POP: Coffee, Tea, and Books - Collette Cameron's Book Signing

Collette Cameron

It's a new year! Time to set some goals and start to lay a foundation for success in 2015. As we dust off the cobwebs from our holiday hiatus, we thought we should start out the new year with a field report.

On 28 September, 2014 our dear friend, Collette Cameron hosted a book signing at a local coffee house named Insomnia. Because of her well designed author persona and consistent continuity, in the past we've featured Ms. Cameron on our blog. (Check out her guest post.)

Let's examine some of the best practices she put to use for this event.

Goodie table featuring chocolate, tea biscuits, and tea cup with
tea pot shaped cookies. Even her give-away cards included
 a tea cup or pot cookie cutter.

Continuity

Sign up sheets for drawings and future contact.

Ms. Cameron used the color blue throughout her book signing set up. Since tea cups are heavily featured on her website, tea and tea cups were the theme used to compliment her books. Notice that the tea pot and cup shaped cookies even had blue icing! Since the signing was in a coffee house, guests purchased tea or coffee then mingled with the author and fellow readers. Ms. Cameron writes historical fiction, so all of her delicious snacks were served on traditional 'high tea' tiered plates and silver platters.

Contact & Clear Communication
The first table that greeted you when you entered the door was a sign up sheet for future contact. There were also slips of paper that could be filled out to enter her prize drawing. Sign up sheets are a great way to build a distribution list for a newsletter, event announcements, and notices of book launches. Always seek out pathways to make announcements and share information directly with your readers. If they've taken the initiative to come to your book signing, the odds are pretty darn good that they will want to know when your next book is ready for sale. Her sign up table was also designed with her theme in mind. Little touches like the blue pens, crystal bowl for drawing entries, and blue rose welcome sign were all in line with her overall theme and author persona. Here is one detail that many authors miss: There were CLEAR communication signs on this table!! (The attendee knew what they were signing up for and had the option to 'opt in' for her mailing list.)

CASH: Be Ready to Make a Sale!
Ms. Cameron accepted cash or checks for purchases of her books. (We chatted with her about ways to take credit cards in the future.) For this event, she planned ahead and had plenty of change on hand to sell books. Her husband acted as the banker...which brings us to another key point: enlist the help of friends and family! Ask trusted friends and family to help out with the 'day-of-the-event' details. You need to focus your energy on chatting with your readers, signing books, and making sales. Let someone else fetch more napkins, clean up spills, and direct people to seating.

And most of all - HAVE FUN!
Book signings are your time to shine! Have fun celebrating the fact that your book is published and ready for sale!

Therese Patrick & Collette Cameron