The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

Author Mindset: Stop Reading Your Book Reviews

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There's a moment when your book goes out into the world and you realize that someone who doesn't love you will read it. What if they hate it? You will be crushed. What if they love it? You'll be ecstatic until someone else hates it 🙂 This is why I (Joanna) don't read my reviews. I even have my assistant pull out the good ones for website copy. In today's article, Sam Hooker discusses why this may be a healthy attitude to have.

stop reading reviewsOnce your book has made its way past the editor, the typesetter, the cover artist, and perhaps your publisher and/or publicist, it goes out into the world. Then something wonderful happens: people read it.

Then something nerve-wracking happens: people review it.

It makes sense that you would want to pay attention to your reviews. They play a crucial role in the success of your book, and they’re a quick source of anonymous feedback about your writing. But the most sensible thing may be to ignore them altogether.

1. Opinions are subjective.

When readers open your book, they read it through the lens of their world view. Everything they’ve experienced in their life has contributed to the way they see and understand what happens around them.

No two people are alike, and many people will be vastly different from you. That means readers won’t always understand your writing as you’d intended, and that can lead to some unanticipated results.

Assorted ice creamLet’s say your reader’s favorite thing in the world is cartoons about giant robots. She may give your book 2 stars because she liked it, but she thought it would have more robot fights in space (even if you don’t write science fiction). Another may give it 1 star because it wasn’t Treasure Island, and that’s the only book he’s ever really liked.

Remember: A review will often say more about the reader than the book.

Furthermore, there’s no consistency among reviewers. Even the way that people assign stars to books can have huge variations.

You may get a 5-star review that says your book was “pretty good.” The next one may be a 2-star review calling it “the best thing I’ve ever read.”

Reviewers may give 5 stars to every book they like, or swear that they’ll only bestow that honor once in their life. This inconsistency is never going to change, so save yourself the frustration of trying to make sense of it.

Remember: There’s no right or wrong way to express an opinion.

2. They aren’t your reviews.

Always keep in mind that readers are reviewing your work, not you as a person. It’s often hard to separate the two, especially when a reviewer writes something negative about the author.

Here’s the thing: reviewers don’t know you. At best, they know your book – assuming they bothered to read the whole thing, which people won’t always do if they dislike a book. Reviewers often conflate authors with their books, but authors don’t have to make the same mistake.

Remember: A review is a stranger’s opinion of your book, not the truth about you.

3. Reviews are not a good source of validation or critique.

Reading reviews may seem like the surest way to know whether people liked your work. They come with 1-5 stars, and their average gives you a number grade for your work, right?

Man Using Tablet Don’t fall for it. First of all, you didn’t take a test, you wrote a book. There is no rubric for grading a book. Reviews are opinions, not truths.

Second, readers are just people. Very few of them have formal training in expressing literary opinions. Even if they do, professionals who write reviews for industry publications are still doing what everyone else is doing: expressing an opinion.

Feedback is important to your growth as an author, but you need to get it from the right place. Author critique groups are a great source of targeted feedback, especially if you can find one that focuses on your subject or genre.

Remember: Good feedback comes from trustworthy sources, not the opinions of anonymous strangers.

4. The best reviews don’t come with 5 stars. Seriously.

It’s a great feeling when your book gets 5-star reviews. They boost your confidence and they balance out the inevitable 1-star reviews (which you would see if you were tracking your average, which you aren’t).

But to readers, 5-star reviews can seem suspicious. A review that glows too brightly may be dismissed as having been written by your parents.

Here’s a bit of good news: most readers who are suspicious of 5-star reviews will dismiss 1-star reviews as well, especially when they say nothing more than “don’t waste your time,” or “blah, it sucked.” They understand that reviews are just opinions, and not all of them matter.

Readers who seriously consider reviews when shopping for books are likely to view 2-, 3-, and 4-star reviews with more credibility. If the text of a 3-star review is genuinely complimentary, it may win you a reader – or at least a sale!

Remember: Mid-ranked reviews give your book credibility.

5. You don’t get to respond. Never, ever, ever respond.

You’ve probably heard the adage, “don’t start a fight you can’t win.” Every book review is a professional boxer on steroids with brass knuckles under their gloves.

Man with Stop SignIt would feel so good to tell 1-star reviewers off, wouldn’t it? Especially the ones who “don’t usually read this sort of thing.” So, why did they pick your book to start? If it “just wasn’t their taste,” why not not review it?

