn't have an impact. But, remember, eighty percent of books published sell fewer than 100 copies. You want to sell more than 100 copies to get into the twenty percent! That seems doable by making the effort to handsell at events like this. Remember, someone told me at this book walk that s/he had sold 200 copies of a book in a few months. 

But what about the income involved, Gail? For a number of years, conventional wisdom claimed that most traditionally published books don't sell enough copies to earn back the author's advance, the advance being an advance against sales that traditional publishers pay authors upfront when they agree to publish a book. Recently (meaning just now) I've read that that isn't necessarily true. At any rate, the advance isn't the only money traditional publishers invest in books. They have to pay for:

• all editing, 
• layout and design, 
• interior artwork, if there is any, 
• cover illustrations, 
• design of the covers, 
• and all the marketing listed above. 

Will selling more than 100 books cover all that, making you look like a desirable risk your publisher might publish again? How many books do you have to sell to do that? Beats me.

The Self-Published Authors

Mike Jakubowski

Mike Jakubowski, author of The Kings of Beacon and Joey and the Ocean of Possiblities, was one of
the first authors I spoke to. I was drawn to his covers and learned that he had a friend who did the illustrations and another friend who did the design work for them. We agreed this was very significant, because the cost of self-publishing can get up there. 

In fact, that's why I always call self-published writers self-published and not independent. They have to bear the burden of finding people to do all the work described above that traditional publishers do for the books they publish, and they have to pay for it. Themselves. There are companies that will do that for writers, and I've seen costs for that going anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. The companies I've read about didn't include a developmental editor, which is the most important and possibly the most expensive part of publishing.

But what about the income involved, Gail? You often see not having to share income with a publisher as being one of the benefits of self-publishing. But without a publisher, you don't have anyone to take on the financial risk of publishing. Authors have to pay for everything. Themselves. 

How many books do they have to sell to cover their expenses? Again, it beats me.

Gail Is Impressed

Yes, when I go to any of these book events, I am greatly impressed by the effort and ingenuity and expense the authors attending put into their marketing materials. 

I'm talking serious posters, for instance, such as the one that Greg Gilmartin had made of his book covers. In fact, glossy book cover posters are a very common thing. I still have a poster a book fair made of one of my covers, but it was some kind of digital printout glued to a poster board. In two decades things have improved. 

I saw table coverings like the one Hal Johnson had made printed with his book covers.

I try not to pick up bling at festivals, because I dabble in minimalism and environmentalism. So I don't have much of that to show. But we're not talking the Kinko's black and white bookmarks I handed out in schools back in the day or the business cards we made on our printer. We're talking about beautiful things. Lots of them printed on both sides!

Don't I sound as if I just came out of the hills?

What really freaks me out, though, are the canopies.

These writers often market outdoors, and in addition to lugging a fold-up table of some sort and a chair, they also have to carry canopies with them to protect them from the sun and, presumably, some light rain. 

Jordan Lopez has a canopy.

As does Kelly Jarvis.

 

And Sarah P. Blanchard.

 

One of 4 book walk stations.

As did most of the authors at the Wethersfield Book Walk. 

Now, I have a canopy on my deck. It's horrible to work with. The one we have now is only a year old, and we've already punched a hole in it. Dealing with canopies is not a minor task. These writers are putting in a lot of personal, physical work to market their books. 

I'm going to be honest. I don't want to say I'm too lazy to do this kind of thing, but I'm too lazy to do this kind of thing. I have cases of my out-of-print books and thought about trying to join an upcoming event just to sell off what I've got. But then I said, No. No, no, no.

There is at least one other group in Connecticut that organizes events for writers handselling their books. But this kind of thing is happening all over the country. Shopping for books in this way may be becoming as common as shopping in bookstores. Or on Amazon. 

I Went For A Book Walk Last Weekend Part 1

Last weekend I attended the Book Walk organized by Nutmeg Lit Fest in Wethersfield, Connecticut. A one-mile round trip walk on a ridiculously nice day.

Nutmeg Lit Fest is an organization that promotes its Connecticut writer members. Because many of those members are self-published, they may not get many opportunities for their books to be featured in bookstores. (Two million books are supposed to be published annually. Bookstores can't absorb all of them.) Self-published writers, then, have to rely on handselling. The Nutmeg Lit Fest Facebook group provides support for these writers, publicizing their events.

