Will Someone Buy My Book Please?

In Which We Discuss How the Answer is Most Likely *No*, They Won't

The holiday season is upon us and of course we have the Ventorship’s gift shop stocked full of all your books (if only it were a real shop…or ship for that matter, but it’s the thought that counts, right?)! As authors out in the real world, we quickly realize *we* are walking, talking gift shops, trying to get the word out about where you can buy our books, how to get them signed, what deals are going on and when, etc. etc. etc. Oftentimes, that means we find ourselves at book fairs and conventions, hawking our books to any passerby who will listen. Which was the case for one of our fellow author-passengers recently, who writes:

I attended my first Book Con this past weekend and I had been looking forward to it for so long. The attendance wasn’t great, but it was still a really good time . . . until the end when we had a book signing and kids and adults were lining up at every other author’s table except mine. I sold 0 books, but then a participating author later bought mine and had me sign it (sympathy buy? I don’t know). Anyways, it was not a great feeling, and I have no idea what I did wrong. Maybe it’s just the wrong time of year for summer books or maybe fantasy and murder books are more people’s thing when they only have money to buy 1-2 books. Anyway, hoping I can pick myself back up and remember that I am still a good writer and author and good things are still in store for me.

Salesless At Signing, I have a multitude of promises for you:

1. YOU ARE A GOOD WRITER! Sales numbers, including sales numbers at conventions, are no indication of your talent. You have a book published, and that is a sign off of writer-bility from a boatload of people including but not limited to your agent, an editor, a whole sales team, a marketing team, the publisher, your critique group members who were like YES! THIS!, and so many more.

2. WE HAVE ALL BEEN THERE! Like, seriously, I think it has to be at least 99% of writers who have witnessed signing lines exponentially larger than theirs at a conference, who have had in-person book events where zero people show up, who realize that not even their closest family members have read their book, the list goes on and on.

3. SYMPATHY BUYS COUNT! There’s no column on our royalty sheets that indicates whether or not someone bought our book because they feel sorry for us. That sale’s a sale, baby.

4. ALL OF THESE FEELINGS ARE VALID! You get to gauge for yourself how long to be in these feels, and no time frame is the “right” time frame. So much of this business can be discouraging. Moving on to the next book can be easier said than done when we’re facing the realities of what it means to be a working, mid-list author. What I find helpful is compartmentalizing realities. Like, it’s a reality that sometimes my sales totally suck. As in, zero sales sold per week suck. My picture books especially are having a rough time, but like you, my latest contemporary novel, RILEY WEAVER, is having a very tough go of it (I think your thought that fantasy fans tend to be more eager buyers has a lot of truth to it; I sold only two copies of RW at a recent book expo myself where I was there for six hours!). But despite those middling sales number, it’s also a reality that I love writing, and I try to focus on that truth and only that truth when I start writing the next book. I try to co-exist in the conflicting realities of dismal sales numbers *and* loving to write despite the lack of promise that anyone will care. That’s not to say there aren’t moments where it’s so frustrating I have to second guess myself, or consider adding other ways to diversify my creativity. But honestly, I think the vast vast VAST majority of us have these doubts. So many of us, in fact, that we’re going to have to create a second Ventorship to make sure we don’t sink. Those massive BookTok hits are few and far between, so definitely know you’re not alone for a single second. We’re *all* Salesless At Signings.

Lastly, here’s a little tidbit about author goodwill and what we can do if the day ever comes that we find ourselves with the big sales lines that others are looking at enviously. Back in 2017, I was a debut author with just one picture book (my dunce detective who-who-dunnit, WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE). Literally no one knew who I was, and they definitely didn’t come to the festival to see me. But by some stroke of luck, I was seated next to Bill Cotter, the author-illustrator of the phenomenal DON’T PUSH THE BUTTON! books. Bill was hilarious, kind-hearted, and popular. So many people came over to get his books (as they should). And I’m not kidding you, every single time someone came to get one of his books, he’d sign and then tell whatever parent/grandparent/guardian/enthusiastic little reader was in front of him that my book was funny and that they should check it out. Sure enough, the vast majority of people looked at my book, and many of them bought a copy. The festival had 75 copies stocked and we sold out by the end of the day. By contrast, the book festival I was at recently had all my novels and over the course of a whole day, I sold 36 copies, and most of that was my fantasy novel. The festival stocked over 200 copies of my books, and wow there sure were a lot left over. That day I sold out in 2017 was entirely due to Bill’s generosity of spirit, not because of my abilities whatsoever. It was one of the kindest things another author has ever done for me, and I vowed if ever I was at a point where people were lining up for me, I’d be sure to send them over to other authors’ lines as well. What a world if we could all pay it forward like that :)

-JJ

What about you, readers? Any advice or similar experiences you’d like to vent? Feel free to put them in the comments, or write them to me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com and I’ll anonymously include them on this post.

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If you’d like to vent about anything author/writing related, write to me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject: VENTORSHIP. I’ll give you my take in a post, and we’ll crowdsource author opinions in the comments. You’ll remain anonymous, and any haters will be thrown overboard. Ultimately, I think you’re going to be buoyed up by author love and support as we realize we really are all in the same boat 🛳️