Cold Calling and Emailing

So after lots of sales through the people and networks I already know it was time to take the leap into unknown territory. That's right COLD CALLING!!! and COLD EMAILING. This was one of the most daunting experiences of my life. I have come out on the other side full of confidence and empowerment.

Strategy
I decided a good place to start was libraries. They buy books constantly and always need new and exciting books for their readers. I found a list of all the libraries in New Zealand and their contact details. I created a script so I could hit the call with professionalism and to conquer my nerves. The aim of the call was to get their email address and send them some ordering information. Here is the script so you can see how I went about this.

Ring Ringggggggg

Hello, I’m after the person in charge of buying books for your children’s department.

Transferrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hello,

My name is Amy Burrell and I am an author illustrator from Wellington. I have just published a hardcover children’s picture book called ‘Catch that Fly!’ and am now doing a ring around libraries to offer you the chance to buy a copy.

Have you heard of it?

The story is about the all important family dinner. The characters work together to keep their family dinner ritual perfect without an uninvited guest! THE FLY

So I have a special bonus for libraries where on purchasing a copy of the book you also receive a fun kit with activities and colouring pages as well as a poster to hang up in the library.

So there are two ways you can purchase the book I have a library page on the website where you pay via credit card or you can just order through me directly via phone or email and I will send you out an invoice once I have shipped the books.

So what I need form you is your email address and I can send you some info.

Wrap it up.

My first call was horrible I was so nervous I was actually shaking on the end of the phone, I stuttered a few times and probably sounded like a complete idiot. I managed to keep a conversation going and get their email address. After about five phone calls I started to get the hang of it all. I started actually having conversations with the person on the other end of the line. The better the conversation the more likely they were to buy the book. Most of my sales came from people I spoke to for more than the standard script. I ended up with a pretty good conversion rate of around 40%. Not bad odds really.

One of the problems I en-counted was that the person I needed to speak with wasn't there. I started to email the library email address and ask the following:

Hello,

I am trying to track down the person responsible for the XXXXXXX Libraries collection development and book buying. Can you give me their name and contact details? Your help would be most appreciated.

Kind regards

Amy Burrell

www.catchthatfly.co.nz

This had around an 80% reply rate and allowed me to say to the person I was contacting that I received their details from someone within the company. They were a lot more accepting of the email and what I was offering. I sent them the following:

I have recently written and illustrated a hard cover children’s book which has proved very popular throughout Wellington Libraries, schools and retailers. I would love it to be available for the children of blabla to read.

Whats the book about?

I grew up on a dairy farm just out of Wellington and I spent my childhood watching my mum chase fly’s around the house. They would make her soooooo mad. So I took this memory and turned it into a story about the ritual of a family dinner and the fun around mealtimes and food.

I have attached the new title information to this email and for more information about the book visit the website: www.catchthatfly.co.nz

To order copies just email me back at this address and I will ship your order and send you an invoice.

I can also email through a fun kit which includes colouring sheets, posters and author information for your libraries promotions.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Amy Burrell
www.catchthatfly.co.nz

This had a pretty good conversion rate with around 30-40% of people I contacted purchasing the book. I think there are a few factors that contributed to my success that need to be mentioned. New Zealand is a small country and less and less books are produced here so as soon as you say you are a New Zealand author they are interested in what you have to offer. So make sure you find a way to be relevant and relate to the person you are selling to. They want to connect with you and your work.

Give them a specific deal or add on that will give them an incentive to order through you rather than a distributor. I had a few libraries say they only order through a distributor, I asked who that was then made sure they stocked my book. This lead to a few sales but I get more profit if they order directly through me.

Next mission selling to pre-schools!! Watch this space:)

Author School Visit

Making contact
Having a few readings under my belt I was fairly confident I would be fine talking in front of 100 kids. I don't know whether I would have gone through with it if it was my first one. The school had bought one of my books for their library and the school librarian contacted me via email requesting that I come and speak at their assembly. The reason for her contacting me was that I was actually a pupil of there's once upon a time. This also put me at ease knowing the place and the people meant I would have a bit to talk about.

Preparation
I did a lot of research on how to get the most out of a school visit. One of the main pieces of advice I found was to send them some information and activities to do leading up to your visit. This gets all the children familiar with your book and who you are. It also adds a lot of hype and makes it more fun for both them and you as the visitor. I sent through some colouring in pages, activity pages and posters to put up in the classroom. I also made a competition of the colouring pages with A3 signed colour prints from the book as prizes. When the children entered the hall for their assembly they all greeted me 'Hello Amy Burrell' all wanting to talk to me, it was great. I felt like a celebrity.

Reading
I pre arranged with the school to use their projector to plug in my iPad. This was great as I just used a .pdf of the book and everyone could see it massive behind me as I was reading. As I started to read I told the kids to read along if they wanted. Little did I realise that the whole school knew my story word for word even the 5 year olds. So I ended up reading my story with 100 children reading it along with me. It was so magical and really touching. I had an equally rewarding visit at a daycare centre where I read the story to around 30 2-4 year olds. I was sitting on a chair up the front and as I read they got closer and closer until the were practically sitting on my lap. They just get so much out of having a special guest come to read to them.

Extras
As I was allotted a 20-30 minute slot in the assembly I had to do more than just read my story. I ended up showing the kids some of my illustration work and photos of when I went to their school. I also requested a whiteboard and picked 2 volunteers to come up the front while I drew a cartoon of them. While drawing I talked them through how I create my characters and how to draw a face. This was a huge hit and I had the whole school laughing at the great characters. The school was also able to print the images off the whiteboard and I signed them and gave them to the kids.

Giveaways
I thought about giving away a copy of the book however I then decided signed prints was a bit more special and could potentially create another sale. I planned to judge the colouring in competition at the visit however this was not possible as there were 100 of them. I took them home with me and judged them, then posted them back to the school.

Media Release
Read here
I used this visit as an opportunity to create a bit of publicity. I emailed the local newspaper and told them about the visit. They sent a reporter along and she wrote an article and put it in the paper. She also gave me a contact of the owner of the local bookstore who I contacted and sold 5 books to. She published a note saying available at that store in the article. This was great however I have had some feedback from people saying they have gone into the store and asked about the book and the staff didn't know anything about it. I have tried to contact the owner several times and am having trouble getting hold of him. Not a good look for me:( From now on I will be quite selective over who stocks my book and the conditions.

Sales 
This visit didn't actually create that many direct sales I think I sold one copy to one of the teachers and that's it. However the article in the paper got me the 5 sales to the bookstore and I have had another 3 who contacted my parents for a copy because of the article. I think this was a worthwhile marketing stint however I have a lot of room for improvement with converting it to sales.