Additionally, Nutmeg Lit Fest's partners, among them Heidi Rocha (sorry I don't have the names of the others), organize events like Old Wethersfield Book Walk for its authors to meet the public and sell books in unique venues such as shopping areas with foot traffic or at town events. The writers bring some shoppers to the area, the area already has shoppers, and a sort of symbiotic/mutualism relationship is created. (No, I don't know much about biology. Let's think metaphorically here, okay?)

Heidi Rocha

There used to be a few traditional literary festivals in Connecticut, but they began disappearing even before the pandemic. We cannot blame the loss of the Connecticut Children's Book Fair on that. With book festivals. though, readers/shoppers still have to come to the books, just as they have to come to the books in bookstores. The Connecticut Children's Book Fair was successful, pulling in 2,000 people a weekend I was told once, but those were people interested in children's books and willing to make their way to the fair. The fair was in Storrs, home of the main University of Connecticut campus. No one has ever called Storrs a convenient location.

Something Different

One of at least 4 Book Walk stops

What Nutmeg Lit Fest does that is different is bring books to people instead of hoping people will come to the books. Last weekend that set-up worked very well.

The Authors Guild Bulletin includes a chapter called The Cruelty—and Possibilities— of 21st-Century Book Promotion by Michael Castleman (The Untold Story of Books). In it Castleman says that an average of 2 million books a year are published, as I've already mentioned. Eighty percent of those books, he says, including books from traditional publishers, will sell fewer than 100 copies, a figure I've seen before. 

Even if you subtract textbooks, which have a captive audience, from the 2 million yearly published books, we're still talking hundreds of thousands of books coming out every single year, piled up on top of what was published in years past. I don't know how many readers are out there, but I'm going to stick my head out that there aren't hundreds of thousands of them. All the regular readers who read multiple...or many... books a year, cannot read all the books that are being turned out.

On Saturday, one of the writers I spoke to said he (or she, I truly can't remember who it was) had sold 200 copies of a book in a few months. That didn't sound like much until I read Castleman's article yesterday and was reminded of the 100-copy figure. 

Which brings me back to Nutmeg Lit Fest and the something different it does. Because Nutmeg Lit Fest takes its authors out into the community, it is exposing its authors and their books to people in the community who may not be traditional readers who would go to a bookstore or a literary festival. 

To sell more books, you have to find more readers. You have to create readers who were not readers before. You don't do this in bookstores and literary festivals, which attract people who are already readers. You have to go where the nonreaders are.

Handselling Is A Lot Of Work

Back in my day, boys and girls, as a traditionally published writer I could rely on my publisher to do the bulk of my bookselling. I created a website, started blogging, marketed myself as a speaker to schools, and became involved with social media. It seemed like a lot to do at the time, especially when it is so difficult to determine your Return on Investment for any individual book marketing attempt. Except for situations like school appearances that might involve the school selling your books to students or even buying some, it's hard to tell which things you did that resulted in a sale.

The writers I've been seeing at the Nutmeg Lit Fest Facebook page (I'm a member) and at the two events it sponsored that I attended are doing a great deal more. I'll get into more of that in my next post.

What I will say for now is that in days of old, I had a network of sorts with children's writers in New England. These days I am building connections with writers in Connecticut. 

Gerald E. Augustine

I've met Gerald E. Augustine, author of Vietnam Beyond and the subject of Passion in Life, twice now. Same with Heidi Roche. There were at least two other authors at Saturday's event that I've met.

Wesleyan University Press

Wesleyan University Press, a Connecticut publisher, had a table at Saturday's event. Though this was my first contact with the organization, I used to know Susan Campbell, the author of a couple of the books it was featuring. 

Jennifer Regan-Lefebre

Another university press, University of California Press, published Jennifer Regan-Lefebre's book, Imperial Wine, which interested me because while I only drink cheap wine (but not that cheap) I am a sucker for history books, which is what Imperial Wine is. I had not met Jennifer before, but she is a historian, and I am a history reader. She's also a professor at Trinity College in Hartford, which, wouldn't you know it, I did not attend. But years ago, I'm talking maybe decades, I somehow managed to wrangle my way into a free essay symposium there. (I did something similar at UConn. I used to be shameless. Now I'm too lazy to do things like that.) Anyway, I feel connection, people. It takes very little for me to feel that. 

Next time I'll be covering other writers who appeared at Old Wethersfield Book Walk and discussing some of the marketing they're doing.

A Litfest At An Orchard

For months now, central Connecticut has been awash with group appearances by writers. Many, especially those with children's writers, have been at traditional writer sites like libraries. But then I've been seeing groups doing signings and sales at bars, vineyards, breweries, and other places we don't usually expect to be able to buy a signed copy of a book. However, they are places where people go. Where there are people, there are readers. Those are opportunities for writers, especially self-published writers who don't often see their books in bookstores, to meet and greet and make sales. 

