Why I sit at a Kroger All Weekend…
No, I am not held captive at a Kroger for eight hours a day and forced to shop. As noted in an earlier post, I’m at selected local, as in DFW Metro Area Krogers part of their regional author program. I’m not sure if it is available outside Texas and joining it seemed liked a good idea as a way of helping to sell a few books. It was a new (to me) and different channel I thought, worth a try.
My expectation was that I would sell about fifteen to twenty books per weekend. So far, the average is closer to twenty-three and five other good things other than direct sales have happened.
One, increasing the size of my newsletter mailing list. Everyone who stops by and who seems interested in my books is asked if they would like to get my monthly newsletter even though they don’t by one. Rarely does the person say no. On average, newsletter mailing list goes up by twenty to twenty-five names a weekend.
Two, speaking engagements. In each weekend, some has stopped by my table and asked if I do public speaking. These have become speaking engagement leads and all have been booked. They too turn into guess what? More book sales.
Three, e-book and additional sales. Most who stop take my literature – postcards, bookmarks and a two pager that gives seven reasons why someone should read the Josh Haman series. It also has links to my pages on Amazon, Goodreads, my blog and my website. Others ask me if my books are available for a Kindle. After every weekend, I can look on Amazon and see a bump sales. Are they directly the result of me sitting at a Kroger, I don’t know. What I can’t tell until I get my royalty reports is how many are hard copy or e-book, but I don’t care.
Four, publicity. Kroger doesn’t do anything for the author, but I meet many who ask about my books, the publishing process and who knows what and a host of other questions. Again, it’s a positive way to get the word out that a local author has good books to sell.
Five, the nice people. In many ways this is the best part. Let’s face it, it’s a bit of an ego trip to meet someone interested in my babies, I mean my books!!! So, now you know why I sit at a Kroger on the average of one weekend every six weeks.
Marc Liebman
August, 2018