Here’s the problem: you can’t stop a reviewer from posting their opinion, and you can’t prove an opinion wrong. The fact is that they didn’t like your book, and there’s no way to respond that won’t come off as petty or insecure.

Telling off a reader may even make you look like a bully, and that’s not the sort of reputation you want.

As frustrating as it is, your only option is the high road. You don’t get to defend yourself. That doesn’t mean you don’t get to complain! You just don’t get to complain to your readers. If you need to vent about bad feedback, consider asking your critique group to meet you at the bar. They’ll have their own bad reviews to share, I promise.

Remember: You won’t be tempted to respond to anonymous opinions if you haven’t read them.

The key is finding your readers.

The most important factor to your book’s success–and to your success as an author–is connecting with your audience. The people who are going to like your work are already out there. You’re not going to change the minds of anyone else because you can’t prove their opinions wrong.

The best way to ensure good reviews is to find your readers and connect with them. You don’t want to connect with all readers, just your readers. Their reviews are the ones that count, and you know that they’ll be good–so why spend time reading them?

Do you read your book reviews? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Sam HookerSam Hooker is a darkly humorous fantasy novelist. Learn more about his Terribly Serious Darkness series and other works at his website or follow him on Twitter.

Writing Tips: Why Writing Yourself Into Your Own Hero’s Journey Can Help You Get Unstuck

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Every writer gets stuck at times: stuck with a creative project, but also stuck in life. Lara Zielin shares a unique tool that she used to turn her life, and her writing, around.

Write your heros journeyAs a writer, I’m always considering what my characters want. I’m always asking what their motivations are. What will make them happy? What is a satisfying story for them?

But I had never really considered the story of my own life. What was my motivation? What would make me happy?

I began asking these questions at the start of 2018 when I realized I was drowning in unhappiness. Things were fine, except they weren’t. I was the heaviest I’d been in years, and I was drinking a lot.

My work writing novels, which had once been thriving, had also dried up, leaving me questioning who in the world I was since being a novelist was the only thing I’d ever wanted to do.

My husband and I were living paycheck to paycheck. And while we liked each other a lot, our relationship wasn’t exactly thriving. I was drinking to numb all kinds of pain, though I probably couldn’t have said exactly where I was hurting at the time.

It just felt like a terrible ache all over.

Turning the Tables on Fiction

That’s when I went back to writing, but I decided to play with the fiction-writing process and the Hero’s Journey. I wanted to test whether writing about the life I wanted to have could actually help it come to pass.

journalingI began a book I unimaginatively titled Lara’s Life. Every day I wrote about myself like a character, and I wrote about the things I wanted to have happen to this person. It wasn’t great prose by any stretch of the imagination and, some days, all I could manage to write were some basic affirmations.

But there was power in this process. Within one year, my life felt markedly different. In practical terms, I lost 20 pounds, and our finances made a U-turn for the better. I stopped drinking.

But beyond that, I went from being half numb in my life to embracing it and living it fully. I feel totally connected to my purpose and on a better path.

While I want to call this work magical, there are three very practical reasons this worked for me, and why it can work for you, too.

1. This writing process fueled pattern recognition

When you write down what you want to have happen to you, it helps you see more clearly the things that are holding you back. The tension is right there on the page for you in real life, the same as it would be for a character.

When I wrote “Lara loves herself,” I could see more clearly all the ways in which I didn’t act that way on a daily basis. That could be everything from beating myself up for not being perfect to having that third glass of wine at night.

The process of writing it highlighted the disparity between my two “characters” and made it crystal clear where I needed to change. This was especially critical when I wanted to tell myself everything was fine, because it forced me to literally see how my two stories were out of alignment (and that fueled better behavior as a result).

2. Writing ourselves in the third person gives us helpful cognitive distance

Dr. James Pennebaker from the University of Texas at Austin has studied the connections between writing and healing for years. His research shows that writing or “storifying” experiences helps people approach what’s happened to them more objectively and can ultimately provide perspective on and understanding of these experiences.

bigstock-sharing-writingThinking about ourselves in the third person is also useful for stressful or difficult situations, according to researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. The third-person perspective helps people think about themselves as they would others, which matters because we’re often much nicer to other people than we are to ourselves. (Raise your hand if you say things to and about yourself that you would never say to another person.)

Alternatively, if we try writing out situations like we’re a character in a book, it can fool our brain and our emotions into believing the narrative a bit more.

