A Day at the Librarian's Convention

By Tricia Goyer

Yesterday I signed 300+ free books for librarians at TLA--the Texas Librarians' Association. Here's why, and here's what I discovered ...

Hi from San Antonio. It's like 100 degrees here--okay, not really, but it seemed like it!

Yesterday I signed like 300+ free books for librarians. It was awesome! I love librarians!

If you're wondering why I took the trip from San Antonio, it's because of TLA ... The Texas Librarians Association. I came down and hung out with my awesome friends from Moody Publishing. They hooked me up with two book signings, and I've never seen so many fun people who were excited about my novels!

My husband, John, came with me and he videotaped part of the signing. (Yes, this will also be used for market purposes, but that's another blog.) John also talked to people in the aisles about the novels. He got the librarians excited about the novel before they even got to me, which was so great. The librarians loved John, too. How could they not?

Last night I also hung out with my husband, and an awesome salesman from Moody, and one of Moody's too-great marketing people. We ate dinner in a Mexican restraunt that was so loud we had to shout to talk. Then we walked along the Riverwalk and got caught in a rain/hail storm. By the time we got back to our motels we were totally soaked. And we were totally laughing.

When it rains it pours! And I'm meaning the whole, wonderful day.

So, what does this have to do with market???? Here are a few ideas:

1. Connect with librarians, especially those within 100 miles of you. Librarians love books. They love authors. Their job is to get good books into the hands of readers. Why not your book?

Stop by your local librarians and let them know about you and your books. Give them your business card and ask if they ever invite authors in as speakers. Ask if they'd accept signed copies of your book as a donation. (Some libraries allow this, others don't.)

2. Consider attending events like TLA. I was fortunate to attend with my publisher, and I noticed other Christian publishers in attendance. From what I saw, there were very few authors signing books. And even less were giving their books away for free. By doing both I met a lot of very excited librarians!

3. Connect with your marketing people and salesmen. This, in fact, is even more important that the convention itself. Talking over ideas, coming up with stradegy for future marketing, and just getting to know each other better was a wonderful thing. I'm leaving this weekend not only with new marketing idea, but with two closer friends. And that is what I consider a win-win for sure!

So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on connect with librarians and marketing staff, too.

Comments

[Jill Elizabeth Nelson]

I love meeting librarians, and I do signings at libraries. This weekend, I'm preparing a postcard mailing to libraries in my state about my current release and a speaking topic that fits with the summer reading program theme. Last year, I did a signing at the National Church Librarians Convention in Minneapolis, and I met my former 7th grade English teacher there. How awesome is that! She's now one of my influencers.

Thanks for sharing about your great librarian event, Tricia. Making our books available in libraries can't help but generate new readership!

[Judy]

Thanks, Tricia. You warm my librarian heart. Wanna come help me teach my "Marketing to Public Libraries" workshop at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference this summer? :-)

If you want to reach librarians on a national level, target the Public Library Association Conference. Unlike the American Library Association Conference that includes special, school, public, and academic libraries, the PLA conference is for librarians in public libraries--the market for most of our books. This conference is held every two years in various locations. The next one is March 25-29, 2008 in Minneapolis. For more information see:
www.placonference.org