Yesterday I hit a small literary signing held at Dondero Orchards in South Glastonbury, a spot I'd never been to even though it's within a half hour of me. It definitely draws a crowd on Sunday mornings, as you can see, since I thought a picture of the parking lot would be appropriate. 

The first writer I met there was Gerald Augustine, author of Vietnam Beyond.  Before he headed out to Vietnam back in the 60s, his mother told him to take pictures. So he goes off to 'nam with his camera and sends back in excess, I believe he said, of 200 hundred pictures. His book is heavily illustrated. 

My second writer was Sarah Branson the author of the Pirates of New Earth series.  There are adult books in this series, as well as children's books. All set in the same world. I like that idea very much. I have set books in the same towns, but they never made it into print.

Anna James is a contemporary romance writer who was there with her books published by Harlequin, as well as an arc for a book coming out soon.

I met P. Jo Anne Burgh last year after she promoted one of her appearances at a porchfest near me on a Facebook group we both belong to. Her first two books are contemporary romance with a Christmas connection. Check out what she has to say on the subject of book fairs, festivals, and holiday markets. And more of her thoughts on the subject. She's been around these things.

Heidi Rocha is an author and pediatric dental hygienist who writes the Sparkly Smiles Series, books and workbooks on dental hygiene for kids. She did one of the story times yesterday and had kids buzzing around her table while I was talking with her.  

Rick Collins writes a series of mysteries about a New England police chief, and I'm sorry that I was getting to the end of my time at this event and didn't stop to talk to him. 

The same is true of Jack Matthews, the author of  Arte Perdida. Rick and Jack were at the end of the loop of authors I was making my way around, and my conversation, of which we all know I have very little, was petering out. Jack took that picture of Heidi and me. Great picture of me, Jack. I don't usually turn out that well.

I had a lovely hour or so, went home with a couple of books, some postcards and a business card, and material for a blog post. Also, the orchard site left me with a desire to make gluten free cider doughnuts. Which I did.

Once Again, Bringing Books To Readers

Pumpkin people, in case you couldn't tell.

It's been a while since I've featured a children's author or a children's book or, I think, any kind of in-person author appearance here. You all know how I love Zoom. But I was at Pumpkintown USA today, which in this part of Connecticut is a big deal. I'm not being sarcastic. We love Pumpkintown in these parts. While I was walking around, I was reminded of a blog post I did around nine years ago, Getting Books Out Into The World, about Connecticut author Sandra Horning, who did a signing at Pumpkintown, as well as two other nontraditional sites, to promote a pumpkin picture book. No sooner did I start thinking about her, then what did I see but another author doing a book signing!

Peggy Schaedler, author, not pumpkin person

Author Peggy Schaedler was there supporting a series of books she's written about characters based on Pumpkintown characters. She's doing a number of weekend appearances there. Now, given that her books involve Pumpkintown it makes a great deal of sense that she should be making appearances there. Nonetheless, years ago you wouldn't have seen someone like her at a place like this, just as you wouldn't have seen someone like Sandra Horning there. They would have been at a bookstore or library.

Times have changed.

In large part, this is due to self-publishing. There are far more books being self-published than bookstores can absorb, the main reason why few self-published books are featured there. All writers, but particularly those who self-publish, are becoming more and more creative and working harder and harder to find ways to take their books to readers, since readers can't come to their books in bookstores 

Last year, for instance, I saw author Jo Ann Burgh at a porchfest. Many thanks to her. She promoted her appearance at a Facebook group I belong to, which brought me to the porchfest. Turns out, I love porchfests. Really, many thanks. I went back this year.

I am now a member of another Facebook group, Connecticut Authors and Their Readers Meeting Place, where I see authors posting about appearances at bars, vineyards, and breweries, among other places. These are often group appearances, meaning someone has not only approached these places about bringing their books in, but done some administrative work so a number of authors could come in. One Connecticut author who posts there and has had quite a bit of attention for her first book and has written a second says the bulk of her sales are made through these kinds of appearances.

These people, like Peggy Schaedler, are spending enormous amounts of time on marketing in a very real boots on the ground way.  Best wishes to all of them. But as I told Peggy today when I met her at Pumpkintown, I just don't want to work this hard. Yes, I am a little bit ashamed. But not enough to make the effort she and all these people are making. 

Bringing Connecticut Writers To The Public

Two local not necessarily literary events included/will include local authors in examples of thinking outside the box for book promotion. They are also examples of reaching readers who don't necessarily find their books through the traditional bookstore and library route.

