Actually book signings don't generate the sale of that many books unless you're Stephen King, John Grisham, Sue Grafton, et al.
That's because the product you're selling isn't books.
If you're thinking I have three heads right about now, let me explain it a little further.
If you were to ask a group of people what product Revlon sells, most of them would respond with answers like cosmetics, nail polish, and hair care products.
Sure, those are the items that Revlon manufactures, but it's not what they sell.
What Revlon sells is beauty.
Actually, what I tell my students when teaching marketing courses is that Revlon sells hope because you hope you're going to look a whole lot better while wearing their make-up than you do without it.
Get it? Okay, let's try another one.
What does Kodak sell? Nope, if you answered cameras and film, you still don't get it.
Sure, they manufacture cameras and film, but what they sell is the ability to capture precious memories.
Okay, now let's look back again to what product an author sells.
Sure, we get paid for a little hardbound or soft cover book full of pages on words, but what we're selling is escape, adventure, and experience.
People read books because they want to escape into a romance or get caught up in a mystery or to gain knowledge on a new topic.
An author's job is to garner as much attention as possible for his or her book.
To do this, an author needs to be a person who attracts people to his or her website or blog site.
Another way to attract potential readers is to be someone who offers interesting input into discussion forums and other online communities.
Authors need to join social media sites, both the big ones like Linked In, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as the niche ones dealing with their particular subject matter or genre.
The biggest mistake authors can make in these online communities is to only post messages that scream out, "Buy my book.
" Take interest in fellow community members, offer tips, newsletters, or other content that is going to make people want to follow your posts.
Just like television shows have to determine their target audiences, so does an author.
Who is going to read your book? Are your readers eight year old Catholic girls or 71 year old fishermen? Know who your audience is as well as who it isn't so that you can best attract and provide useful information to that group of folks.
In another analogy to television shows, an author has to develop a followership of readers or else their show will get cancelled.
Create an "opt-in" email opportunity for readers to receive periodic communications from you to keep in touch.
Even when you're between books, provide your readers with tips, humor, or other information to keep then engaged.
Good luck with your book marketing efforts.
Don't place all of your eggs in one basket - especially the basket of book signings, because they aren't the most important piece of the puzzle.