Posts Tagged Book signing
Book Fairs
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Markets, Promotion on February 15, 2025
Book Fairs appear to be growing in popularity. These are gatherings of large numbers of authors for the purpose of signing and selling books to the reading public. Authors pay for a table at these events. Sometimes readers have to pay an entrance fee and sometimes the events are free entry. 
These are not the same as Literature/Book Festivals where there is a program based around authors speaking about their books. Nor are they the same as events like The London Book Fair which is principally for the publishing industry, not the reading community.
There has been some discussion amongst the members of the New Street Authors Collective about whether Book Fairs are financially worthwhile. Tables usually cost upwards of £25 with those located in prime spots, and thus receiving the most footfall, priced higher. Many events cost significantly more than that. Adding in the cost of travel, parking and food and drink increases the financial outlay even more. Depending on how much authors charge for their books, the profit per book over cost price may be around £3. The sheer number of authors at these events means that competition is fierce and therefore the number of books sold may well only be in single figures. This means that many authors won’t make money at these events.
I’ve never attended one of these book signings and so I asked my fellow writers what the attraction was, given that they were likely to end up out of pocket.
F. D. Lee – “You don’t get many sales but more often than not you do get fans and fans will be loyal to you whatever you do.”
Dawn Abigail – “For me it’s a question of having some ulterior motive, i.e., Do I want to go, irrespective of how much I sell? If so, then sales are just a bonus.”
Jill Griffin – “It’s a good way to meet other authors and share information.”
Lee Benson – “I enjoy meeting people in the flesh and, at the shows I’ve attended, I’ve always sold books as well as getting school performance bookings and meeting other authors who want to be interviewed for my radio show and vice versa.”
The attraction of Book Fairs for authors is not wealth and riches – we all know that the average writer earns a pittance from his work – but the social aspect of mixing with other bookish people and comparing notes.
If you’d like to dip your toe into this world, whether as an author or a reader, here are a few places to try:
Book Extravaganzas (Midlands) organised by Rosie’s Retro Bazaar and Fantom Publishing
Book Signing Events in the UK A range of genres and locations
UK Book Signing Events Private Facebook Group
Tips for Hand Selling Books
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Markets, Promotion, Self-publishing on February 8, 2016
The benefit of making a book available in paperback (instead of e-book only) is the ability to ‘hand sell’ copies i.e. sell direct to the reader. Since the publication of Bedsit Three I’ve been taking my first steps in this direction. As well as selling to friends, family and acquaintances, I’ve done two small-scale book-signings linked with local charity events and last week I practised my ‘author speech’ for an audience of 6 writers (who all bought a book).
It’s hardly the big time but I can now celebrate emptying my first box of 50 paperbacks and starting on the second. 
There are a couple of events lined up for March – and it feels good not to depend on Amazon for all my sales!
I’ve learned a few things along the way too:
- Get a foot in the door at charity events by offering to make a donation for each sale
- Don’t be surprised if people proudly proclaim, “I never read books”
- People will buy books for odd reasons – I made one sale to a lady who wanted it because we share a surname and another to a lady whose daughter’s married name is Sally Jenkins
- Decide beforehand what dedication you will write in the books – will it just be ‘Best wishes’ or something else?
- Take a pen that writes smoothly
- Take a float of change
- Don’t be disheartened if you only sell a few books. Keep that smile on your face and be pleasant – every event is a networking activity too and you never know where it might lead.
It’s important to make the most of all sales channels but in my opinion selling by hand is far more pleasant than dreaming up clever things to put on social media.
What does anyone else think?
How to be a Best Selling Author…
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Promotion on July 7, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
… organise a record-breaking book-signing.
An email from Random House popped into my inbox yesterday inviting me to Katie Price‘s latest book-signing. It is being held on July 27th at the O2 Academy in Leeds. Katie is aiming to sign more than 1,951 copies of her book The Comeback Girl. The book will be on sale at the event for half price and all those attending will have their name included in the acknowledgements of her next novel, out in October. In addition one lucky person will be picked at random to be a character in the new novel. Everyone will also receive a woven wristband as a souvenir of the day. Full details here.
This is a very canny (if expensive) marketing ploy. Katie is guaranteed massive sales at the signing event plus a repeat of those sales in October as everyone buys the next book (for themselves & their friends) because their name appears in the acknowledgements.
It’s widely acknowledged that Katie is a very skilful business woman who knows how to market herself and make money. In recognition of this, I take my hat off to her and wish her every success but a small part of me groaned when I read the email. It seems like another case of publishing success feeding off a celebrity name – but may be I’m not entitled to comment given that I’ve never read any of her books.
What do you think?
Sally Jenkins 