Banner Day

       Yesterday I dropped off some books at the library and was surprised by this huge banner on the front of the building. Is that cool or what!



       Also yesterday, I had two ladies bring by books to be signed. When I told of the book signing, they both said they'd be there. I'm hoping I have ten or 15 people show up. I'd like to sell five or more books. We'll see. Publicity is good whether it results in an immediate sale or not. (But we'd like immediate sales!)
      I'm both excited and nervous about the book signing. I hope a good crowd shows up. I hope I sell a few books. I hope, I hope, I hope. That's my life these days: full of hope. I hope -- there's that word again -- that some of those hopes are realized.
      I wrote the following to post on another site where a writer is thinking about starting a publishing company. However, a fellow blogger gently explained that the site is looking for ideas about "traditional" publishers. Whatever. But I won't make waves. I'll just post it here.

Is it possible to self-publish a book and make money?

That's the question that I've starting answering with the self-publication of my mystery novel Murder by Dewey Decimal. I'm not going to go into the reasons that I chose to self-publish (see HERE for the whole story) but I chose Lulu as my publisher because I saw that Holly Lisle had self-published on Lulu (her Writing Clinic books, which are wonderful, by the way) and thought I'd trust her judgment on it.

Instead we're going to talk about how I've sold MBDD and how I'm selling it and what I've learned.

Murder by Dewey Decimal reached 43rd on the Weekly Bestselling List on Lulu in its third and fourth week of publication. It's since dropped off, darn it, but that rise took a lot of work. What did I do?

1. First, I promoted the living crap out of it on my blog 51313 Harbor Street. I had contests that used excerpts from it. I linked, linked, and linked it. I posted about until I made people's eyeballs bleed. I also asked my blogging friends to mention the book and link to it. Only two other blogs put up permanent links to it on the sidebars, but several others mentioned it.

2. I mailed out postcards. Now, normally mail-outs are small returns, which is why I advocated citywide mail-outs back when I sold advertising. (Sales and marketing are my background and a large portion of my day job.) But in this case, I sent the postcards to my friends, family and business acquaintances. I mailed 200 postcards and got nearly 60 sales off them.

3. I spammed. No, no, no, I didn't. Well, sort of. I sent an email about the book -- with a link to my page on Lulu -- to my friends, family, etc. I received another 25 or 30 sales from that.

4. I put up posters around town. That may seem odd, but I used to put up posters each month for the local theater productions so I have a "route" where the businesses know me and were receptive. As far as I can tell, I only had a handful -- maybe five or so -- who saw the posters and ordered from them.

5. I printed up stickers and business cards with the info about the book and put them everywhere! Okay, not everywhere, but the stickers went on every piece of mail that I've sent out (bills, birthday cards, letters, etc.) for the past month. (I tried to get my boss to let me put them on the mailings we send out from our office, but no go. Oh, well.) As the business cards, I carry them and give them to people who are interested in ordering the book. So far, I haven't tracked any sales from either of these, but I also have no way of knowing.

6. Book signings. I've arranged three; the first one will be this Thursday at our local library. The librarian, by the way, has been wonderful and incredibly supportive. To promote the book signings, I've used postcards, emails, posters, a story and local briefs in the town newspaper, and public service announcements on the radio stations and cable access channel, as well as good old word of mouth. So far, I have 26 RSVPs. If they all show up, it will be a good signing. In terms of sales, I don't know. Many of these already have bought books, but I'm hoping for some sales.

7. This is a weird one, but it worked in the way that weird things sometimes do: I created merchandise promoting Murder by Dewey Decimal on Cafepress.com. T-shirts, ornaments, buttons, a clock, a journal, notecards, tote bags, etc. And people actually bought some of the merchandise! Of course, I wanted the T-shirts and buttons for me to wear around town. I've had several people ask about them, which gave me another chance to talk about my book.

8. I sat up a display on the front desk at my office. (My boss agreed to this.) I've sold several books that way.

9. My family newsletter. This is probably peculiar to me, but I publish a monthly family newsletter filled with recipes, prayer requests, family photos, etc. (pretty much whatever my subscribers send me). Guess what one of the front page stories was for three months in a row?

That's it so far. What else do I have planned? To arrange more book signings after I evaluate these first three, more linking and contests on my blog, and a mailing to every librarian in Oklahoma (the book has, in case you haven't guessed from the title, a library theme) when the book is available at the wholesalers. I've also run across several book trailers on youtube for Lulu books, and I'm going to look into creating one or two for MBDD. Also, my town is having a street festival in October, and I'm going to have a booth there.

It's been a lot of work, but I'm proud of my baby book. It's not War and Peace, but then I've never claimed it was. It's a quick, fun read. And that's what I wanted it to be.

      I hope things are going well for you. Naturally because I have to appear in public, my face is breaking out. Tomorrow I should wake up looking like the Creature from the Black Lagoon's older, uglier brother. Sigh. Have a good night!
 
Order Murder by Dewey Decimal in paperback HERE!
 
Order Murder by Dewey Decimal in hardcover HERE!
 
Order Murder by Dewey Decimal merchandise HERE!