3. Physics tells us that behavior and observation are linked

In quantum mechanics, which is the branch of physics that studies the tiniest building blocks of the universe like atoms and quarks, scientists have tried to measure the physical characteristics of subatomic particles, such as position or momentum, but haven’t been able to pin them down. That’s because the mere act of observing the particles changes the experiment.

“A particle simply does not have a precise position before measurement, any more than the ripples of a pond do,” says David J. Griffiths in Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition (Pearson Education, 2005).

atomIn other words, scientists theorize that behavior can be influenced by observation.

If scientists may be able to influence how particles behave just by observing them, then it’s not a far stretch to imagine that we influence our lives when we direct energy or thought (or words!) toward specific aspects of it.

“Intention” is the popular word being used these days to describe just that. If reality is perception, then changing the story of what we’re perceiving can absolutely have an impact.

Try This at Home, Kids

If you’re eager to try this for yourself, it’s pretty simple stuff. Get a notebook and grab a pen. Title your story and write what you want to have happen to you, the same as you would a character in a story.

  • How does this character feel?
  • Where do they travel?
  • Who are they with?
  • How do they change for the better?

Don’t worry about plotting out the entire arc of the story. The arc will take care of itself. Just write every day like a chapter and put down whatever bubbles up in your heart.

This process changed my life and reignited my creativity. I believe it can do the same for you, too.

Have you considered writing your own hero's journey as a creative prompt? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Lara Zielinauthor your life lara zielinLara Zielin is a published young adult and romance author. Her nonfiction book Author Your Life is about using the power of writing to create a better story for yourself.

[Journaling image courtesy Hannah Olinger and Unsplash.]

Are You A Healthy Writer? 4 Questions You Need To Answer To Improve Your Writing Health

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Authors are often challenged by the sedentary nature of our work. Dr. Brent Wells offers four questions to consider when you're wanting to make sure you take good care of your body.

healthy writer 4 questionsWriters spend an inordinate amount of time sitting at their desks, typing away on their latest masterpiece. For those of you who use scheduling to boost your productivity, you already know how many hours you spend working at your craft. You hardly ever move from your sedentary position when the words are flowing. What could this mean for your long-term health?

A sedentary lifestyle takes a serious toll on your body and lifespan. Research is consistently showing that our creative lifestyle has far-reaching consequences that we need to address immediately.

Let’s take a closer look at how writing affects your health and what you can do to correct it.

What’s Your Chair Like?

Think about the surface that you sit on during the day. Is it hard and unforgiving or do you settle right into its plush surface? Very few writers have chairs that offer support for their lower backs and spines. Sitting on a hard surface increases the amount of compression in your spine from the lower back all the way up to your neck.

This compression has an unexpected side effect: it can actually reduce your height. According to a study cited in the Iowa Orthopaedic Journal, spine height is decreased with extended periods of sitting. You may be able to regain your height through hyperextension, but it would be best to prevent this from happening in the first place.

The Healthy Writer Cover LARGE EBOOKThe ideal way to combat spine compression is to make your chair more comfortable. Purchasing a seating pad to go on your existing chair is the least expensive route. However, you may want to invest in an entirely new chair that offers more support for your spine and tailbone. You’ll feel more comfortable and your spine will ultimately thank you.

How Often Do You Stand Up?

Sitting for extended periods of time can wreak havoc on your body. Most writers could spend hours sitting in front of their computers once they hit their stride. Unfortunately, experts advise that we should be getting up and moving around every twenty minutes.

Research is now indicating that you should stand for at least two minutes after twenty minutes of desk-bound work.

Standing or walking around your office for this brief period of time has a lot of benefits:

  • Takes some of the pressure off your spine
  • Reduces the risk of diabetes
  • Reduces the risk of heart disease
  • Weight loss
  • Improved brain function

To achieve this goal, consider standing up every time you finish a page or two. Return to your kitchen to heat up another cup of coffee. Purchase a desk that allows you to stand up and type.

Joanna Penn standing desk

Joanna Penn at standing desk

When your creativity flows, stand up and write down what occurs to you during brainstorming. There are so many ways to work more physical activity into your workday.

Where is Your Computer Screen?

Do you feel a lot of tension in the back of the neck and the shoulders? You may be suffering from what experts call “tech neck.” This common condition is caused by looking down at your screen for extended periods of time each day.

During your periods of inactivity, most people unconsciously contract the muscles in their neck and shoulders. The tension causes their heads to lean forward and puts more pressure on the muscles of the neck.

