Amazing Opportunity at Barnes and Noble!
As many of you know, I published my first edition of my urban romance novel, Broken Vows, on Lulu in October 2005. When I first began , I created my own cover using Microsoft Paint, and took my own author pic for the back of the book with my camera phone. To say the least, it was very amateurish.
I didn't think my book would go far. I just wanted to test the waters, and see what all the hype was about regarding Print on Demand internet selfpublishing. Sistas With Stories bookclub decided to select the book for the monthly meeting, and I presented it at a high end Cigar Bar and Restaurant in our town of Baton Rouge.
Hearing a large group of women argue and debate over the characters in my book, speaking about them as though they were real, gave me such joy and elation. I couldn't believe it took me this long to get this far. I decided to get serious. I hired a professional photographer and two models to create my vision for my new book cover.
In the meantime, my daughter had mentioned to her summer camp teacher at Athletes in Motion Gym that her mother was an author. The director of the summer camp activities contacted me and asked me to come to their gym to speak to the Book Club workshop about publishing my book. I mentioned to her that my book was comprised of adult themes and material, and she asked that I not let the kids thumb through it or hold it, but just speak to them about the process and not a lot about the contents. I decided to let them see the old "safe" cover, and spoke to them about living out their dreams and not fearing rejection when it came to writing. I stressed that if you want to be a good writer, you must be an excellent READER.
When the hour was over, and I had taken a number of very good questions, the children fell to the ground and began to bow to me, yelling, "ALL HAIL THE AUTHOR!!! ALL HAIL THE AUTHOR!!" No kidding. I have proof!
My book cover was finally done, and my second revised edition of my book was ready for mass consumption. I finally decided to buy the global distribution option. Awesome choice for me. I set a "Google Alert" to let me know if my name popped up on the internet anywhere new. Suddenly, I was being featured in websites in the UK, on Barnes and Noble.com, on Amazon.com, etc. Great!
Shicola Deal, an amazingly supportive woman in my book club mentioned it to the CRM at a Barnes and Noble in Lafayette, LA (an hours drive away from my city!). "Thank you girl!" The CRM contacted me, telling me that he would be interested in featuring me as one of the local authors in his 2006 Summer Book Fest! Would I be interested? Hmmm... let me think about it!!
These are a few pictures of my props that I brought to Barnes and Noble while I was still at home, thinking about the big day. I printed up a three page excerpt of a steamy scene in my book. My thoughts were that some people would be intimidated about coming up to the table and looking at the book because they would feel pressured to buy. How could I approach them and give them a teaser? Why not the excerpt!? This is my number one tip in book signings! Print up a short excerpt and GET OUT FROM BEHIND YOUR TABLE. Approach people and give them a copy. Then leave them alone. They will inevitably go off in a corner and read the handout, and if they are your customer, they will come and approach your table because you have already made friendly conversation with them.
We finally made it to Barnes and Noble. My husband help me set up my display.
There was a decent group of people in the store today, but definitely not a large group of my target audience - black women within the age range of 18-55. I didn't let that stop me. I purposefully made my display so that I would have a hard time sitting down behind my books. I noticed that the other five authors that were there were pretty much stationed behind their tables for most of the day. I worked the store, passing out my excerpt and business cards.
This was my first signing, and like I said, the store did not hold a large portion of my target audience, but I sold five books today, and I am happy. Walking around the store engaging people really sold my books for me, and many people said they didn't have money with them right then, but would but it online with the info from my card.
The CRM, Mr. Gregory Mouton, was awesome to deal with. I intend to send him a care package (a gift basket of some sort) next week to say thank you for the opportunity. He told me that he will put in a good word for me with the CRM in Baton Rouge (where I KNOW I will sell a ton of books - that is my audience!), and he was impressed by my professionalism, my outgoing nature, and my preparedness with my props.
I also met an amazing local author by the name of Jeff LeJeune, who is the author of THE FINAL CHASE. He sold a number of books today. He writes about fantasy, and was very popular. Check him out at www.sterlinghousepublisher.com .
