The Art of Attracting Customers to a Book Signing Table

I have attended quite a few books signings and often dealt with the age old problem of attracting customers to my table to buy my books.

In my time as an author, I have probably seen most of the enticements used to draw in customers.

Signs: Some big and splashy. Once with provocative, rather embarrassing, novel book cover. (Guess it was better than one of those meek, handcrafted disasters just listing the name of book and the price in giant letters!)

Candy: Melting in the blazing sun or all too often attracting the attention of grabby toddlers.

Jewelry: I tried this once ploy, and it certainly attracted customers, but every visitor wanted a freebie without buying a book.

Costume: Once sat next to a guy dressed in a beaver suit as he tried to sell a children’s book.

Unfortunately, he smelled like a beaver in that hot costume.

Huckster Mode: Stand in the aisle and block all traffic. I would have walked away from the creepy dude, too.

But there is one method to attract customers that seems to find some success. Especially since we live in a society with an audio/visual obsession.

Create a video using some of the main storylines of my novel.

Look for websites that offer free pictures. (Search: “Free Images Download”)

Add some music? (Search: “Free Music Download”)

Or get inventive. Some of the best images I filmed myself on my phone’s camera. I captured a lake’s waves lapping onto the shore on a windy day. I walked under the canopy of a pear tree’s bloom-heavy branches in the springtime.

Even if the video project does not attract a flood of customers, it is still a fun way to get a new perspective on your book!

A video currently on YouTube for one of my novels (a work still in progress):

When It Matters So Much https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1n6PIePGxI

Happy Selling!