One study demonstrated that this forward head posture can result in chronic neck pain. It also reduces your respiratory muscles and impacts the function of this critical body system. Fortunately, this can be corrected by adjusting your posture.

Changing your posture during your working hours is relatively simple. All you need to do is make a handful of changes to your workspace:

  • Move your computer screen up to eye level so you don’t have to look down
  • When checking emails on your smartphone, keep the phone up closer to your eye level
  • Sit in a chair with a headrest (and actually use it!)
  • Stretch your neck and upper back muscles often
  • Stay hydrated

Are You Sitting Up Straight?

You were likely admonished to sit up straight your entire life. Despite many reminders to correct your posture, it is still tempting to settle into a slouched position at your desk. It is far easier to focus on your writing than on your spine. Sliding further down in your chair and rounding your back has a serious impact on your overall health.

woman laptop sore neckIn a relatively recent study, researchers took a look at posture habits while using the computer to see if there was a correlation between slumping and low back pain. They discovered that there is a high prevalence of low back pain when posture is sacrificed.

In order to get rid your lower back pain for good, you really need to correct your posture. Sit up nice and tall in your chair with your shoulders proudly rolled back. Let your head rest on the headrest of your chair.

Allow your core muscles to help support you while you sit. You could even place a small pillow behind your low back for more support. All of these actions work together to reduce the pressure on your spine and improve your overall health.

Improve Your Health Today

Prevention is the key to addressing many of the chief complaints that writers have about their health. Sometimes, the damage is already done and you may need professional help to resolve your pain.

Consider enlisting the help of a chiropractor to help with a spinal adjustment. This can be a great way to kickstart change in your life and offer you some immediate relief.

Writing can take a serious toll on your body, so be sure to pay attention to the signals your body is giving you. With just a few simple actions, you can improve your overall wellbeing and reduce your pain. You can spend more time focusing on your latest project and less time stressing over those aches and pains.

What measures do you take to ensure you're a healthy writer? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Dr. Brent WellsDr. Brent Wells is the founder of Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab. Originally from California, he holds a doctorate from Western States Chiropractic College in Oregon. He has worked as a chiropractor for over 20 years and is a member of the American Chiropractic Association.

Book Marketing: How To Make Your Blog Work For Books And Author Brand

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Your author website is the one piece of internet real-estate that is entirely under your control. Amy Shojai shares how to make the most of the blog on your site to attract new readers, build your author brand, and sell more books.

Make Blog Work For Books And Author BrandWhether you publish independently or with a traditional publisher, publishing professionals routinely tell authors they must blog. Yes, a blog can be a great book marketing tool and promote your author brand.

However, most book authors refuse to blog, or worse—they do it wrong.

Why Authors Should Blog

Introvert’s Dream. How many of y’all consider yourselves introverts? That’s one reason creatives write in our office caves with a cat on our lap. A blog connects you directly with readers, with no need for makeup or shoes.

Even better, readers respond to you. A blog gives you feedback directly from your audience and allows readers a glimpse into their favorite author’s life–as little or as much as you wish to reveal.

Find Your Street Team. Building a blog creates book super-fans. These readers cheer your success and want to be part of that. Think of the blog as your front porch where friends gather over a cup of tea or a cocktail to chat about their lives.

Diverse Group of PeopleYou become a real person, and they empathize with you (and you with them) over trials and celebrations. They may even inspire you with new storylines or expert information.

Build Credibility. Authors wield authority and the blog works as an expanded business card to demonstrate your professional expertise. Agents, editors, organizations, speaker bureaus, television producers and others routinely fish the blogging waters for experts. That includes fiction authors when you becoming a go-to expert on the specific topic(s) showcased in your novels.

Note: Always include easy-to-find contact information on your blog so that booking agents can find you.

Author Control. The blog belongs to you, with no gatekeeper or social media watchdog second-guessing your content or showing it only to a select few. You can write what you want, promote or not, and even get paid for hosting guest posts.

Bogus Reasons Authors Don’t Blog

It’s expensive! Uhm, no it’s not expensive. In fact, you can set up a blog for free. I don’t recommend free because a professional blog offers more advantages, such as having your own “branded” URL. Joanna Penn has a great resource for creating an author website, and the blog can piggyback on that.

[Note from Joanna: You'll find that website tutorial here.]

I’m not tech-savvy. Neither are most authors, or we’d build levitating cars and James Bond gizmos instead of writing about them. Tech people created free- to low-cost options for plug-and-play blogs. If you use book formatting templates, you can use blogging templates.

Woman writing on a laptopTakes time away from book writing. So does any book marketing. Blogging is the cheapest option in your advertising toolkit. Use content you’ve already created for blog posts, or expand blog posts into additional chapters in your book.

I rewrite blog posts for my newspaper column and use the same subject for a biweekly TV segment. Some posts end up as chapters in books. A number of successful bloggers have published successful books based on their blog content, so it blogging could inspire your next book.

I’m a pro, why give my expertise away? Nonfiction authors get paid for writing blogs for clients. Get over yourself! Learn from your fiction colleagues.

Selective free content whets the reader’s appetite for more. Fiction authors give away first-in-series books, or novellas between installments, so readers fall in love with characters and purchase the rest of the author’s work.

Nonfiction authors can easily repurpose previously published material into blog posts (see previous section).

My big-name-publisher will promote me/my book. Hahahahahaha! Oh wait, you’re serious? Only a fraction of authors receive promotional help. The lion’s share falls to the author, which is why your agent and/or editor commanded, “Go ye forth, and blog!”

Top Reasons Blogs Fail & How Yours Can Succeed

There are many reasons blogs fail, and a top problem is discoverability. Most of my traffic comes from Google search, so I pay close attention to search engine optimization (SEO).

rocketThere are free tech tools that help bloggers get more of this “google juice.” Choose your blog URL wisely and if at all possible, use your name and/or your brand. A book title limits you to one book.

Blog owners also get in trouble using images or content without permission, or not disclosing affiliate relationships. It’s vital to purchase appropriate rights. As writers, we understand copyright issues.

Most blog problems can be easily fixed.

Here are four major reasons blogs fail.

1. Unrealistic expectations: How many of y’all tried blogging, and gave up after…how long? Two weeks? Six weeks? Growing a blog following doesn’t happen overnight.

Blog audience increases at predictable intervals when readers know what to expect. Traffic and page views (PVs) increase after three months, double after six months, and double again after about a year with consistent postings and content.

If your book launches in a year, blog now so your audience grows and boosts your book release.

2. Inconsistent posting: Authors start daily blogs and burn out, or they post when “the muse” strikes. Treat blogs as seriously as your book, or your readers won’t care.

Would you come back to a TV program if the episode stayed the same or the channel never changed? Blogs are no different. Choose a schedule that works for you. It doesn’t matter if it’s weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or daily. Loyal readers notice and return when you have something to share.

3. Writing about writing: That’s great—if your audience is other writers and you have a how-to writing book to sell. Readers may be curious, but you want rabid readers.

Ask yourself, who is my audience? What do they like to read?

4. Writing at your audience. Construct posts to invite conversation, not deliver lectures. Readers find vast material from googling topics. They read blogs for your personality, and a peek inside your world.

Try posting about personal experiences and ask questions to invite reader comments. When my puppy ate my vitamins, every blog reader shared their concern and feedback when I asked, “Has this ever happened to you? What else should I have done? Are there veggies that YOU hate, too? Do tell!”

[Note from Joanna: For more on using a blog as part of an author marketing strategy, check out my course, Content Marketing for Fiction.]

7 Prompts for Blog Posts

Write posts that whet readers’ appetites for the main course of your nonfiction book.

Identify your protagonist’s passions and expertise, and write posts about your fictional hero’s love of gardening, for example.

Write about your passions and what fills your heart with joy, just as you do on other social media platforms. Readers respond to that.

Share pictures, post videos, offer polls and ask questions to engage readers and prompt blog comments.

No time to post? Share a YouTube video you love.

Ask readers to post pictures of themselves reading your book, or other fun engagements.

Invite your audience to name that character in your future book. My blog audience competes to win the chance to name a cat or dog character to honor their special pet.

Do you blog on your author website? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Amy ShojaiAmy Shojai is a professional blogger and the author of 30+ pet-centric nonfiction books and thrillers. She also offers an on-demand coaching series Write Schtuff that includes further details about blogging and other publishing must-knows.

Book Marketing: How To Sell More Books At Author Events

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Live events can be a part of every author's marketing strategy. But how do we make the most of those events? John Sibley Williams shares seven tips for doing just that.

sell more books at author eventsAs any publicist will tell you, in-person events are crucial to networking and meeting new readers. There’s nothing so intimate as a cozy bookstore, library, or other literary space for strangers to first encounter your work.

They have the opportunity to not just read but feel your words, and they have the rare treat of asking the author questions. And you never know who may be in an audience: other authors, bookstore owners, local media, bloggers.

