I've had a few people ask me where I bought my banner and promotional
materials shown in the picture posted below.
Here's a
quick run-down of costs and where to buy.
- The banner came from VistaPrint and cost $25. It would normally have been closer to $50 but VistaPrint routinely runs 50% off sales and I waited until I had a coupon code to buy my banner. They run promotions throughout the month so keep checking back until you see the item you want is on sale.
- The rack cards came from Zazzle. They're great quality and printed front and back. $11.25 for 25 cards. Zazzle also does a different promotion each week along with a special 4 hr sale every friday where something is discounted at least 50%. They do free shipping and I've never received a bad product from them.
- The 3 Tiered Rack Card Holder came from Amazon and it was $13. That was the cheapest I could find it.
- I loaded e-books onto pencil and pen shaped USB Flash Drives which I purchased on e-bay for $3.99 to $5.99 each. Keep in mind, you will need to report the e-book sales to whichever publisher holds the rights to the book you sell.
- The payments I took via credit/debit cards were done on my phone through the SquareUp program. SquareUp gives you a free app to download and sends you a free card read which plugs into your phone. I was unable to get the card reader to work, but I simply punched the card numbers into the app and completed the transaction that way. The money was deposited straight into my checking account.
I think that's about it. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.
Most important: RESULTS
I setup this booth at a local street fair on Saturday, October 13th. I brought only fifteen
paperbacks of my recent release because I honestly didn't think random
people at a street fair would buy them. At 8:30 a.m., I sold my first
copy. The fair didn't actually start until 9:00. I took this as a good
sign. By 2:00, I'd sold out of paperbacks and had sold 3 e-books on
flash drives.
By noon, I was completely out of the promotional pens and bookmarks which one of my publishers, Eternal Press, had sent to me. People absolutely loved them. I gave away 2 gift bags in exchange for email addresses and they were a huge hit. The free candy I offered was a great icebreaker. I gathered about 75 emails for marketing purposes. I'm counting this as a success. I probably could have sold another fifteen paperbacks if I'd had them in hand.
By noon, I was completely out of the promotional pens and bookmarks which one of my publishers, Eternal Press, had sent to me. People absolutely loved them. I gave away 2 gift bags in exchange for email addresses and they were a huge hit. The free candy I offered was a great icebreaker. I gathered about 75 emails for marketing purposes. I'm counting this as a success. I probably could have sold another fifteen paperbacks if I'd had them in hand.
Within 24 hrs after the street fair, I've had a marked improvement in the Amazon rankings of a couple of my books. I've also received a few emails from people who took my promotional materials home, found me online, then purchased a book of mine.
I guess the moral of this story is, get out there, take a chance, make an impression. :-)
I guess the moral of this story is, get out there, take a chance, make an impression. :-)
