Getting your books noticed by readers is a challenge, one that as an author, I guarantee you’ll struggle with at every phase of your writing life. An excellent, though exhausting way of getting a buzz going about your books is to talk them up at book clubs.
Many communities have book clubs of various sizes, some of which are not restrictive in the genres they read, and if you can get yourself on the calendar of one, you can reap unbelievable benefits.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I discovered all of this quite by accident. I knew that book clubs were a good place for a writer to promote his or her books, and I also knew that the Washington, DC metro area where I live is home to a number of book clubs, but until recently, I had never gone to the trouble of researching or contacting any of them. As has happened often to me as a writer, though, the mountain came to Mohammed.
Shepherd Park Library, a DC public library near Silver Spring, Maryland, on Georgia Avenue, sponsors a book club of local residents that features local authors. The person in charge of the club just happens to be a retired American diplomat who knew me when I served in the U.S. Foreign Service, and knew that I am now a full-time writer, so near the end of the 2018-2019 library calendar year, invited me to talk to the club about one of my Buffalo Soldier series titles. Never having done one before, I agreed, with reservations, but it turned out to be a fascinating evening, with a discussion of the book, even more discussion about my writing process, and I sold fifty dollars-worth of the books the moderator suggested I bring. As a bonus, we all went out for pizza after the session.
The response to that event was so positive, according to the book club moderator, that I was asked to be the opening writer for the new calendar year this past October, with a discussion of two books from my Ed Lazenby cozy mystery series.
At the first event, I’d missed out on an additional fifty dollars in book sales because I didn’t have any way to accept credit cards, a deficiency I’d corrected by enrolling with Square Space, and getting an i-Pad and credit card reader. Again, it was a lively session, and book sales were close to one hundred dollars, There was an additional benefit as well. One of the members of the Shepherd Park book club also happens to be a member of a small book club of retired ladies, and she invited me to come to her house for dinner and a discussion of another of my Buffalo Soldier books with her club.
Though not as large as the library club, it was just as lively, with eight ladies seated at a dining room table, copies of my book, Buffalo Soldier: Lost Expedition, which they’d purchased from Amazon, in front of them, and with dozens of penetrating questions about it to pepper me with as soon as the pasta and red wine was finished. At the end of a grueling two-hour session, I had to then sign each of their books, as well as the seven extra books they bought from the stash I’d brought along.
Are book club presentations time-consuming? Yes, they are. Are they worth the hassle? Again, I’d have to say yes. Book club members, as I’ve learned since doing the two Shepherd Park gigs, talk about books they like, not just to fellow club members, but to friends, neighbors, and relatives, which can lead to new readers being introduced to your work, and added sales.
So, don’t do what I did, and wait for a book club to find you. Check your local library, or ask around for book clubs in your area, and reach out to them. You’ll find that many will be thrilled to meet a local author, and who knows, you just might sell a few more books.
