Although your promtoional handouts should have relatively little text - your Book Fair literature should be engaging and informative. The pronotional literature you distribute at your next show will probably be the only part of your press that follows your prospective readership back to their home. Make sure that your literature is well-designed and easy to understand.

What to Include in your Literature

Every publisher is different, so be sure to tailor your literature to the particular genres and titles you offer. Your promotional literature should be consistent with the design of your Book Fair display and the overall scheme of your Book Fair booth.

Generally speaking, ever pamphlet or Book Fair giveaway that you distribute should contain the following information:

• Your Contact Information
• Your Company Name
• Your Company Logo
• Pertinent information about the genrea and titles that you wanted to highlight at your Book Fair exhibit.

This is my follow up to a post a few weeks ago on the importance of book fairs. 

Exhibiting at a book fair provides you one of the best ways to get in front of a lot of readers and prospective readers in a relatively short amount of time. Book Fairs provide the chance to not only fair your book, but also create that all important first impression. According to a Simmons Market Research Bureau study, 85% of respondents ranked Book Fairs as "extremely useful" as a source for book purchasing info. This was higher than any other source, including on-site visits from reps. Also, nearly half of the respondents had purchased books at the book fair.
 
At a typical regional book fair, with 1,000 attendees and 100 exhibitors, you can realistically have 300 visitors per day. Granted, you don't always have the chance to go into as much detail in your sales pitch as you would like, but it opens the door for future communications.

So for most publishers, Book Fairs are worth the effort. In fact, before you decide to drop a fair you have attended for years, think about what that might say to your current readers who expect to see you there. This doesn't mean you can't ever stop attending a fair, but just be sure you think about whom you see there and what your company's absence may lead them to believe. If necessary, send a postcard to your readership and let them know why you didn't attend that particular fair, and explain your decision to attend fair B rather than fair A.

Before you even start looking for fairs, you need to set your goals. To help you do this, there are four questions you need to ask yourself:

Why are you exhibiting?

• Are you trying to extend your relationship with existing readers? Introducing a new book? Generating qualified leads for new sales?

Who is your target demo?

• What is the message you want to convey?
• What do you want to get out of the fair?
• Do you want to bring home leads, sell your book, or create/improve/build upon your rep as a publisher?

Regardless of your genre, whether it's westerns or crime fiction. romance or non-fiction, decidely you will share something with writers of other genres: the need for promtotion of what you have written.

While the world wide web has made available new sytems of marketing to authors, from websites and weblogs to sites like myspace, facebook, and the small press exchange, there is still something to be said for meeting readership where they make themselves available -- small press book fairs, conferences and conventions.

Conventions are held globally, regardless of the season. Any small press publisher who is serious about examining the industry beyond the superficial level, would do well to make time to attend at least one small press book fair, or conference per year.

Some may require travel and other expenses: ie hote, table rentals, the cost of promotional materials, accommodations, but above this all you may justify expenses because of the ppportunity to exposeyour name and work to a new audience that is afforded you. You will not make great sales every time, at every event you attend, but you have at least the chance to get your name out! Word of mouth remains one of, if not the strongest, marketing tools for authors and small press publishers.