Publicity But Not Profits

Three things come to mind that generate publicity instead of profits. They are full color catalogs advertising products for sale and book signings. The Sears catalog of years ago (some called it the Dream Book) has become obsolete and too expensive to print and distribute. People can see the same things on the company website and even get their coupons there. Businesses using catalogs should cut back to full color flyers or 4 page brochures. The next waste of money, paper and distribution is the phone book. Many people I know (me included) just throw them out or maybe keep one of the 4 or so I get. Everything is on the internet now and few use the heavy phone book anymore. They should be either eliminated or sold for $1.00 each and picked up at locations around your city. Businesses can spend their ad dollars better elsewhere.

I am an international author who believes that book signings themselves don't generate profits and probably lose money. What they do for celebrity authors is create publicity by getting coverage in the media. When a celebrity comes to town and has 500 people in line to buy books that barely covers the cost of promoting it, travel expense, security and shipping cost of the books. The publisher hopes to break even on the trip. What it does is create that excitement for people to buy the book online or in other stores around the country and world. For us non-celebrities there is little hope because the store won't spend the money (other than maybe a sign in the window) to promote your book signing. But if you enjoy it and love to meet your readers the experience can be fun but don't expect to make much of a profit.