I went to two talks today at Bath Literature Festival - one by Kate Rew on outdoor swimming and one by Zaiba Malik on her memoir of growing up a British Muslim. Both were very interesting talks.
These events are great opportunities for authors to market their content (mostly their latest work) . . .
- They must get a slice of the ticket price to see the talk (£7 today for each talk)
- The whole session is them promoting their latest work - that's why they are speaking
- They get to plug their work and stay behind to sign copies for punters - who can buy it there and then of course
I enjoyed the talks but did not buy the books. I guess a lot of people turn up who have already read the book and want to hear the author talk about it.
For people like me (potential customers) I would suggest offering a promotional price plus links to the author online. This was not on offer. So, although it is great to attend - the event could have got more from me.Maybe these type of events need an overhaul. I'm not aware of any tweeting from it, a Facebook page etc.
PS The Bath Literature Festival website is a nightmare. books. . . digital . . . you must be joking ;-)