5 Things I Learned Selling Out at My First Book Festival
I finally did a few things right, so here is a lesson on finding the right market for my book from an indie author.
I have said this before, and I'll say it again: books are just another type of product. If you've been following along, you know I've been knee-deep in the book world after I (almost randomly) decided to pull out a book I wrote about six years ago, read it, thought it was awesome, and self-published it in March.
Since then, I've learned so many things I did wrong in this process, but also a few things I did right.
Last weekend, after a stroke of luck, I squeezed myself into the Kensington Book Festival, close to my home in Maryland, and probably learned more about marketing and my audience than I had from hours of YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and Facebook marketing research. And for the first time, I made a profit on my book marketing expenses.
So here are some things I learned.
1. No Data Analytics in the World Could Have Prepared Me for Who Actually Bought My Book
I'll admit it. If you asked me who I wrote this book for and who ended up buying it the most, you would have screamed. I wrote my book wishing there were more Tomi Adeyemis, N.K. Jemisins, and Octavia Butlers in the world. I even broke one of the unspoken rules of book publishing and put a Black face on the cover because I wanted to target that demographic so badly. If you had told me my highest sales yield would be middle-aged white men, I would have said you had no idea what you were talking about, but that's exactly what happened. So just like you don't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge people's interests by their covers.
I still believe Black women will jump on this with payments one day; that just hasn't happened yet.
That being said, I was correct in grouping by similar books/interests. I sold two books because someone had read or was reading Parable of the Sower and wanted more (thanks for paving the way, Octavia). Another I sold because I had created a bookmark with similar books, and people had read those other books on the bookmark and liked them.
2. People Like to Know Who They Buy From
I felt at a book festival the way a painter must feel at an art gallery. There's something about the story behind a piece that really sells its value. Several people stopped by to chat, asked me questions, and many told me it was just learning about me that made them want to buy the book. So I guess in a crowded market like books, the story behind the story can tip sales in your favor. Honestly, I hadn't thought too deeply about my story behind the story because, unlike a tech product, books and writing come a bit more naturally for me to sell.
I realized this after a long conversation with a woman who had many questions about my experience as a diplomat in Saudi Arabia. She finally ended with, "Okay, you have convinced me to get this book." I was shocked—I hadn't realized I was trying to convince her of anything. I was just having a conversation.
3. Book Covers Matter
During my first hour at the festival, I didn't sell a thing. I remember spiraling, thinking, "How am I going to head home and tell my husband no one wanted my book?" "I guess my pulse on readers—i.e., customers—and their interests was off again." "I will end this writing journey here before I lose too much." It was a very sobering hour.
What I didn't realize is that people were walking around and checking all of their options first from a distance, then coming back to the books they thought might be interesting and buying there. So in the first hour, there are generally fewer sales because people don't want to spend all their money before they've seen all their options.
And thank God I got my book cover done professionally because I had both the old and new covers, and literally had a woman tell me she wanted the new cover, but I had run out, so she accepted the old one. I also literally heard a guy walking by with a girl say, "I'm totally judging books by their covers.”
4. Market Where People Are Already Buying Your Product Type
Think of it this way: When you're going out for a night on the town, do you go to a place where restaurants and bars are clustered together? Or do you go to the place with one lonely restaurant by itself? Most of us go where they're clustered together. In those environments, people are out and ready to spend money on food and drinks. It's the same for books. People are ready to spend money on books when they go to places like bookshops or book festivals. That's why marketing on Amazon is much more effective than marketing on Facebook. You need to meet people where they're already coming to spend money on what you're selling. I've learned this after spending a couple hundred bucks on Facebook.
5. Timeliness, Like with Any Other Product, Does Matter
I can't tell you how many people joked about whether my book was fiction or current affairs. They wanted to know how it ended. They said it felt too close to real life, and that was a great conversation starter that I think other fiction books around me didn't have. Because my book was timely and the events, even in the broad sense of democracy falling and information wars overrunning the country, were relevant, it made people comment and some buy. I don't know if I would have had as many people stop if the current administration wasn't doing what it has been doing.
Anyway, I hope this is helpful no matter what industry you're in. I am by no means an expert on this. I'm probably making more mistakes than I am having victories, but I'm happy to share what I'm learning and, yes, celebrating the small wins I have.
Any more advice to share?
I could make this post endless, but I didn’t want to bore you all. Do you have thoughts on books as products? Put it into the comments or send me a reply!
The Herd World Update
I am currently in the process of revising book two of the Herd! Yay!
For those who have already ordered signed copies from me of the first book, When Democracy Falls, please bare with me as I had to restock and it takes time for me to get it, sign it and mail it to you. But I am working on it.
And for those who have read the book. I am working on building out a section of the newsletter called The Herd World, and I invite you to be a part. We can nerd out together. We can build fanfiction, fan art, poetry, it is all welcome!
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