Resources

Booksignings
• 4 to 6 weeks out - contact book store and set up date and time, usually for one to two hours
• Check out the area where you will sign, ask if you need to bring table cloth, should be a solid color.
• Two weeks out send out press releases to print media.
• Mail out invitations to YOUR mailing list -- family, friends, co-workers. Postcards work very well.
• Have a poster made of your cover and take it to the store for their display table.
• Make flyers that can be stuffed in bags at the check-out counter.
• Day of signing -- bring the pen you wish to sign with, extra paper to write down the name to be inscribed as same sounding names may have different spellings.
• Have a freebie to hand to every person who walks in or by. Bookmarks with the title, cost, ISBN, your name, etc.
• Treats are a "good thing." Wrapped candy, cookies, chips and salsa, etc.
• While signing -- Look people in the eye. Say Hello. Don't read the paper, pay bills, work on your new book, or focus on the one friend who did show up. Keep table clear so that customers can approach you.
• Thank the manager and the event coordinator -- thank you note is nice later.
• Please don't be a "prima donna" -- the word gets out and about.

-- Ruthie Francis was a customer service representative for 14 years with Book Star and Hastings. She is on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Book Association. Her list of tips were in a hand-out sheet at the February 28 meeting of the New Mexico Book Co-op in Albuquerque.