Cold Calls

Today we hit the road and boldly walked into five different book shops. Hi, my name is Randy, I said to each one, and I'd like to sell you my book. (or words to that affect). Wouldn't you know, three of the store owners/ buyers were really nice and encouraging and actually agreed to buy a few copies. Hurrah. In another case the buyer was in a meeting but I got her email address and have since sent her a note. Then there was another buyer who was out to lunch. I wasn't about to hang around an hour waiting for him to return, so took a rain check on that visit. But the others went fairly well. The buyers were encouraging. They congratulated me on publishing the book and each wanted a "review" copy. That made sense to me, so I had prudently stocked ten copies in the truck. My wife says to keep track of those copies and we'll write them off as promotion and advertising. One of the owners of a small local independent book shop suggested I should try to have a story about the book in the local daily paper. I have launched an email to both the weekly and the daily paper asking how one goes about having a story written about - themselves! Hmmmm, just another example of shameless self promotion I suppose. But in every single case, the buyers today told me there was no way they would have known my book is available and applicable to their customers, except for my friendly visit. Go figure. It's no wonder publicizing a small book from a small press is so arduous. But I am encouraged and now plan on filling the truck up with gas once again and hitting the road to visit more book shops. Hey Mom....look at me. I'm a salesman.