Promote a book = be interesting
The other weekend, while travelling to a friend's birthday party in a car full of writers, we had an interesting conversation about the behaviour of some authors on panels at conventions. I won't mention names at this point to protect the innocent.
One had just returned from a convention in the states and they were talking about how some of the panels started with the authors giving a sales pitch about their book. Not just 'Hi, I'm so-and-so and I write x and y and this is my book' but going into a blurb about the book, page count, price and where you can buy it. When my friend didn't want to give this sales pitch, the authors stared as if my friend had gone mad.
I'm happy to report that ALL the copies of books my friend had available at that con sold out. I'm willing to bet none of those of the sales-authors did.
Why? Because selling your book doesn't sell your book. Being interesting does.
A case in point – my friend Gillian Polack. Gillian is one of the most interesting people you're ever going to meet. She's articulate and knowledgeable and she just lights up when she's talking on one of her favourite subjects. You can be guaranteed that after every panel Gillian does at a convention, someone will turn up at the table in the dealer's room wanting to buy her book and gushing about her. Honestly, you can pretty much set your watch by it occurring.
I've seen Gillian at panels. Yes, she'll mention that she's a writer, and she'll mention the title of books she has available. But then, that's pretty much it. Her entire discourse at that point will be about the topic at hand and if she does draw on a book as an example, it's rarely one of hers.
She sells books because she's interesting.
We all know what it's like when you go into a store to browse and the salesperson appears, ready to sell. Now, if you know what you want, if you're ready to buy, this can be an advantage – rather than go all the way through the store looking for what you want, the salesperson can take you directly there. But if you're not really sure what you want, or you just want to check things out, then having someone there ready to sell can actually be a turn-off.
This is what conventions are like. When you go to panels, you aren't intending to buy – you're interested in the topic, or in one or more of the speakers. So when someone starts trying to sell, it's a turn-off. On the other hand, if you're left alone and you get to sit and listen – well, that's kinda like browsing and if one of the speakers catches your attention, then you can move into the frame of mind where you ARE ready to buy.
It's the same on social media. During the week, there were a few instances of someone friending a whole lot of people on Facebook and then the first post they sent out to those people was about their new book. From time to time, you can go to your favourite social media outlet in the frame of mind to buy and therefore, having someone try to sell can be useful but most of the time, you're not. You're there to SOCIALISE, to find out what you're friends are doing, to catch up with the world. So to suddenly have someone pop up and try to sell to you is really offputting.
Doing this can achieve the opposite of what you want – not only will you not sell that particular book, you'll never sell any books to that person EVER.
So the lesson – be yourself. Mention your book, sure – it's an exciting thing for you to be published, and you do need to help spread the word. But don't SELL your book, and certainly not the first time you 'meet' someone. If they're interested, they'll come looking for more. In the meantime, convince them to be interested by being interesting. Be funny. Be silly. Be witty. Be opinionated. Be reasoned. Be conversational. Be considerate. Be a sharer of cool stuff.
THAT'S how you'll sell books.
