Last week, I talked about what I called the social media dilemma: where someone like me is a bit put off by the toxicity running rampant on the various social media platforms, while at the same time, the modern paradigm of being an author means I’m allegedly supposed to use those very platforms to promote myself and my writings. Add in the fact I’m something of an introvert—at least until you get me going—and the problem is compounded. I have a philosophy of live and let live—so the idea of marketing is a bit of an anathema to me.
But with all that, the pundits still say that there’s one tried and true method that is still best: word of mouth. Someone buys your book, reads it, likes it, and tells a friend. Or two. And maybe they go out and do the same. It’s a daisy chain that works remarkably well.
But how do you get the ball rolling? Therein lies the crux, and I’m not sure there’s one single answer to the question. But we tried one of those answers this weekend, so this post might come across as a mix of my last post and the one I wrote sometime back chronicling our travels for that weekend.
We hit some venues.
I say venues because I can’t rightly say bookstores—unless you consider libraries free bookstores.
It was very much a seat-of-the-pants decision.
We have a new grandbaby, and we’d left our pickup at their house Friday night. My wife had been babysitting the new baby’s two older sisters while the parents were at the hospital—a stay that ended up being longer than was originally anticipated. Anyway, my wife took the pickup there while I used our new-to-us Subaru that gets better mileage to continue going to work. We’d planned to go back and get the pickup Saturday, but decided to let them have time alone.
We had already planned our first stop for the day: the Madison County Library. We’re both from Madison County (AR), so this is our hometown library. For us, going there is something of a must, even if we currently don’t live there. Madison County is largely rural, so the population isn’t exactly huge. That means the library is small, but don’t discount small places like that. I mean, let’s face it: most bookstores aren’t that big, either, at least not on the indie side we prefer to patronize.
But we also went to one of our favorite restaurants, Granny’s (if you love home-style cooking and you’re in the area, give it a try) having brunch. We’d already visited the library, and that’s when we decided not to bother the new-ish parents and go on a road trip.
Our first stop: a great little indie bookstore in Prairie Grove called Fox and Fable. It’s small but beautiful, and they haven’t been open for long, but we immediately loved it. We bought a couple books there and got contact info to set up a signing event later.
Then, we made the long drive to Joplin, MO, to Always Buying Books, a used-book store we’ve patronized for some years now. It’s a wonderful little store, run by a Vietnam vet and book lover, where we set up another event. We’d had one set up back around Christmas of last year, but problems cropped up for both parties, among them weather, so we had to postpone, and we finally got around to setting up again. They apologized profusely, but there was no need. Sometimes life just throws you curves and you have to go with the flow.
Oh, and we bought some books there, too, despite our determination to read some of the piles of books we already have before piling more in various places where we already don’t have room.
But when we got home, we were gratified to learn that Saturday was—wait for it—Indie Bookstore Day: a day set aside to go out and patronize these places to keep them in business and give them a leg up against places like Barnes & Noble and, more to the point, the elephant in the room that is Amazon.
We’d simply supported the movement without realizing it. But, being an indie author, it’s something we do anyway.
The bottom line is this: for all the good social media might do on a “global” scale, getting out and socializing in person is far better. Every place we visited was open to our setting up an event there. They were friendly and even eager to work with us because they realize that having not just an author (or, in our case, two) who is also local is an extra draw for readers.
And that benefits all of us.
So get out there and visit these places in person. You never know what you’ll find to buy, and you never know what kind of people you’ll meet who could end up being new friends.
And that’s what socializing is all about, after all.
Happy reading,
Gil.