Events are as much about giving a real human voice to your work as forging social connections.

But the book sales from an event, especially a festival or conference, don’t always cover your costs. Events can be pricey when you add up the books, travel, meals, swag, rented table, and anything else the event requires.

Also, there’s the issue of competition: there may be dozens or even hundreds of authors at a book festival. All are vying for attention and doing everything possible to stand out. So finding inexpensive and unique ways to reach your audience and sell books is essential.

Here are some tips on specific sales strategies to garner attention and sales.

1. Publicize your event

Although the venue will likely provide a certain amount of event publicity, likely including social media posts and in-store signage or, if a festival, a brief write-up in their brochure, don’t leave all publicity in their hands.

Send a press release to all local media, from newspapers to radio, and submit your event to local media calendars (the online component to most newspapers have one). Create a Facebook event and invite local friends. Ask your friends to spread the word, sharing your link.

Research local literary organizations and send them a personal invitation. Build up to the event on social media by consistently posting pictures, excerpts, blurbs, and videos that highlight your book, ensuring the event details are always clearly labeled.

2. Make purchasing easy

iphoneHave you ever wanted to purchase a book at an event but the author only accepted cash? Nowadays authors have a wealth of selling options with Square, PayPal, and other devices that can allow you to take credit cards.

Do make sure that you’re ready with change in case folks want to pay with cash, but also carry a remote card reader, or your phone with a point-of-sale app installed. Whatever you do, make it easy to buy your book!

3. Bring swag

Always have professional author business cards on hand everywhere you go. But what else can your bring to catch reader interest? Bookmarks, postcards, well-designed posters and signage are all common, perhaps even expected.

But think outside the box too. What about pens or small notebooks with your name blazoned upon them? And think about your themes, setting, and characters. Are there extra special freebies you can offer that directly connect to your book’s content? The more unique, the more likely new readers will want them.

4. Price your book to sell

books tableMust you always sell your book at retail price? Although bookstores often require sales be full price, it’s common for authors at other venues to provide an event discount.

I find a round number like $10 or $15 makes a purchaser more comfortable. And don’t forget to include the discount on your signage so readers know they’re receiving something special.

5. Collect names and contact information

Always have a newsletter sign-up sheet at your event table, allowing new contacts and readers to volunteer to receive your regular e-newsletters. To further entice them, you can offer a small gift for those who sign up. If you don’t already have a newsletter associated with your website, create one now!

[Note from Joanna: Don't forget about GDPR regulations; make sure to follow the guidelines and in this instance, where people are signing up to your newsletter list offline, be sure they understand what they are signing up for. You can find more help with GDPR here.]

6. Provide free copies

Don’t be shy of gifting copies of your new book to other authors, media, bookstore owners, or anyone who may be able to assist your publicity in the future. If this isn’t your first book, include with purchase of your new book a free older title. If this isn’t economically feasible, have cards on hand with a code for readers to acquire a free ebook.

7. Follow up with your network

So the event is over. Now what?

Contact the person who hosted you expressing your gratitude. Although you should do so in person too, a well-placed thank you goes a long way towards securing future events and leaving a kind impression.

Also, email people who signed up for your newsletter thanking them for attending. Include any pertinent personal remarks about conversations you had with them, and if they forgot to purchase your book in person remember to extend to them the same discounted event rate.

What strategies do you use to sell more books at live events? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

John Sibley WilliamsJohn Sibley Williams is the author of As One Fire Consumes Another (Orison Poetry Prize, 2019), Skin Memory (Backwaters Prize, University of Nebraska Press, 2019), Disinheritance, and Controlled Hallucinations. A nineteen-time Pushcart nominee, John is the winner of numerous awards, including the Philip Booth Award, American Literary Review Poetry Contest, Phyllis Smart-Young Prize, Confrontation Poetry Prize, and Laux/Millar Prize.

He serves as editor of The Inflectionist Review and works as an educator and literary agent. Previous publishing credits include: The Yale Review, Midwest Quarterly, Southern Review, Sycamore Review, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, Saranac Review, Atlanta Review, TriQuarterly, Columbia Poetry Review, Mid-American Review, Poetry Northwest, and Third Coast.

His upcoming book, As One Fire Consumes Another, is available for preorder at Orison Books.
For more information, visit his website.

[iPhone image courtesy Sara Kurfeb and Unsplash. Books table image courtesy Freddie Marriage and Unsplash.]

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