At a recent staff meeting, Janet Grant filled us in on a Bookspan/Publisher’s Marketplace webinar she attended a week or so ago. She took great notes on many topics but one point stood out to me. The presenter observed that it’s harder than ever to launch a new novelist since the demise of hand selling. The demise of hand selling? I had to chew on that for a few days.
What is hand selling?
Hand selling is when the sales person takes a product from the shelf and romances it to the customer. It’s a powerful sales tool. You’ve seen many forms of it in your life as a customer. It’s when a guest walks into a bookstore and says, “I just lost my mother. Do you have some good books on grief?” The sales associate (often called the frontliner) puts a hand on her shoulder and walks her over to the self-help section and opens two or three excellent books on the subject and explains a little bit about each one. Hopefully that customer will walk out of the store with the perfect book on the loss of a parent, perhaps a short gift book on the first year of grief, and a new journal to help her work out some of her feelings on paper. That’s hand selling.
On a shelf, all books pretty much look alike, you must open them for the magic to happen. Of course, we have the cover and the back cover copy to help entice a buyer, but there’s nothing like a frontliner coming up, taking the book out of the customer’s hand and saying, “This is my favorite book of the year. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one very long gulp. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Some of the big box bookstores used to have frontliners tape a little signed card of recommendation to put on the shelf housing their favorite books. It offers a passive hand sell. Certainly better than nothing.
Why did hand selling die?
Hand selling happens at brick and mortar stores. I’ve visited some amazing stores where this still goes on, like Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Vero Beach Book Center in Florida and several others, but stores like these are becoming rare. Some Barnes and Nobles do a great job of hand selling, but not all. With the demise of real time bookstores, hand selling books is becoming a lost art. And when a book by a new author goes on the shelf in a store or on the virtual shelf online, how is anyone to guess the world that lies between the covers?
Is there anything to replace it?
Not really. There is nothing like holding a book in your hand and having someone rave about it, but here are a few possibilities:
- Word of mouth— This, of course, is the magic elixir. If people start talking about your book, there is no way to stop the momentum. The sad thing for authors is that we can’t make this happen. It happens or it doesn’t.
- Ninja attacks— I’ve heard of writer’s friends, parents and crit partners who will haunt bookstores and when a customer comes into the vicinity of their target book, they pick it up and hand sell. During covid, I don’t know if I can recommend this quirky form of book stalking, but hey.
- Reviews— Reviews are the most effective way these days of hand selling. An online review is the sweetest gift you can give to an author whose book you loved. Plus it’s a great way to hone your own writing skills. Frustratingly, authors can’t really make this happen. We can implore everyone we know with our best puppy-dog-eyes but unfortunately, it’s hard to write a good review and too many intend to do it but never get around to it. And, even more pressure, some of the promotional sites are only interested in authors who have masses of reviews.
- A Starred Review— if your book receives a starred review (book of distinction) from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist or Library Journal, this is going to mean attention from buyers and hopefully readers. You will be able to leverage this in your own social media.
- Social Media— If people write about your book on social media– honestly write about it– that’s akin to word of mouth. And it works. Last week, Rachel McMillan gushed about an advanced copy of Amanda Dykes’ upcoming book, Set the Stars Alight. I’m Amanda’s agent (and her biggest fan), but I hadn’t yet seen the completed book. Rachel’s review sent me on a search for an arc to read for myself. I couldn’t wait for the published copy. Social media works but, again, the author can’t gin this up. Of course you can copy and paste a great comment or review to your own pages with a big thank you.
- Awards— Awards are another way to attract attention. If you end up a finalist, on a shortlist or an actual award winner, you can leverage this in many ways.
Yikes, this is much longer than I intended. But if I’ve missed something, please chime in. Or, even better, if you want to offer kudos to a store you frequent that still does a good job of hand selling, I’d love to see you praise them in the comments.
The 10-Novels Rule
Wendy,
Hand selling books is a great art form. I’ve seen it in The Tattered Cover (even in the airport bookstore) or Powell’s in Portland. Whether it is practiced or not does have a lot to do with the training and skill of the particular bookstore.
Terry
author of 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed
You are right. Those two stores are epic.
My then teen-age son, who could talk his way into or out of anything, worked drive-through at McDonalds. He made it his personal goal to see how many apple pies he could sell with comments like, “We have apple pies fresh from the fryer, I can smell them from here. Can I add a sweet, warm dessert to your order?” He was wildly successful, thus proving hand-selling doesn’t have to involve hands.
You have to love a guy like that. Not only the hand selling part but the connecting with the customers in a positive way. I’m betting he is successful in whatever field he landed.
I adored Amanda’s book Whose Waves These Are. I want to think you’d described it as “exquisite,” Wendy, and I couldn’t agree more. That alone has me so eager to read her newest work, Set the Stars Alight.
Haslam’s, in St. Petersburg, Florida. From wherever you hail, it’s worth the trip, just for the gentle and couteous and wise hand-selling they do. Haslam’s is what all bookstores (nay, all stores, period) should be.
And it’s got the right ‘smell’…does anyone feel this way, you walk into bookstore, and that special aroma makes you go, “Ahhhh…”?
Sorry if this is choppy comment. Recovering from a not easy concussion.
Yes! The smell of a great bookstore … which in my opinion should be a combination of paper and chocolate!
I found out about indie author Mimi Matthews because Christian fiction authors I follow, (as well as fellow readers), kept talking/gushing about her books. I had never heard of her. The authors weren’t endorsing her books or on a street team. They had read her books for pleasure reading and wanted to tell everyone else. I finally got the library to order her books, so I could see what the fuss is all about. Now I even own some of them!
We live off the grid off in the mountains, but we still have 2 wonderful bookstores close enough for the occasional visit. Encouraging Words is a Christian bookstore in Wenatchee, WA. It’s a 45 minute drive for us. And A Book For All Seasons is a wonderful general market bookstore in Leavenworth, WA. They are only 30 minutes away and do an excellent job of hand selling, simply because their staff love books. They let you bring your dog into the store and will chat about books between helping customers. If a store doesn’t have the book you want, did you know that they will put a book order in for you, free of shipping, and call you when they arrive? I’ve spent a lot of time leaning on the book counter with my dog, chatting with the owner as I pick up my book and peruse their selection of fair trade chocolate, yum!
When we’re lucky enough to go to a physical bookstore, the beauty of the cover and the feel of the book in your hands helps invite you to try it out.Like Cynthia Ruchti’s When the Morning Glory Blooms. It just says “open me”. Online you don’t get the feel of the book and it makes me sad to think it might become the norm. I save online sales for authors I already know that I like if I can’t find them locally. I try new authors by picking up the book calling my name from the shelf!
The first person I thought of when reading this is our local bookstore owner Michael Barnard of Rakestraw Books in Danville. He’s kept this small store going for 20 years and he’s hand-sold me plenty of books. One of the first was around ‘grace’ and he didn’t know I was a Christian. He has a way of reading people (not just books) and gushing about his love of writing (not just the writer). I was able to meet and speak with Jennifer Egan whom I adore in his store and I also met Garth Stein (Art of Racing in the Rain) at another Rakestraw Event. I love my town but I love this little portal we can enter where he helps us escape to worlds beyond it.
Is this Danville, California, Mysti?
So many new bookstores to visit! I’m encouraged by these bookstores. Let’s give them plenty of business!