The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article by Joanne Kaufman about the ways that some authors sell their books. Here are some examples:
* Ayelet Waldman ("Bad Mother") gave rewards to people who pre-ordered her essay collection, with things like donations to a charity and copies of her husband's books (her husband happens to be novelist Michael Chabon); another author provided a signed bookplate and a logo keychain for pre-orderers.
* For her second book pre-orderers, she had a drawing for an iPod;
* On his Facebook page, Bruce DeSilve put a slideshow of famous people reading his first novel. 'Rogue Island." Great, if you happen to know famous people willing to pose for you. Me--I'd consider using some look-alikes;
* A novelist whose book features a scene in a sex toy shop held her publication party there, saying "It's hard to get attention for bookstore readings";
* Two-for-one offers, pairing their own books with remaindered copies of books in a similar genre that they've picked up for bargain rates;
* Turning the book into a theatrical production and selling copies of the book at the back;
Some strategies actually sell a lot of books, others don't sell books at the event but create valuable publicity. What's certain is that you will need to use as much creativity to market your work as you do to write it.
Two books you may find helpful are "Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books with a foreword by Sir Richard Branson and "Marketing for Entrepreneurs," published by Pearson.
