{"id":10131,"date":"2023-07-17T10:07:38","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T14:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/?p=10131"},"modified":"2023-07-17T10:14:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T14:14:13","slug":"conquer-the-conference-marketing-tips-for-authors-and-vendors-to-shine-at-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/conquer-the-conference-marketing-tips-for-authors-and-vendors-to-shine-at-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Conquer the Conference: Marketing Tips for Authors and Vendors to Shine at Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
You\u2019ve heard the advice that the best way to sell a book is to write another. I whole-heartedly believe that to be true, and I\u2019d love to add to that wisdom by noting the philosophy holds true for speaking engagements as well. After speaking at a writer\u2019s conference a few months ago, I was approached to participate in another opportunity to inspire authors. As a passionate supporter of authors and their journey in book marketing, I was elated by the opportunity to connect with another group of like-minded, amazing individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having attended several conferences this year, sharing book marketing insights and working vendor tables as well, I discovered some tried-and-true strategies that authors and speakers can utilize to not only sell books but also increase visibility and readership reach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seated at my vendor table in between hosting workshops, I decided to follow my own marketing advice and engage in active listening. This turned out to be a treasure trove of knowledge as authors passed by, sharing their stories and experiences. From these interactions, I gleaned valuable insights into creative marketing tactics that help authors stand out and leave a memorable impression during conferences. And, while conversing with other author vendors and speakers, I noticed their successful approaches that helped draw attention to their books while navigating the author\u2019s gauntlet<\/em>\u2014a space teeming with competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some key takeaways any author attending a writer\u2019s conference could utilize and author speakers who are also manning vendor tables to sell their books and other products could benefit from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter where you are, you are an author and should be prepared to sell books. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I meandered to the first panel I was moderating early in the conference before anyone else had arrived, and while I was trying to figure out how to adjust the temperature in the room (y\u2019all, it was HOT!), the rest of the panel was setting up their spaces at the table on the stage. Each author showed up with book stands and at least one copy of each book they had written to position in front of them while they spoke. As a marketer, you would have thought that I would have inherently done the same\u2026 but this gal was more focused on the sauna of a room! This is something I continuously forget to do when I speak at conferences, but I promise you bringing a copy with you will help sell books. Whether you are on a panel or a conference attendee, you never know where your reader is lurking. Here are some tips to help you never forget to market yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to sell your book, however, don\u2019t try to push book sales. Give value first. Focus on the solutions that you offer and how you can help someone with your book, your message and your insights. Books will sell when you give value. Books don\u2019t sell when you try too hard to push them. Just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find a way to stick out amongst the crowd. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was early in my career in public relations, my dad encouraged me to join an association of others in my field. There were several to consider but two came to the top of the list: PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) and IABC (International Association of Business Communicators). Since I\u2019m a gal that doesn\u2019t like competition, I chose IABC. While I loved participating in this writer\u2019s conference, I realized that competition overwhelms me. I want everyone to win\u2026 now, as an author at a writer\u2019s conference and then as a PR professional in a sea of communicators. And, in a world with more readers than one author could ever write books to satisfy, you can. However, to be seen means you need to stick out. Here are some ways to do that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Writer\u2019s conferences put you in a sea of other authors and amongst vast competition vying for the same purchasing power a reader has. Be sure you will be remembered in a way that aligns with your book\u2019s message. Readers will peruse the book opportunities at their fingertips, but they will come back to those that were memorable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Books don\u2019t sell themselves; people do.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I always remind authors that people buy from people<\/em>. People invest in people. Readers aren\u2019t only buying books, they are investing in the message that they will get when they read it. It just so happens that you are the message they are investing in. Authors sometimes feel like they are just selling books, but books don\u2019t sell themselves, people do. As I walked around the conference between sessions, I noticed which authors had people engaging with them and which didn\u2019t. From that, here are some considerations to take into account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You are the glue to your book brand. Behind your physical book is a person who is passionate about what they wrote. Embrace that passion and don\u2019t hide behind it. Get in front of your book table and interact with readers. Be confident in your story and your work, because people will feel that and invest in you because of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning is a life-long journey for everyone, authors included. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Conferences offer learning opportunities at all levels. From attending workshops to one-on-one discussions with fellow authors, I\u2019ve found that the author community as a whole is a pay-it-forward kind community. Every author was shaped because someone else poured into them. Most are passionate about doing that for another. Obviously, you\u2019re at a conference to learn, but not all of the learning happens on stage at conferences. Here are some insights to help you uncover learning everywhere you explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sat across from two well-known authors in the fantasy fiction world during the conference. Between sessions and reader inundation, I observed how they interacted with readers and others at the conference. One was quiet, keeping to himself unless a fan came by and then he would \u201cturn on\u201d for the crowd. The other was reserved too, but instead of becoming someone different when fans arrived, he remained his humble self, making jokes, smiling and exuding kindness to everyone he met, myself included. He had become a glorious success over his lifetime, but he realized that he could still learn, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter who you are, how far you\u2019ve come or where you\u2019re heading, learning is something each and every one of us will always benefit from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ve heard the advice that the best way to sell a book is to write another. I whole-heartedly believe that to be true, and I\u2019d love to add to that wisdom by noting the philosophy holds true for speaking engagements as well. After speaking at a writer\u2019s conference a few months ago, I was approached … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","spt_transcript":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":63,"label":"Book Marketing"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image000000-7-e1689603247623-1024x739.jpg",1024,739,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Stephanie Feger","author_link":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/author\/stephanie-feger\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":63,"name":"Book Marketing","slug":"book-marketing","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":63,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":22,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":63,"category_count":22,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Book Marketing","category_nicename":"book-marketing","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10131"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10134,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131\/revisions\/10134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowerprgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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