Requesting My Books By Name

No one warns you how hard selling and marketing your book can be until you are in that world. It can be so hard to put something you've written out into the world and say, "Hey! Buy the book I wrote! Here's a tiny piece of my soul and if you don't like it, it will crush me!" Or maybe that's just me. However, if you are interested in writing a book and willing to put it out there, let me tell you the good parts, because one of those happened to me today. 

One of the ways of "putting yourself out there" is through bookstores, getting your books into bookstores can be a little intimidating, especially if you are afraid someone will say "no". But trust me when I say, I LOVE all of my local bookstore owners. They are usually the ones who regularly sell my books the most because of being a local author.  

One of my favorite bookstores is actually on wheels, branded as a mobile bookstore on a trailer, cleverly named "The Book Hop". The owner, Heather, had told me that she needed some more of my books so I dropped some off. In fact, she was the one who commissioned a local artisan to make "Little Mothman's" to sell in her shop (another reason we love locally owned bookstores). We discussed our upcoming event season and how sometimes you can sign up for different events and either make a lot of money....or not. If you are wanting to be an author and wanting to sell your books at different events, it is just a game of chance. You can sign up for a show and make a lot of money and sell a lot of books OR you could sit for eight hours and not even break even. It really is a guessing game. 

Heather said something that I thought was really valuable that I wanted to share for anyone who might be interested in selling products, whether that be books or working a craft fair. She said "I used to not respect my time but now I do." This means that she doesn't do an event unless she knows it is going to be worth her time. So, if you do want to ever sell in person, be selective because your time is precious. I think in the beginning phases of a business, you just want name recognition so you're willing to do everything and anything. But trust me when I say that after sitting at an event for eight hours and not even breaking even, it gets old quick. 

After having this discussion, Heather shared with me that the reason she was needing more books is because someone specifically came to her store to get my book. The woman asked "Do you have any of the Cryptid Chronicles books?" and she hadn't restocked with me yet. She shared a story with me about another little boy being upset and his mother consoling him by going to her bookstore. How awesome?!

That is one of the warm chest feelings I get whenever someone specifically asks for my books by name. It makes all this worth it and is one of the best feelings as an author. So, are you ready to become an author yet? Do you have a children's book idea in mind and want people to specifically ask for your books by name? Grab your free author guide down below if you are ready to start this journey into authorship!