Book At A Porchfest

One group of porchfest musicians

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a porchfest in Wethersfield, Connecticut. What is a porchfest, you may ask? I certainly did.  A porchfest is an annual event involving musicians performing on porches. They began in Ithaca, New York in 2007 and are now held across the U.S. and Canada. I've heard of a couple more in the last couple of weeks, before which time, I'd never heard of one at all.

The porchfest we attended was along a main street and the musicians were set up in front of stores and restaurants, creating a porchlike atmosphere, and performing at different times. Big variety of types of music. This porchfest also had businesses and artisans set up in the street, which had been closed to foot traffic. 

P. Jo Anne Burgh

Among the people with booths was author P. Jo Anne Burgh, author of State v. Claus and the upcoming Becoming Mrs. Claus. She had a great set-up and exhibited calm in a situation in which I rarely am. 

An interesting part of the Jo Anne/Porchfest/Gail story: She posted at a Connecticut Authors Facebook group we both belong to that she would be at Porchfest Wethersfield. I didn't know her, and I hadn't heard of this porchfest thing, though I live maybe 20 to 30 minutes away from where it was being held. I googled Porchfest Wethersfield and decided I wanted to go. I met Jo Anne, bought her book, had a great morning, have been talking about porchfests with family members ever since.

My point being, this is an example of social media marketing working. I don't know that it works as well or as often as the publishing world hoped when it latched onto it. I don't know that it works in big ways very often. Book titles going viral are probably pretty rare, and I don't know that viral Internet attention for a book necessarily leads to big sales. But I do believe it works in small ways like this.

An Author Stage At An Arts & Crafts Show

Next weekend, the River Bend Bookshop in Glastonbury, Connecticut is holding its Author Stage, which it has been doing for at least a couple of years, at the Glastonbury Arts' On The Green Arts & Crafts Show, which has been happening for a while, too. This features both adult and children's authors over multiple genres. 

A lot of authors over 2 days

Once again, I found out about this in interesting ways. Facebook friend (one I've actually met in the flesh) Stacy DeKeyser will be appearing and has posted about it on Facebook. I'm also on the River Bend Bookshop email list and have been notified that way. To be honest, I'm usually 6 to 8 weeks late reading the local weekly paper that would probably carry information on this. 

Give some thought to how information is spread these days and how you can hook yourself up with groups to make sure you get the kind of information you want. Being members of the "right groups" doesn't mean what it used to mean. Now it means getting access to their information.

 

Bone By Bone With Dr. Sara Levine

Last Wednesday, I attended Facebook friend and author Sara Levine's Bone By Bone presentation at my local library. Clearly I have missed my calling, or, at least, missed a good calling. If this event is any indication, bones have a powerful attraction for kids. The enthusiastic audience put Sara to work discussing the bones she had on display before she was even introduced.

Sara, who is a veterinarian, was an assistant professor of biology for 12 years and has taught children’s environmental education classes for for over 20. Experience shows, both in terms of her knowledge of her material and ability to deal with children.

I try not to share much of authors' presentation material. However, I have to say that Sara has a bone box. I will not say what she does with it. But, come on--a bone box! And I was sitting very close to it. 

This presentation included a reading of Sara's book Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons, illustrated by T.S. Spookytooth. She has also written eight other books, and has three more coming out in 2023 and one in 2024.

Kim Johnson's "This Is My America" Wins This Year's Malka Penn Award

This Is My America by Kim Johnson has won the 2021 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children's Literature. The Malka Penn Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding children’s book addressing human rights issues or themes. It recognizes works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, or biography written for children from preschool to high school. The award is named in honor of author Michele Palmer who writes under the pseudonym Malka Penn and presented by Dodd Human Rights Impact at the University of Connecticut.

This Is My America is Johnson's debut YA novel. HBO Max is working on a TV adaptation.

2021 Honor Books 

 

• Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri 
• Mexique: A Refugee Story from the Spanish Civil War by Maria José Ferrada and illustrated by Ana Penyas 
• Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
• Stand Up! Speak Up! by Andrew Joyner 
• Nana Akua Goes to School by Tricia Elam Walker and April Harrison

On-line Awards Ceremony Tomorrow Night, November 2

An awards ceremony for the Malka Penn Awards will be held tomorrow night, Nov. 2, 7:00 PM ET. Johnson and the Honor Book authors will be taking part in a panel, Mirrors, Windows, and Doors: Stories for Equity, Empathy, and Activism.

Register here.