Juliet Archer

The Numbers Game

Just had my most successful book signing weekend to date. I knew it was going to be good on Saturday, when I found my table had been set up next to Daniel Craig - only the cardboard cut-out version, but still …

Depending on the size of the store, the best-selling book of the day may reach double figures in terms of sales. Obviously, an author doing a book signing has an opportunity to sell at least as well - and should do even better. On Saturday, I sold a staggering (to me, at any rate!) 29 books in a 4-hour stint at Borders Milton Keynes, without the benefit of any special offers (eg 3 for 2). On Sunday, I went to Borders London Colney expecting to do nothing like as well - hadn’t Saturday been a one-off? When I sold another 29 books in another 4-hour stint, I started to wonder what was happening.

Obviously there are local factors - the weather, pre-event publicity, competing events in the area, the store’s customer profile. And obviously the type of book and its cover - and the type of author! - play a part. But, when I thought about it, I realised it’s mainly about me being able to interact with large numbers of people.

My publishers, Choc Lit, have a background in marketing, so I’ve got some eye-catching props and flyers to hand out. I must have given out almost 100 flyers each day. And I didn’t do this randomly - I asked people what sort of books they liked before giving them a flyer inviting them to come and look at The Importance of Being Emma. A flyer is good, because people are often heading straight to the coffee shop, or to buy something specific, and may forget all about my book.

So a store must be busy enough to have a few hundred people coming through its doors who may like my book, out of which I approach 100. This means the book signing table needs to be on the main thoroughfare, preferably near the front door, even if my feet are frozen!

Then I reckon less than half of these came to my table, say 40, and nearly 30 bought the book. Most people picked up the book, looked at the blurb on the back, read the reviews. Sometimes - but not always - we had a chat. And, of course, 9 times out of 10 the customer wanted a personalised signing - which is the power of author events.

Celebrities and famous authors must sign hundreds or even thousands of books at one sitting, with people queuing up at their table. I’m an unknown first-time author, so I have to work the numbers game - approach 100 people to get 29 books signed and sold.

Hard work, but I love it! And I get to meet lovely people, who I hope will become loyal readers as I bring all of Jane Austen’s completed novels into the 21st century. I’m currently working on Persuasion, which will be published later this year as Persuade Me.