Brian Clegg
Basic
Whether you are self-pubbed or traditionally, you may well end up doing a talk or other event at which you sell books. I've been doing this for a number of years, and just a couple of thoughts on this.
1) Take as good a range as you can if you've more than one book. Quite often the book I've based my talk on is not the best seller afterwards. (Perhaps this says something about my talks)
2) Be prepared for anything. I have had events where I have sold none, through to one where we ran out at 50 copies. But more often than not it's a fairly low number. Don't be down-hearted.
3) Take a good float. I always sell my rounded down, e.g. an £8.99 at £8, but you still always need more change than you think you will.
4) If at all possible get a portable card machine (you'll need a smartphone with bluetooth and 3G or wifi at the location). This has proved brilliant. Since I've had it, average sales have gone up, and I did one talk recently where every single sale was by card. People don't necessarily carry enough cash to buy a book.
On that last point, the system I use is WorldPay Zinc, and it has been very good. They have an offer on in the UK at the moment that if you use this link I will get a reward for your effort, and you will be able to use this promotional code: FR522719 to get £10 off the keypad, bringing it down to £69.99. Once you've got that there are no monthly fees, just a 2.75% fee on the transaction (smaller than Paypal). I found it paid for itself very quickly with sales I wouldn't otherwise have got.
1) Take as good a range as you can if you've more than one book. Quite often the book I've based my talk on is not the best seller afterwards. (Perhaps this says something about my talks)
2) Be prepared for anything. I have had events where I have sold none, through to one where we ran out at 50 copies. But more often than not it's a fairly low number. Don't be down-hearted.
3) Take a good float. I always sell my rounded down, e.g. an £8.99 at £8, but you still always need more change than you think you will.
4) If at all possible get a portable card machine (you'll need a smartphone with bluetooth and 3G or wifi at the location). This has proved brilliant. Since I've had it, average sales have gone up, and I did one talk recently where every single sale was by card. People don't necessarily carry enough cash to buy a book.
On that last point, the system I use is WorldPay Zinc, and it has been very good. They have an offer on in the UK at the moment that if you use this link I will get a reward for your effort, and you will be able to use this promotional code: FR522719 to get £10 off the keypad, bringing it down to £69.99. Once you've got that there are no monthly fees, just a 2.75% fee on the transaction (smaller than Paypal). I found it paid for itself very quickly with sales I wouldn't otherwise have got.
