Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie discussion

Unbelievable!

I saw my ophthalmologist for a routine appointment this morning, and while there, dropped off a copy of one of my illustrated children's storybooks, Pepe Builds a Nest, for the receptionist. With a minute--literally--I sold another six copies of the book to others in the office. (Fortunately, I had them in the trunk.)

The lessons here are: never miss an opportunity to market your books and never be caught without copies to sell when someone takes an interest!

WOW! That's great!

I have them in the car- CVS is a great place to give them out, Trader Joe's, any strip mall. Don't forget the barber and the hair and nail salon. If I got to Carvel I give them out to the kids there. The local diner is a great place for regular fiction. I got lunchtime when the older crowd is there. I give books to the local hospital and nursing home. They are happy to get them. There are a lot of readers there. Also, people visiting will sometimes pick up a book.

Erica wrote: "WOW! That's great!"

Thanks, Erica.

Carole wrote: "I have them in the car- CVS is a great place to give them out, Trader Joe's, any strip mall. Don't forget the barber and the hair and nail salon. If I got to Carvel I give them out to the kids ther..."

You are correct. I left one at my dentist's office and within a day sold six more. Like you, I know the books will sell...the problem is getting them in the hands of potential buyers so they will open their wallets. I'm sure your experience is similar to mine...once they open the books, out comes the money.

Sometimes I'm surprised when I open my Createspace account and see the numbers Yesterday I sold eight paperbacks of Mali. I was delighted but wish I knew who bought it so I could push other volumes in the series their way

Carole wrote: "Sometimes I'm surprised when I open my Createspace account and see the numbers Yesterday I sold eight paperbacks of Mali. I was delighted but wish I knew who bought it so I could push other volumes..."

Yes, that would be nice. For sure.

I plan to take some of mine around to universities with speech clinics in the fall. Being in the St. Louis area, we are saturated with them. Speaking from experience, already practicing SLPs already have their go to resources, most of which they picked up in clinicals. I am hoping this will be a good opportunity to introduce future SLPs to my series while they are still compiling their resource list. :)

Erica. You should make a brochure and sent it to speech centers all over the states. Brit made my brochures on a site. We found a reasonable printer. All u need is about two or three hundred plus the postage. He he other alternative is to make a postcard with the info on it. There is special postage on those that isn't expensive

Carole wrote: "Erica. You should make a brochure and sent it to speech centers all over the states. Brit made my brochures on a site. We found a reasonable printer. All u need is about two or three hundred plus t..."

I have a brochure but they cost about .60 each to print since they are two sides and in color at my local printer who I like to support. I had been considering postcards since I can do 4 to a page. I forgot about the special postcard postage! Thanks for the reminder Carole. :)

Yep- Brit sends out all our stuff with that special books postage. I know she saves a bunch of bucks with that. I know we did a thing with postcards for my regular business- you know a form for them to fill out on service and it was relatively inexpensive.

Do you use Media mail for your books or something else? I have been using Media mail when I can, given I don't have a rush on something.

Yes, it was media mail.

That was a recent discovery for me. It is a significant savings over time! :)