The Book
Although I have been in Thailand for almost eleven years and have published, co-authored and contributed to six books during this time, I have never done a book-signing event. That was until Friday, March 22, 2013, when I was asked by the organizers of charity concert to join them and was provided with an area to display and sign my books.
As the concert was taking place in an international school in Bangkok, I decided to bring along for the book-signing event copies of my book for children, The Ironman. A Play. The book was initially published in paperback (on coloured glossy paper) in 2009 but, in 2012, I printed a second improved edition right here in Thailand. This time, the interior of the book was black and white but I had a much more attractive book cover.
The play is about the three kids, their ignorant parents, and an imminent danger: The Ironman. The children try to let their parents know about the Ironman’s approach, but both the mother and the father are too busy to listen to their children and just dismiss them. Until it is too late… The target readership of The Ironman. A Play is lower-elementary students.
The 1st Edition
The first edition of The Ironman. A Play was published via Lulu Books and cost an exorbitant $15.10 USD for a 32-page, full colour, perfect-bound paperback. It did not turn out to be a bestseller mainly because, at that time, I didn’t know how to market it properly and the book cover was not good at all as I used a temple offered by Lulu.
But, the book did sell. Exactly 1 (ONE) paperback copy was bought from the UK via Ingram, probably by a parent or a librarian. That was in early 2010. Royalties from that sale amounted to $1 USD and although the book was also available as an e-book for only $2 USD, nobody bought it…
Still, I was happy that in 2010 the book had some success when the story was put on stage by a group of Grade 7 students at an international school in Bangkok. Actually it was the same school that invited me this week to the book-signing event.
The 2nd Edition
Sometime in 2012 I decided to print the book by myself and try to sell it to parents and students at the school in Bangkok where I work as a teacher. Again, I was never really that eager to promote the book and, as such, sales were slow. Actually very slow. And how could they have not been slow when the books were gathering dust behind my desk in my classroom?
I was more excited to see how the book would look like with its new cover, which was designed for me by Eric Barientos, the illustrator of The Ironman. A Play. So, I printed 40 copies at a neighbourhood printer and, in the first couple of days, I managed to sell exactly 4 (FOUR) books.
Also, I had given three books away as presents and thus, by the time I was invited to attend a book signing at my school’s concert (for, yes, I am employed by the event organizer!), I had 33 copies left.
The Strategy
It so happens that in the past few days I have been reading and taking notes from The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing (Everything a Writer Needs to Know) by J.A. Konrath. It is a massive book of a bit over 1100 pages (which fit perfectly in my iPad) with tons of valuable advice for writers. I skipped the first 300 pages or so and jumped straight into the promotion chapter.
As soon as I started reading the book my mind kept going back to Konrath’s methods and how he managed to become a successful writer. I kept wondering if I could apply his methods of selling books. Well, there is no reason to wonder anymore. Yesterday I had the chance to try it out.
And guess what? It did work. By the end of the evening, I had sold 24 books, the most I have ever sold in a day.
The book signing
I had made up my mind to attend the book signing just one day before the actual concert. So, I took off my selves at home all the books that I could sell (I had two copies of The Moon Hunter & Other Stories – an anthology of short stories I co-edited – and a few copies of The Ironman. A Play – which I kept in case I needed to show off to visitors) and added them to the pile of books that, as I mentioned above, were literally gathering dust in my classroom.
I printed on two A4 sheets of paper the front and back cover of The Ironman. A Play and also made three promotional posters and two flyers for the two titles. The wonderful teachers and students who organised the concert put at my disposal a long table and strategically placed the table next to their “mobile shop.” I knew that people would be attracted by the goodies they were selling (brownies, water and soda) and I hoped to piggyback on that.
When people started coming in, I was behind the desk, smiling and pointing at the books in front of me. You can imagine that all I could think of was: What if nobody wants to buy my book? What if they won’t even bother to come over? What if…? What if…? But then I thought back to what Konrath wrote in his Guide and remembered that with a little bit of extra-work, I could make the people around me come and have a look at my books.
In a way, I was also lucky to be among my own students who were there to organize or participate in the concert. They kept me company until the first concertgoers arrived and also walked around holding my book and inviting people to meet the author. At one point, a student put on a mask and a pair of white gloves and walked around impersonating the Ironman. He said he was my mascot. I could only smile.
Slowly, oh so slowly, parents and students started stopping by, had a look at my books, and listened to me talk about the stories. I was not pushy, smiled a lot and let everyone know that I’d be glad to give them an autograph. The books were fairly priced and, before I went home, I had sold 22 copies of The Ironman. A Play and the two copies I had of the anthology. That’s a total of 24!
What the future holds
Now I am sure that if I make any of my books available to the public and if I spend the time promoting them, it is possible to increase my book sales tenfold (or, why not, even more). There will definitely be another print run of The Ironman. A Play and, as I continue reading Konrath’s Guide, I will explore with more and more ways to market my books.
Do YOU want the book?
You can be part of this amazing story too. If you live in Thailand and would like to order the book, you can send me an email. The book costs only 100 baht (handling and mailing included). If you’re a librarian at a school in Bangkok, then I can offer you a 20% discount on an order of at least 10 copies. I’ll sign them all for you. Or, if you’re a school and want to organize a book-signing event, send me an email at mihnea_voicu[at]yahoo[dot]com.
If don’t live I Thailand, don’t panic! The books is available both as paperback and in e-book format at various online outlets:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Lulu Bookstore
If you can’t afford it, no problem. You can read it right here on my blog. In any case, I’d love to hear from all of you and, if you liked the book, consider leaving a comment on Amazon.
Enjoy this video presentation of the book:
