REMEMBER when you first started out as an author? The thrill of seeing your book on a shelf in a bookshop for the very first time?
If you’re like any of us at Trapped By Monsters you will almost certainly have been staunchly supported by a bookshop near to where you live – maybe an independent or maybe a Waterstone’s, WHSmith or other chain with a manager and team as passionate as you’d find in any indie.
A bookshop, yesterday.
Recently we TBMers started talking about how worried we are about bookshops. It’s been a turbulent time for them over the past decade with all the new tech coming in – audiobook downloads, E-readers, Kindle, the rise of intense competition on the internet… and then the credit crunch, of course.
We decided we wanted to give back a bit and show our support and so we have created
- our campaign to support at least one bookshop each year. We intend to spread the word among our author and illustrator buddies around the UK and maybe even around the world. If you’re reading this for the first time, we’re already on our way.
So how does an author Adopt A Bookshop? Well, there are no social services checks involved, no counselling, no painting the spare room and tempting the bookshop into it with a plate of Pop Tarts… It’s more practical than that.
So far we have identified these things that an author can do:
* Offer to do some free signing events across the year – tying in to book launches or dates in the calendar which will make the signing extra viable (ie: if you write romantic stuff, plan a Valentine’s Day event, if you write spooky stuff, plan a Hallowe’en event… you get the gist!)
* Send some signed posters to your adopted shop, along with a certificate saying they are your officially adopted bookshop for 2011/12. (We hope to have a template CERTIFICATE for you to download very shortly – but in the meantime feel free to create your own using the Adopt A Bookshop logo. For the higher res version email ali@alisparkes.com.)
* Do some local press together with the bookshop owner – get a strong picture taken at the shop (outside is usually best so you can get their name in shot) and sent to the local paper/s with a press release.
* Get on local radio with the bookshop owner and talk about what you and authors all around the UK are doing – and why!
* Put a link from your website/Facebook/blogsite to theirs, offering signed books on mail order for your fans. The bookshop takes all the strain of admin while making a few more quid – and you can drop in to sign at pre-arranged times or invest in some nicely designed stick-in bookplates which you can sign to individuals and post to your adopted shop.
* Set up an AMAZING system like this, created by top TBM children’s author and marketing and promotions supremo Mark Robson… in his own words:
I adopted an Indie about two years ago – two Indies actually! If you look at my web page: http://www.markrobsonauthor.com/signed-books/ you can see that I have linked my direct sales to an independent games shop in Daventry. Whenever the manager gets an order for my books, he drops me a text and the next time I’m in town I pop in, personalise the books and he packs and sends them out. Couldn’t be easier.
However, I’ve also taken a step further. Two years ago I also adopted an Indie book shop who were very supportive of my books when I first started out self published. This shop now supplies the majority of my school events wherever I am in the country. I used to buy in my own stock and then sell to the kids on the day, but the faff involved in keeping the stock, taking in the money and accounting for it was work I really didn’t need. There will be some who need the profit from direct book sales – fortunately I’ve gone a bit beyond that stage now. To be honest, I’d rather have those ‘lost’ sales that never registered on Nielsen Book ratings help my visibility to the book trade people. Good Nielsen figures help make for a happy publisher who wants me to write more books!
The way I work this one is that I have a set ‘book pack’ arranged with ‘The Book Store’ in Abingdon. This is a selection box of 50 books. Whenever I get a school visit where the school do not have a local preferred supplier of books, I arrange for Ian & Jane at The Book Store to send them a box about a week before my visit so that the books can be displayed and pre-sold to the keenies. On the day, those with money buy more. After the event, any remaining books stay in school for another 3 or 4 days before being collected by a courier so that pupils can continue to buy after my visit. The school then emails me the names of any students who have bought post-visit and I send them back signed book plates so that every child gets a signature for their books. If the school runs out of a title and needs more, they ring Ian and he has more copies sent out by courier so that they arrive the next day. This maximises the sales potential of each school visit. The school collect the money and pay the book shop for the books sold with a single cheque. The Book Store pay and arrange for the courier service both ways, but they sell all of the books at full price, so they make a decent profit. Everyone is happy. Not every book shop will go to this length for you, but it saves me a huge amount of work and the vast majority of my sales through school events are now registered on Nielsen.
You’ll have noticed by now that this campaign is also highly beneficial to the author. If you have any other ideas we’d love to know about them.
AND if you are not in fact an author, but a bookseller, why not find an author that you love and ask them to adopt you? It helps if they’re nearby but it’s not absolutely necessary.
We hope you’ll feel inspired to get involved. And we would LOVE to hear from you if you do. Do drop us a line or visit our Facebook page and post your picture and news as soon as you’ve ADOPTED A BOOKSHOP!