Newsletter #90 — Two More Conferences
September 15, 2024
Newsletter #90 — Two More Conferences
Socialism 2024 Conference — For the four-day Labor Day weekend, Phil and I spent part of each day at the Socialism 2024 Conference meeting people and listening to talks on social justice. Haymarket Books, sponsor of the event, allowed me to bring copies of Exit Velocity to place in their gigantic bookstore-room.
In three days of conference, I sold no copies at all, even though I managed to hand out a few bookmarks and talk to a few people about my book.
Exit Velocity is a novel that should have sold very well at such an event. Rowan Pickett, the protagonist, is a socialist. People her age and older should have been eager to read a novel about a person like themselves.
But there are two main reasons, and one minor, why my book didn't sell. The two major reasons are: (1) I had applied for a vendor's table but was turned down because Haymarket Books grants tables only to organizations, not individuals; (2) I had applied to present a program (see Newsletter #88) but was turned down. Thus I had no presence at a table or on the speaker's platform.
The minor but important reason I didn't sell books is that my book was one of maybe 500 titles offered for sale in the bookstore. This fascinating but also overwhelming number of books makes it difficult for any single book to stand out. And it's impossible to stand out if you have no table and no platform. So my new rule for any future conferences is this: No Table, No Platform = No Go.
I'm happy to say that for the next three events (October 2024, November 2024, and July 2025) I have a table at each. I have a platform at one and am waiting to hear from the other two whether I will be a speaker.
Printers Row Lit Fest — My two-hour slot at Printers Row Lit Fest did not result in large sales. I sold the minimum number of books I predicted I would sell, not the maximum number I predicted I could sell (based on past events).
Back in 2021 when I was selling The F Words at Printers Row, the temperature was in the lower 90s and the winds were 22 mph. This time the temperature was in the lower 60s (on September 7) and the winds were 14 mph. Back in 2011 when I was selling Sound Proof the temperature was in the lower 80s — but a fierce rainstorm slashed through tents and brought things to a halt for four or five hours. I'm not sure I'll schedule to sell at Printers Row again — unless I'm a speaker.
YouTube Videos — Something I read earlier this year made me think that I could use my YouTube videos more effectively if I upgraded them with a common "brand" look (just making each first frame look similar to all my other first frames); added keywords in two additional places; wrote a longer description (unlike Amazon, YouTube wants long, 250-word descriptions); and gave each video a more interesting title.
So off I hied to YouTube to clean up my act. First I deleted a dozen short videos, mostly publicity for The F Words that I didn't intend to use again. Then I selected a video and began. My most popular YouTube video is the one titled Charlie Chan's Poppa: Earl Derr Biggers. But I wanted to start with a less popular one, in case I made mistakes. So I began with Writing Research Notes for Women at Play, Volume 1. The first thing I did was listen to it, so I could figure out how to retitle it. This wasn't too difficult. It's now titled What to Do with Heaps of Notes on Women's Baseball History. Much more interesting, don't you think?
After that I changed The F Words: Protest and Poetry to The Power and Pointedness of Poetry in The F Words. I came up with the word pointedness and had to check to see if it really exists. It does!
And for She's on First I came up with a title I really like — Rebellious Pleasure: Creating a Baseball Stadium for She's on First.
In each case I had to write new keywords and add them in two or three places, and then I had to change my former one-sentence description to a 250-word one. I'm happy to report that the videos are already getting more views.
Out of Stock— In my September 15 blog I write about my first-day-of-sale experience on Amazon.