7 Things You Can Do For a Successful Book Signing

Since I'm preparing for my book signing on Saturday, my mind has been on how to best make it successful.

And I've come to the conclusion that:

1. People like to be spoiled. Don't just sign your book, give a free gift to go along with your book.

2. Make sure you have plenty of food and that you give yourself plenty of time to put it all together. I will be cooking my heart and soul out the Friday before, and frosting the cupcakes the morning of the signing. We've decided on Sprite with raspberry sherbet for the drink, and that's going to take some continuous scooping the day of the event.

3. Get help from friends and family members. You need to be focused on greeting your friends and family; get others to focus on the food and prizes.

4. Yes prizes! I have decided to do a few fun prizes during the signing, and will be giving away t-shirts and other cupcake related fun. You don't need to spend a lot on the prizes, but keep in mind your book's theme as you decide on what to get. Some of my prizes are donated, others were purchased at Michael's and the Dollar Store.

5. Don't give away your book as a prize; you want your visitors to purchase a copy. But you can give your visitors a discount on the book if you'd like. I'm doing a discount on Conquering Your Goliaths and The Feast. If the reader buys one of each they save $2. And make sure you have plenty of cash on hand to work out transactions.

6. Keep it light. It's important that your visitors feel comfortable and not pressured into buying your book. If you make it fun, and make it about them more than about you, you will see success. (Besides, they are probably coming to your signing anyway because they want to purchase a book).

7. One more thing. Send out invitations! I used VistaPrint to put together my postcards, and mailed them so that folks would get them a week before the event. It's a good idea to talk about your event on your blog, on Facebook and on other social media networks, but it's also nice to give the personal touch. Add your phone number to the card and make sure you keep a tally of those who say they are coming. You will never get a call from everyone, but you should get a good idea of how many to plan on. If you send out 200 invites you should get a pretty good crowd. Even 100 invites is good; remember the more you send out, the more visitors you'll get.

And don't forget to have fun.