Kayla Hicks - Author Kayla Hicks - Author

How Authors Secure Appearances and Events For a Book Launch

4 min read

To have a successful book launch, participating in appearances and events is one of the best ways to get the word out about your book

Each genre and audience is going to respond to the events and appearances planned for a book differently.

This is because the target audience plays a huge factor in how the event will interest them.

The factors that come into play include:

Age

This will determine how long the event is and what is needed during the facilitation of it.

For example, a children’s picture book may include a reading with activities afterward. Or a novel-length book may draw a crowd who will sit and listen to a chapter read aloud.

The age of your target audience is going to determine how to plan the event.

Genre

The genre of your book is going to help you determine the venue you run the event and how large your potential crowd may be.

If your genre is a niche audience, such as the ins and outs of professional photography, you may have a smaller crowd as opposed to a genre such as Fantasy which draws a broader audience.

Marketing

Making sure that you can market the event or appearance is going to be key to ensuring its success.

This can include:

  • Fliers at grocery stores

  • Social media posts

  • Advertisements

  • Word of mouth

The right kind of marketing can make or break it.

Venue

Having the right venue for your book is important.

When considering a venue, consider how the venue and your book work together. For instance, if you have a book about flowers, a gardening store could be a great place to reach your target audience at a book signing. Or perhaps you have a book about quick recipes for dinner, arranging for a table to sell books outside a grocery store could be the right move.

However, what is important to remember is that you need to show the venue what you can do for them in return.

Are you able to send customers their way that were coming to your book signing originally? Or are you running paid advertisements about your signing at their venue? All things like this are showing a mutually beneficial relationship.


Now that you know what to consider when arranging an event, it’s time to figure out how to book a venue.

The easiest place to start is always going to be a library.

This is the place that is going to help you get access directly to readers and has a good portion of the community coming to it. And you can donate a copy to the library, if they accept it to their catalog, for other readers to see.

But, as easy as this option is, it doesn’t have to be your only option.

When you begin contacting venues that will align well with gaining your book exposure, you need to view this as a partnership with the venue owner.

As wonderful as it is that the venue and its owner are allowing you to have your book signing or appearance there, you need to think about how this benefits them.

How can you help the venue in return?

Can you:

  • Run paid advertisements for the event

  • Bring them business through your audience

  • Publicly thank them for hosting the event

  • Create a video walk-through at the venue ahead of time talking about where you will be and what else your audience can do while at the venue

Considering your pitch when reaching out to potential venues will increase the likelihood that you can secure it.


The truth is, the journey to securing a venue for an appearance or a book event is sometimes tough to achieve.

Be sure to consider all of the factors and ensure to the venue that it’s mutually beneficial and you can achieve it.