In the book selling world, it is often touted…

“If you wait to market the book until it is published… you are too late.”

And that is true, especially in the traditionally published world. Often times professional reviewers like Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal request an advanced reader copy of the book as many as FOUR MONTHS before it hits the shelves. Publishers drum up enthusiasm for new releases at book festivals and in trade magazines. Writers run giveaways, do interviews and beg for forgiveness as they dump post after post about their new book in their social media feeds.

So, when I was getting ready to publish The Birthday Cache, my fifth book, I wanted to step up to the plate like a pro and market before the book was published. What came out of this desire and good advice was the BIGGEST MISTAKE I have ever made in my writing career.

It started how many things start… I saw an ad online. Each year, the West Bend, Wisconsin has a huge geocaching event. Hundreds of people from all over the state, maybe even the country, flock to the tiny town to compete in the $1,000 Cache Bash. I was just starting to learn about niche audiences and how they can be a real boost to a book’s sales. And I figured… if all the geocachers in the state were going to be in West Bend, then I should be there too.

The only problem? The event was in a week. I needed to hurry. I reached out the organizer and they said I could still purchase a booth space… but that wouldn’t work, because I didn’t have anything to sell, yet. It was then that I learned each participant who attended was given a SWAG bag. Suddenly I NEEDED to be in that bag. Well, not literally, but my story did.

I snapped into action. I made a mini book featuring the first three chapters of The Birthday Cache and a postcard (with postage) for the participants to use so they could mail me feedback on the book. There was also a spot for them to write their email address so we could stay in contact.

ENTER PROBLEM #1.

It was EXPENSIVE!!! By the time everything was printed and postage was paid for, I had racked up a bill of over $700. Also, because the event was now less than a week away, I had to drive the materials to the event location so they could be stuffed into the bags in time. So, you can add six hours of drive time and gas money to that total cost.

BUT that wasn’t all that went wrong.

As I was assembling the materials to put in the bags, I saw that in our haste, the printer and I did not realize that the postcard image I sent and the postcard image that printed were not the same. So that all important email line, you know… my lifeline in communicating with all of these people once the book was ACTUALLY PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE… was nowhere to be found.

YIKES!

In the end, my dad and I drove back to West Bend on the day of the event and walked around (bravely) approaching strangers and talking to them about my (currently) nonexistent book. We wore t-shirts that said, “Like geocaching and reading? Talk to me!” (Add another $50 to that expense report for super-duper-fast shipping.) We chatted, collected email addresses and did our best to make the most of a sorrowful selling situation. In the end I collected about 40 email addresses. 17 people returned their postcards with feedback. I did end up making a couple of connections, people who now buy the books I publish. But those few book sales were definitely not worth the $800+ I spent to be at and apart of this single event.

I thought I needed to get out there. I thought I needed to go big! I thought spending money and making a big deal of myself was what I was supposed to do. I thought I was following solid advice. But it turns out… I didn’t execute it quite right.

Now when I make decisions about attending events or participating in marketing efforts, I ask myself these questions.

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Many times, people offer “exposure” as a form of payment. And while yes, you do need to be seen in order to be discovered by new readers, “exposure” doesn’t pay the credit card bill on which you just ordered 100 copies of your book. It also doesn’t fill your gas tank, belly or bank account. In the past decade, I have learned a lot about publishing, marketing and advancing my author career. I would love to share this knowledge with you, so you can avoid some of the common pitfalls in the book selling world and also prevent you from making some of my same mistakes.

In the month of May I’ll be leading a series of three webinars covering self-publishing, book marketing and growing your author career. Consider this your formal invitation to join me so you can decrease a decade of learning into days. If you have any questions, check out the links below for more information or feel free to email me. To register and/or learn more, you can click here.

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Today’s post post was made beautiful by CANVA and is categorized in my blog archive under Authorpreneur Advice. Check out the entire collection here.