Maggie Clark asked Sarah Shell Teague:

My publisher has told me to contact a lot of bookstores all over the country. Did you do that ? If so, how did it go?

Sarah Shell Teague I did reach out to several bookstores, as my publisher also suggested, but I have experienced better results in places where people know me and know my work. I sold books at readings/signings locally and in towns where I had family or friends. The stores who didn’t know me or my work blew me off. Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, two hours from my home: I dropped by with a hardback copy (a holiday book) in July, followed up with a call in August, then an email, hoping to set up a reading or signing in December. In October I called again and emailed, wanting to give time for promotion. In early November I drove up again. I visited with the owner for ten minutes or so, told her how many books I’d sold already, mentioned my work as a writer. I had listed fifty local people I could invite to a signing. They could not locate my book, offered no encouragement, were polite enough in a professional way but had no interest.

Self-publishing seemed to be a deterrent at Wordsworth; I noticed reviews in the statewide paper two weeks later that they sponsored a book signing for another Arkansas-born writer. Same experience with Lemuria, a well-known independent bookstore in Jackson, MS. I visited with them while in town, wrote a letter, and then followed up with an email. Never received any response. Publishers tend to be cheerleaders for author self-marketing. You have to do it, have to believe in your book, have to be able to articulate why it’s a good idea for a bookstore to host a signing. But even if you pursue bookstores with valid claims, they may not respond.

In soliciting signings or readings, I always strive to be positive, kind and polite, insistent to a point, but I don’t push or hound (we’ve all been on the other side of a sales pitch). To enthusiastically market your book doesn’t entail foolishly ignoring someone’s disregard.

You can also seek other venues. I participated in a reading at an arts co-op during their holiday open house. Signed books in a Hallmark store. I was scheduled to have a signing at a history museum, but my son’s graduation conflicted with the date so I had to cancel. I signed books at the newspaper office in my hometown; I had published articles in the newspaper and had friends there. I was the instigator for all of those signings.

I tried a few holiday bazaar-type one-day events. The same rule applied: the closer to home I was, where people knew my work in the magazine where I’m associate editor, the more books I sold.

Get in touch with reading groups. A sorority sister in a town five hours away invited me to her book club; that extended to one member buying ten books to sell as gifts at her pharmacy.

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