How NOT to promote your self-published novel

I went along to a book signing at the local library yesterday and, as is usually the case with book signings, only sold a few. Was it worth it? Well, the alternative was not bothering at all, but then I would have sold none. Sometimes one sale, or even just a chat, will lead to more sales later, as was the case at another event a couple of years ago when I happened to pass a copy of Island of Fog to a representative of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, which led to my books being available on the shelves in the local store.

So yes, it was worth it -- not for the individual sales themselves, but for the networking. But this got me thinking about how there's a fine line between networking and... well, wasting time. I actually enjoyed the visit to the library yesterday, and I was interviewed by a newspaper reporter, but I've been to book signings in the past that were literally a complete waste of time and, worse, aggravating. I once met an author so determined to sell his book that he came over and waved it in my face and told me -- TOLD me -- that I'd enjoy it, never mind the fact that it was a genre I have zero interest in. I can't imagine how many customers shuffled away with a copy of his book.

Anyway, all this got me thinking (again) about ways to promote my novels, and equally important, ways NOT to promote them:

Don't push too hard. If you're sitting at a table and a potential customer comes over, you can often get a sense of whether they want to talk to you about your books or just look for themselves. If you do end up talking to the customer, don't try and persuade him/her to buy a copy, and certainly don't be misleading about the content. If the customer likes romance, don't try and suggest your fantasy novel will be a good fit because it happens to contain a bit of romance as well. Don't try and sell the customer on a genre they aren't normally into. Selling books is nice, but what's even nicer is if the customer goes home, reads and enjoys the book, and recommends it to others. Most of the time you'll hear nothing back from the customer, but you never know -- they could be blogging or facebooking or tweeting about your book; the question is, are they saying nice things about it? Or are they complaining about how you "pressured them into buying a piece of junk"? If you somehow mislead a murder-mystery reader into reading a horror novel on the basis that it contains romance, the reader might toss it aside and call it junk simply because it's in the wrong genre. It could be the best novel ever written, a literary masterpiece, but if a reader doesn't like fantasy then it's going to seem like junk -- and the message others will hear is "this author writes junk." Gentle-selling to two avid fantasy fans is far better in the long run than force-selling to twenty vehement anti-fantasy readers.

Don't swap books with an author of another genre. When you share a book signing with other authors, the chances are they're selling something entirely different to your own unless the event is themed. You may be eager to put your book in their hands so they can promote it on their blog, but they're just as eager to put their book in yours. You both smile and say, "Sure, I'll read this and blog about it," but will you really? Will the other author? And if your books are in a different genre, what use would it be anyway? If your books and blog are all about fantasy, why would you suddenly promote a chick-lit romance on your blog? Would your fantasy readers be interested? No. So avoid the time it takes to "swap reviews" unless you're swapping with someone in the same genre and you're both genuinely interested in reading and promoting each other's books. Also, don't feel obliged to buy another author's book just because he bought yours.

Don't spend too much time selling to individuals. This is advice I need to heed myself. You might spend 5-10 minutes talking to someone about your book in the hope they'll be interested enough to buy it. And for what? One more notch on your sales records, and a few extra dollars? It seems crazy when you consider that the same amount of time could be spent preparing a media blast and sending it out to newspapers, or participating in a blog interview, therefore reaching hundreds or thousands of readers at once. I find it too easy to get sucked into one-on-one sales, and I forget the bigger picture. At the library yesterday, I was interviewed by the Walker County Messenger and was told an article would go out later this week. I'll keep my eyes peeled for it. I don't know how many sales I'll generate from that (if any at all), but it should in theory "reach the masses." Also, today I completed a 750-word article that will be going out on a "recommended reads" blog on April 13th. Now THAT's worth spending 30 minutes on.

Anyway, just a few thoughts. I'll post links to both above-mentioned articles when they become available.