How Authors Can Work Effectively with Independent Bookstores

A recent panel of booksellers offered pointed and practical advice on how to make the most of an in-store event

At BookExpo in late May, we had the opportunity to attend a well-organized panel, moderated by novelist and bookstore owner Emma Straub, on how authors can work successfully with independent bookstores. The panel was sponsored by the American Booksellers Association and the Authors Guild and was divided into three helpful discussion areas: pre-event, during the event, and post-event.

The most important pre-event lesson: Have a relationship with your local store before you propose doing an event. Kelly Estep of Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky, said that they want authors to feel a connection with the store and vice versa. While the store expects to promote the author, the author should also expect to promote the store—to tell readers to visit the store to buy the book. And, whether you have a good relationship with the store or not, be prepared to explain why an event at the store will be successful and how you’ll facilitate turnout. Be sure to link to that store (or IndieBound) at your website, on social, and wherever else you sell your book.

Bookstores are working hard on becoming a first choice for pre-orders to compete against Amazon. If you have the opportunity to do so, partner with your local independent bookstore on pre-orders. Jenny Cohen of Waucoma Bookstore in Oregon said, “Come to us really early if you’re going to partner with us on pre-orders, like as soon as your contract is signed.” Even after the book releases, you can continue that relationship and offer something special that your followers may want that they can’t get anywhere else except through that store. At the very least, direct people—anyone who asks on social or elsewhere—to the store for signed copies.

For children’s authors who do school visits: some bookstores may be able to help support and facilitate such events, as Cohen does. She helps arrange two to three school visits per day for authors; the publisher or author puts together a packet for the school that explains the presentation length, what will be talked about, plus background that teachers can use. Then Cohen’s bookstore sells copies at the event. She says that they don’t sell a lot on site, but “We sell a ton afterward.” Authors should take bookmarks for the kids so they have something they can show their parents when they get home.

During the event, be courteous and respectful to everyone, regardless of the turnout. Alyson Turner of Source Booksellers in Detroit said authors should start on schedule and be aware of any set program or process the store follows. All panelists agreed that authors should not read for 30 to 45 minutes or the entire length of the event—almost no author is that entertaining or engaging. Mix it up with personal stories and interactions with the audience. Estep added, “Be aware that your event isn’t the time to catch up with all the people who came to your event because you went to high school with them.” Instead, spend time with the readers and fans who came to see you.

Jake Cumsky-Whitlock from Solid State Books in Washington, DC, said that once the event is over, stay late, be one of the last to leave, and put in time with the audience—anyone who wants to talk to you. Echoing Estep, he said, “Fight the urge to run off to dinner with old friends, even if that’s scheduled.”

If the turnout is disappointing, don’t consider it a wasted effort. Cumsky-Whitlock said, “Thank the staff. … [It] doesn’t mean everyone wasn’t trying.” He suggested authors show support by buying a book at the store and sticking around for a drink if there’s a bar or restaurant at the store. Every panelist said it’s important to make a more personal connection to the booksellers. Straub said if you are kind and grateful to them even if there’s poor turnout, the booksellers are going to “sell your book like crazy” to every person who walks in the door. She also recommended that authors put “a thank-you note in the mail. If you remember one person’s name, that’s fine. If you [just] remember the bookstore’s name, that’s fine.”

Bottom line: There was considerable focus at this year’s BookExpo on brick-and-mortar retail, with a panel in fact titled “The Power of Retail” moderated by Lynn Neary from NPR. During that panel, Tim Mantel of Barnes & Noble said that author events are important for them not just because people want to meet the author, but because they want to meet like-minded readers in the community. However, the CEO of Penguin Random House, Madeline McIntosh, said that author appearances aren’t scalable, so they do a lot of research as to what kind of events will bring consumers together in store. That means (more or less) that many authors are left to pitch and organize their own bookstore events. To justify that effort, authors do best to focus on cultivating personal connections with booksellers that can offer a meaningful return long after the event has concluded.