I’ve participated in two in-person events that yielded low, low responses. I mean nuclear safe-room-under- mountains-of-earth kind of low.
Ouch.
Not only were they a waste of time for the author(s) involved, they wasted the time of all the people who set up the event.
While some might suggest that it was a lack of draw—I mean, I’m not a household name—in reality, even the newest of authors will draw local readers when the event is done right. It isn’t the name-draw that was the issue.
I know this because I’ve also been told by two big-name authors that they had events that completely flopped. Their events had the same flaw mine did.
Unlike Field of Dreams, if you build it they won’t randomly come. People don’t materialize to buy your books.
You have to tell readers about it.
Other events I’ve participated in were very well-attended. That’s because they didn’t share this flaw. The problem was, that basic-level marketing was missing from all of these low-attendance events.
9 Ways to Advertise Your Author Event
1. The venue should be sharing with their own email subscribers. And you? Tell your email subscribers. Sure, most of them probably aren’t local—though I do recommend when you get direct sign-ups at the event and manually load them into your subscriber host, that you segment them as “local.” But, your subscribers may be traveling or have friends in the area who they’ll encourage to drop by.
2. Get it in the paper. You remember those paper periodicals that come several times a week? Yeah, one of those. My town still has one and it includes an event calendar. Often, events are added free of charge.
3. Leverage local contacts. Your venue should be leveraging theirs. If you’ve spoken at book clubs, writer groups, or other venues, share the details and ask them to spread the word.
4. Contact churches. I recommend keeping an email list of admin contacts for local churches. Depending on where you live, “local” might include city-wide, county-wide, or a broader geographic region. Ask for the event to be shared in their church event calendar, on bulletin boards, eNews, and announcements.
5. Ask local businesses to post it. Don’t underestimate the value of a good-old bulletin board posting. If you live in an area with tourism, let local hotels and B&B’s know. Give them a printed flyer or sharable brochures. They’re often eager to let their guests know about special events happening around town.
6. Post to community internet boards. Utilize Nextdoor and Facebook pages to share the event. Your city may have a public calendar, as well.
7. Let the local library know. Give them flyers to post and ask if they’ll share it with their patrons in their own email newsletter and website calendar.
8. Look for a local public access television station and see if they have an author show or event calendar they broadcast and sign up to be included.
9. Share it on socials. Both the host’s and your own. Because of the algorithms, post frequently and well in advance.
If you’re invited to participate in an in-person event, be sure to know who is responsible for advertising and what all’s included. Now, be fair, I was told advertising would take place at one of my events and the event holder never followed through. Unfortunately, I realized it too late to fill the gap myself. If I’d have utilized these tips focusing on my own contacts, I sizeable number of potential participants would have been reached.
If your host won’t be promoting across all these channels and media options, you’ll want to pick up the slack because no one will show up if no one knows about it. If that’s the case, though, you may also have to decide if that work is worth it for you. It may be that you’ll want to look at putting your time and energy into a different event. It’s okay to say “No, thank you,” if the host isn’t able or willing to advertise.
