When I first self-published my books, I looked for any way to try to sell those books to the public. I hosted giveaways, plugged them on free websites, and begged for interviews on indie writing blogs. The exposure was minimal, though. It didn’t lead to many sales.

My target audience was in the hard copy market, though. So, I decided to order a bunch of books and try to sell them myself. First, I tried flea markets. Then, I went to a small bookstore. The results were not successful to say the least. But they did teach me a lot about what it takes to market yourself in the book world, particularly to children.

Selling my self-published books at the Penguin Bookstore

I first saw the posting for an independent author day hosted by a local bookstore online. Authors were invited to buy space at a table. Then, they would have a few hours to sell their books. The store would promote the event, and it would give authors the ability to sell their books in person.

The store was a good 45 minute drive from my house in an area that was pretty foreign to me. But I was determined to try anything to sell a few books. So, one warm spring day, I set off for the bookstore. My mom was along for the ride. Lucky she was with me because parking was tight, and it was a hike from the car to the door while carrying my boxes full of books and supplies.

I was one of about a dozen authors who had signed up for the event. The store itself was as small as you would expect a small bookstore to be. They set me up in the children’s section, sharing a long table in between two other authors. One had written a picture book, and one who had written a joke book. The latter was a bit of a character who was good at luring children to the table. But she was also good at driving them away with her weirdness.

The bookstore was set in a busy part of the small town with a lot of foot traffic. The decent weather after a long winter was promising to get people out of doors and out window shopping. I’ve since learned that it’s bad weather that draws people to the bookstore, not a nice, sunny day.

Signs for the event were posted on the windows and sidewalk. They also propped the front doors open to invite people walking past to step inside. The organizer began to post Tweets about the event. She also stuck a copy of everybody’s books in the front window.

Lack of patrons

Unfortunately, nobody seemed to be interested in coming to the bookstore that day. Perhaps we made the place looked packed by ourselves with a dozen authors and our entourages of helpers.

As little as an hour in, it became clear that our $25 fee for the table was not going to pay off. Nobody was selling books.

Towards the end, the organizer asked if any of us children’s authors would like to try to come up to the front of the room. I volunteered, if only to get away from the weird lady who was causing what few kids were coming through to scatter. But my lack of verbal marketing skills didn’t help matters much. I was now stationed at a rolling cart with multiple copies of my books on it. And while tons of people continued to walk past the door, very few ventured in.

My only customer of the day was my next door neighbor at work, who I knew lived in the area. I had told him that I would be in his neighborhood selling my books. So, he came in and bought a copy out of pity. In the end, it was a disaster.

I thought it was a bad day for me. Then, I learned that the picture book author I had been talking to lived across the state and was planning on spending the night in town before heading home in the morning, his young daughter in tow.

We take gambles as authors, especially self-published authors, who bare all of the marketing responsibility and are sometimes at the mercy of those who promise us sales. The flea markets hadn’t worked because I wasn’t selling to the book crowd. The bookstore didn’t work because it was too small, we were too unknown, and there were too many of us competing over a miniscule customer base.

What did work eventually was going to my old elementary school and selling books to my target audience. I really made out at that event, but at the same time, I wasn’t made to feel welcome by the school itself. So, repeat visits were out of the question. But that’s a story for another time. For now, know that it’s important to try every avenue of book marketing. Just make sure that it’s a gamble that you’re willing to lose on.

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Buy a copy of Navigating Indieworld: A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing and Marketing Your Book here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.

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