Booksignings…

and why I’ve scaled back doing them.

Yesterday I did a post about book arcs and the expense they incur for the author. I stated why I don’t really do book arcs to too many people (only ones I trust) because of the price to order the book and then send it out to people. You can read that post here for context: 3.10.26

Today I want to explain why I have decided to forgo many of the booksignings I have done in the past to meet readers and, hopefully, sell some books.

The main reason, and you could probably guess this, is the money involved. I don’t know if readers know what the expense sheet looks like for authors when they attend these massive booksignings with multiple authors, but let me give you a little rundown.

First, you have to pay for your table. Table fees run anywhere from $150 to $500 ( yes, that’s true!). So right away, if you are the author, you are thinking about how many books you have to sell to break even on that fee.

Next, if the signing is somewhere a distance from where you live – as most are – you have either gas money for the car, or airfare for travel to get there.

If you must travel to the booksiging, you then have lodging fees. And you have to eat, so add food to the sum as well.

Next, most readers like freebies, as do we all, so you have to offer book swag. Chapsticks with your name on them. Book marks, drink cozzies, pens, anything and everything you can think of that you can give away – for FREE – to readers to entice them to remember your name and read your book, I always have candy at my tables, too, so…another expense.

Most authors now have banners with their names/books/social sites on them. These run anywhere from $120 to $ 250. Table runners with your names emboldened on them are another expense. All of this is to get name recognition for readers.

If you live in another state and need air travel to get where you are going, shipping your books to the venue is the way to go to avoid over-poundage luggage fees. I don’t know about you, but have you seen the postal delivery rates recently???

So, factoring in everything above, you can spend anywhere from $500 to $2000 on a booksigning event. If your book costs $15 that means you need to sell anywhere from 33 to 133 just to break even. The most books I have ever sold at an event was 20.

Yeah, I’m not getting rich from doing this.

That isn’t the point, of course, for writing, But I also don’t want to go into massive debt just to sell a book or two, so I have decided to drastically reduce the number of sales events I am going to in the future, In 2026, I am only doing 2 big ones, and 1 library one so far. In 2027, I have 1 big one scheduled.

Do I hate missing out on meeting readers face to face? Of course. That connection between the reader and the author is so important. But I can’t go into debt just to satisfy the wish of meeting people in the flesh.

If I ever become a big name in the industry or get a bestseller attached to my name where I am actually making money and not just spending it, this may change. For the foreseeable future, though, I’m scaling back.

And I hate doing it…