The Author Guy blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve, August 9,2024
9th August 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. Since my author journey began eleven years ago, I’ve been a relentless student of both the craft of fiction writing and the business of marketing and selling books. One marketing endeavor has never made sense to me in terms of an acceptable ROIT — return on (the author’s) invested time. That endeavor is book readings/signings. I have so much to learn that I try to attend as many author presentations as I can when they come to our university town. My time investment is always satisfied if I come away with just one new tidbit of knowledge or insight, and I almost always do. But what about the authors? Even those who are household names may only draw a few hundred readers to an event, and these “name” authors are often paid substantial appearance fees because, if travel is involved, event book sales alone to every attendee wouldn’t even begin to cover expenses. I recently attended an author event at the library in my home town – the third lar...