A great trip to my first Southern Women's Show. Pictures will be online soon at my website www.pamelacable.com.
One of the executives of the Southern Women Shows sat down with Michael and I not long ago in their corporate office. It was a perfect fit, I'll promote the fact that I'll be at the Southern Women Shows with the local media. Then speak directly to my audience on the Southern Women Show SPOTLIGHT stage.
A unique concept, to sell yourself to your audience at a show like this, perhaps. At least, I don't see any other authors marketing from this end of things. It's tough. It's not an easy sell. The women are there to shop, not sit and listen ... the first day, my half hour presentation went well. I didn't trip over myself, and the audience was responsive enough. I gave them my heart ... who I was, why I write about the South, and excerpts from my book, SOUTHERN FRIED WOMEN.
You have to understand what this show is like. Held in huge convention centers in the middle of a great Southern city, there are literally hundreds of vendors with booths set up in rows between carefully laid down plush carpet over the concrete floors. Vendors who are selling everything ... hair removal, makeup, pet specialty shops, candles, insurance, massages, weight loss, jewelry, home design, kitchen aids, botox, lingerie, flatware, hairpieces, shoes, skin care ... you get the picture ... anything and everything that has to do with what women BUY.
There are three main stages, a stage for cooking demonstrations, a main stage for fashion shows and celebrities like Richard Simmons, and a SPOTLIGHT stage, for vendors who would like to spotlight their products for thirty minutes or so ... and for people like me ... who want to sell their book. There is plenty of radio and TV coverage for these shows and there is always a huge audience of thousands.
However, this audience is spread over three or four days and over the entire floor space of the convention center. So ... at the SPOTLIGHT stage (usually in the middle of the huge room), if you get 5, 10, 20 people who will sit and listen to you ... that's a good crowd. You have a microphone so you can be heard by people in nearby vendor booths, as well as your audience. There are plenty of shoppers milling around and listening too. Maybe for only a few minutes or just stopping long enough to pick up your flyer. But that's enough. That's all you need.
After the first presentation, a bookseller from Destin, Florida came up to meet me and invited me to do a book signing at her store as soon as the book was out. Her compliments on my work was encouraging! A warm and friendly woman who seemed genuine and enthusiastic, and said she could sell my book to her customers!
I also visited the independent booksellers in the Birmingham area, introducing myself and my work. One especially wonderful man, Jim Reed, of Reed Books (GREAT store) gave me a word I'll never forget. "Just remember," he said, "those you think aren't listening ... are really listening." Simple, yet true, I suppose.
Because the next day ... ta da! It was showtime! I had an audience that responded even more. And the result of that presentation gave me the confidence to tackle anything! I can do this.
But it left me hungry. Hungry and waiting for the sweet taste of getting my book into the hands of the masses.
West Palm Beach is next ... then, who knows. Hopefully, a plethora of Southern Women Shows.
Michael and I will travel wherever we have to go to find my readers.
Blessings to you and yours.
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