Marketing Your Book at Women's Expos: Success Steps for You

I've participated in several Women's Expo. This participation includes giving a talk, joining a panel discussion, and staffing a booth. Last week I helped church staff at a Women's Expo in my hometown of Rochester, Minnesota. I was there to promote the church's year-long speaker series for women. My appearance went really well because I followed these steps.

Always arrive early. You don't know if you will be able to get a parking space or need help with getting stuff from your car to the booth, so get there early. Bring scissors and tape in case you need them.

Plan your display. These are crowded events and people need to see what you are offering in seconds. I made a tall poster featuring a newspaper article about my latest book and stood the book in front of the poster. In addition, I brought along professional stands for the other books I was displaying.

Stand in front. I noticed that booths with staff people behind the tables didn't get as much attention as booths with staff in front of the tables. When you stand in front of the booth you can make better eye contact and people can hear what you are saying.

Have give-aways. Women's Expo attendees expect people to give things away. We gave our chocolate candy kisses and reminder cards about the next speaker -- me. People loved the candy and looked over the display as they unwrapped it. My question, "Can I give you a kiss" generated lots of smiles.

Be specific. I had prepared two specific sentences for this event. Sentence one: "I'm speaking at _________ church on Monday, November 14th at 7:30 p.m." Sentence two: "The title of my talk is 'Spiritual Women Helping Each Other' and I think you could enjoy it." As I spoke, I pointed to a poster about the series.

Listen to attendees. I met several women who seemed to need someone to talk to and listened to them. Several began long stories and, since I didn't have that much time to spend with one person, Belton LAke I brought the story to a close by thanking the person and turning to greet someone else.

Tell a short story or two. People love to meet authors and ask questions about how we work. I have several four-sentence stories that are successful. For example, I told a story about creating a press kit for a book before the book existed. This brought smiles to peoples' faces.

Ask for action. You are at the Expo to promote your book or books and you need to keep this in mind every moment. Unfortunately, you only have seconds to do this. As people moved away from the booth I said, "I hope to see you at my talk o November 14th. We'll even give you coffee and cookies."

Participating in the Women's Expo was a positive experience. Several people thanked me for writing grief resources. Others were startled by the number of books I have written. I met people I knew and made new friends. If you are asked to participate in a similar Expo I encourage you to say "Yes!"