Booking it--Advice from Five Booksellers
What authors should know before querying a bookstore for an event
When it comes to promoting a new title, perhaps especially a debut, few experiences rival the excitement of a book launch party in your hometown at the bookseller where you’ve long been a customer, and now, at last, you’ve joined the coterie of authors whose titles are stocked on your favorite store’s shelves.
Booksellers will often enthusiastically host a local author’s launch party, especially if you already have a relationship with them. They know this event could conceivably draw an audience of 50 or more people, many of whom will purchase a copy or two of your new book, and some attendees will buy other books too. A few might also be coming to the store for the first time and will begin shopping there more regularly. Each is a boon for the bookseller.
Scheduling events in cities and towns where authors have fewer connections presents more of a challenge because if you don’t have strong ties to these locations (e.g. you didn’t go to college there or don’t have extended family or friends in the area), the bookseller isn’t sure of a good return on their investment, and they don’t know if they’ll sell many (or any) of the books they’ll have to purchase and have shipped to their store.
The profit margins for most booksellers are narrow at best, and some now charge authors for events—one store I know of charges $250; another, $325. I’m unsure of the precise reasons behind these decisions, but I did learn several years ago from one of the booksellers I interviewed for this post that an author event costs the store an average of $200, which includes shipping costs, both before and after the event if the books don’t sell out and have to be returned to the distributor, wages for employees who emcee and publicize it, as well as foot traffic loss—customers who didn’t come for the event are less inclined to stay in the store and browse.
In the last decade or two, publishers began sending fewer authors on book tours—their rationale is they rarely make enough of a return on their investment due to authors’ travel expenses. As a result, in-store events are often planned by the authors themselves, or by their publicists if they’re working with one.
The bottom line: a bookstore wants to recoup its outlay of time and money when hosting an event—if only three people attend and only one person buys a book (or no one attends—which I’ve heard from more than a few writers has happened to them), the bookstore will be disinclined to host the author again.
Years ago, for my fourth book, I drove six and and a half hours from Chicago to Ann Arbor to do a reading with another author. I sold a copy (thank you, Kirsten!) of one of my older books, but not a single copy of the new book I was there to read from. The store had ordered at least 30 copies and arranged them into a fetching pyramid that…no one touched. Each of these books was doubtless returned to Bloomsbury’s distribution center. (My fellow author, more local—she lives in Kalamazoo—sold one copy of one of her books—to me.)
This store had invited me to do the reading, and I was flattered and happy to make the trek from Chicago, but apparently, the event organizer had misremembered the night of the local MFA program’s fiction workshop. It turned out to be the same weeknight as my reading. He was embarrassed and contrite (and also convinced these MFA students would have attended my friend Grace’s and my event; I privately doubted this, but his insistence on this eventuality was a little bit charming).
Grace and I had beat the drums ahead of time as best we could, sending emails and reminders, and posting on social media, but aside from my friend Kirsten, we drew only a few undergraduates who were there for class credit, and one or two other strays from the community.
Moral of this (sob) story: an event’s outcome is unpredictable. The author might have done a lot of work to promote it, but weather intervened, or another big event was (unpredictably) scheduled for the same night, e.g. the final game of the World Series (gah!) and one of the teams also happened to be from the city where your reading was located, or the friends who planned to attend all backed out at the last minute (I recommend sending the email saying you can’t make it after all on the morning after the event. If sent beforehand, it all but guarantees the author will obsess over the possibility no one but the annoyed bookstore staff will be there).
In the interests of helping to smooth the runway for writers who plan to approach bookstores for events, I wrote to several where I’ve done readings to ask what authors should know before querying.
What is one thing you wish more authors knew when they ask you to host an event?
From Suzy Takacs, owner, the Book Cellar 4736-38 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago:
“I wish authors knew that it requires work and time from staff, including scheduling, posting to [our] website, reading the book, writing a thoughtful introduction, ordering books, returning books, posting to whatever print ads people use, social media, set up, take down. As a bookstore owner, I love hosting events but it needs to be clear [to authors] that there is a significant amount of work involved.
“Also, authors need to do their own outreach to have good attendance. Family, friends, and neighbors should be notified. If the author is a professor, their students should attend the event, maybe for credit somehow. Fans of the author follow the author, not the bookstore. The author should post on their website, social media, and tag or share with the store. That is how their fans will learn about the event.
“[Scheduling] multiple events in one city is not a great strategy. It only seems to dilute the attendance at each event—unless [the stores are on] opposite sides of the city or in the suburbs and the city.”
From Sarah Hollenbeck, co-owner, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago:
“I'd advise authors to learn as much about the bookstore as possible before pitching an event! Check out our store's website, follow us on Instagram and other social media platforms, Google us! I am incredibly frustrated by authors who email us without knowing anything about our store's mission, history, or intersectional feminist lens. Also, an email that includes a link to Amazon goes directly in the trash.”
From Stephanie Hochschild, owner, the Book Stall, 811 Elm St., Winnetka, IL:
“The most important thing is for the author to understand the audience for their book and have a plan for reaching that audience. We work really hard to market all of our events but really need authors to help build attendance.”
What qualities make you most likely to schedule an event when a new author queries you?
From Claudia, events manager, Chevalier’s Books, 133 N. Larchmont Ave., Los Angeles:
“As far as qualities go, we look for local authors and prioritize those who have established a connection within the literary community here and/or teach. We feel that connected authors make for the most successful events not because of sales, while that's nice and all, it's actually more that when they're connected to others they have people in different pockets ready to support them-them being new kind of becomes secondary to others wanting to support them. We also love authors with a sense of humor because events really can be hit or miss, so people that are willing to work together regardless of outcome are the best because they always seem ready to try again!”
From Michael Chin, events manager, Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles:
“Besides the obvious (that we have schedule room for when their event comes out and the book looks like it would be interesting to our customers and staff), we generally look for things like: an author's locality/connection to our store, if they have done events here in the past how those events performed, if they haven't been here before then what kind of local network or draw they might have, where their book is distributed, and if they already have an event format or conversation partner in mind.”
How far ahead of the book’s publication date do you recommend an author query you?
From Michael Chin at Skylight Books:
“About 4 months is usually good for us, but 4-6 might be more accurate. It's sometimes tough to answer questions like this because it's not really as simple as "4 months ahead of time, our calendar is wide open." It has to do with which season is being pitched for, the point in the season we're currently in, the ebb and flow of the big publishers' catalog releases (which, even as an indie store, we are still beholden to), internal concerns like staffing, and other factors. Basically, I'm hesitant to ever tie us down to a specific time frame because I don't want to disappoint anyone who follows that timing and still doesn't get an event, but the short answer is 4-6 months."
From Claudia at Chevalier’s Books:
“For lead time we work best with those who are reaching out with about 3-4 months before they are hoping to do an event. The more time the better so we can get them their preferred date and brainstorm on when is best to host, for example if someone is launching a cookbook we like to schedule them around holidays. We like to keep topics relevant to the season as best as we can.”
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This is such valuable information for writers trying to get the word out about their books. I
Thank you for this, Christine! Much more detailed info here than I’ve seen anywhere else.