Today was amazing for me, and I can not WAIT for my next signing in Baton Rouge. I will keep you updated. If you have any questions for me, let me know!
Naiomi Pitre
I didn't think my book would go far. I just wanted to test the waters, and see what all the hype was about regarding Print on Demand internet selfpublishing. Sistas With Stories bookclub decided to select the book for the monthly meeting, and I presented it at a high end Cigar Bar and Restaurant in our town of Baton Rouge.
Hearing a large group of women argue and debate over the characters in my book, speaking about them as though they were real, gave me such joy and elation. I couldn't believe it took me this long to get this far. I decided to get serious. I hired a professional photographer and two models to create my vision for my new book cover.
In the meantime, my daughter had mentioned to her summer camp teacher at Athletes in Motion Gym that her mother was an author. The director of the summer camp activities contacted me and asked me to come to their gym to speak to the Book Club workshop about publishing my book. I mentioned to her that my book was comprised of adult themes and material, and she asked that I not let the kids thumb through it or hold it, but just speak to them about the process and not a lot about the contents. I decided to let them see the old "safe" cover, and spoke to them about living out their dreams and not fearing rejection when it came to writing. I stressed that if you want to be a good writer, you must be an excellent READER.
When the hour was over, and I had taken a number of very good questions, the children fell to the ground and began to bow to me, yelling, "ALL HAIL THE AUTHOR!!! ALL HAIL THE AUTHOR!!" No kidding. I have proof!
My book cover was finally done, and my second revised edition of my book was ready for mass consumption. I finally decided to buy the global distribution option. Awesome choice for me. I set a "Google Alert" to let me know if my name popped up on the internet anywhere new. Suddenly, I was being featured in websites in the UK, on Barnes and Noble.com, on Amazon.com, etc. Great!
Shicola Deal, an amazingly supportive woman in my book club mentioned it to the CRM at a Barnes and Noble in Lafayette, LA (an hours drive away from my city!). "Thank you girl!" The CRM contacted me, telling me that he would be interested in featuring me as one of the local authors in his 2006 Summer Book Fest! Would I be interested? Hmmm... let me think about it!!
These are a few pictures of my props that I brought to Barnes and Noble while I was still at home, thinking about the big day. I printed up a three page excerpt of a steamy scene in my book. My thoughts were that some people would be intimidated about coming up to the table and looking at the book because they would feel pressured to buy. How could I approach them and give them a teaser? Why not the excerpt!? This is my number one tip in book signings! Print up a short excerpt and GET OUT FROM BEHIND YOUR TABLE. Approach people and give them a copy. Then leave them alone. They will inevitably go off in a corner and read the handout, and if they are your customer, they will come and approach your table because you have already made friendly conversation with them.
We finally made it to Barnes and Noble. My husband help me set up my display.
There was a decent group of people in the store today, but definitely not a large group of my target audience - black women within the age range of 18-55. I didn't let that stop me. I purposefully made my display so that I would have a hard time sitting down behind my books. I noticed that the other five authors that were there were pretty much stationed behind their tables for most of the day. I worked the store, passing out my excerpt and business cards.
This was my first signing, and like I said, the store did not hold a large portion of my target audience, but I sold five books today, and I am happy. Walking around the store engaging people really sold my books for me, and many people said they didn't have money with them right then, but would but it online with the info from my card.
The CRM, Mr. Gregory Mouton, was awesome to deal with. I intend to send him a care package (a gift basket of some sort) next week to say thank you for the opportunity. He told me that he will put in a good word for me with the CRM in Baton Rouge (where I KNOW I will sell a ton of books - that is my audience!), and he was impressed by my professionalism, my outgoing nature, and my preparedness with my props.
I also met an amazing local author by the name of Jeff LeJeune, who is the author of THE FINAL CHASE. He sold a number of books today. He writes about fantasy, and was very popular. Check him out at www.sterlinghousepublisher.com .
Today was amazing for me, and I can not WAIT for my next signing in Baton Rouge. I will keep you updated. If you have any questions for me, let me know!
Naiomi Pitre
posted by Naiomi Pitre | 9:42 PM
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