Christopher D. Schmitz writes mostly genre fiction, especially Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but also stories that have been called "Stephen King-esque." He also writes some nonfiction, dabbles in game design, and speaks/presents at libraries, comicons, schools, and more. He's a regular at comic conventions across the midwest and has written close to 100 books.

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Most recently, he's released the Curse of the Fey Duelist series and new installments in the comedy detective series, 50 Shades of Worf. Schmitz also writes multiple series including Wolves of the Tesseract (Urban Fantasy), Dekker's Dozen (Space Opera), Shadowless (SF Apocalyptic), The Kakos Realm (Epic Fantasy), and The Esfah Sagas (High Fantasy) which was originally created by the creators of Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance (TSR) participates in the Terran Diaspora Military SF universe and has a forthcoming sci-fi series that blends MilSF components with celtic mythology.

Christopher D. Schmitz writes mostly genre fiction, especially Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but also stories that have been called "Stephen King-esque." He also writes some nonfiction, dabbles in game design, and speaks/presents at libraries, comicons, schools, and more. He's a regular at comic conventions across the midwest and has written close to 100 books.

​

Most recently, he's released the Curse of the Fey Duelist series and new installments in the comedy detective series, 50 Shades of Worf. Schmitz also writes multiple series including Wolves of the Tesseract (Urban Fantasy), Dekker's Dozen (Space Opera), Shadowless (SF Apocalyptic), The Kakos Realm (Epic Fantasy), and The Esfah Sagas (High Fantasy) which was originally created by the creators of Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance (TSR) participates in the Terran Diaspora Military SF universe and has a forthcoming sci-fi series that blends MilSF components with celtic mythology.

Sell More Books at Live Events by Christopher D. Schmitz

Sell more paperbacks at your live events with expert advice geared to help you succeed in face-to-face sales encounters.

Do you wonder where to even start finding conventions, seminars, conferences, and expos to sell your books at? Have you tried this before and did not get the results you hoped for?

Christopher Schmitz sells thousands of paperbacks each year directly to avid readers and regularly teaches other authors best practices on how to do exactly the same. Directly selling thousands of novels or nonfiction books is absolutely possible—and Schmitz regularly invites indie authors to work alongside him and learn his methods.

This book will show you how to confidently pitch your book, teach you how to narrow down the best places for you to sell at by finding your target market, and explain how to optimize your sales booth and author business for success. Additionally, you'll learn:

•How to link a sales dashboard to an inventory tracker and your website so you know how many books you have on hand at all times
•How to easily take credit cards and add/manage sales tax
•Managing your live events so you earn profit instead of loss
•Expert sales tactics to make people excited to purchase your book
•Tips to immediately onboard new customers onto your newsletter and engage them
•Strategies to help you get hundreds of sales per live event
•And so much more!

 

REVIEWS

  • "Schmitz delivers a jam-packed book filled with useful, actionable advice on how to break into the convention market, maximise sales, and avoid pitfalls. He covers how to find events, what to bring, how to sell, and some cautionary tales. If you're considering conventions, this is a must-have book."

    – Dean F. Wilson, author of The Coilhunter Chronicles
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Maybe you're like me. Perhaps you've written a book and been able to sell it to folks face-to-face, but maybe you've failed to really harness the power of ye olde interwebs, (be it from a Luddite inclination or a simple inability to succeed at the whole selling online thing.) I know the latter is true in my case.

Or maybe you make a ton of sales on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, etc., but you want to learn how to sell books face-to-face and add that sales channel to your business. Either way, this book will help you.

Here's me: I sell really well in person, less so online. I think my books are great. People who read them honestly like them (even when asked what they really think and after being given explicit permission to be honest … well, not everybody. There are a few one-star reviews, but fewer of them after releasing a short story about an author who kidnapped a nasty book review troll and going in reverse - Misery, but I digress.) The point is that my skill set lends me to selling very well in face-to-ace, physical situations. Trying to do the same through a computer screen has stripped me of my biggest asset: me.

I'm not particularly skilled. Or handsome. Or charismatic (I suddenly need a hug and a Hallmark card,) but I have something a lot of traditional "salespeople" don't. I care about other humans. I value their experience, their personal story. I also have enough know-how to quickly move someone from setting a hook with a quick pitch to closing the sale.

Here's the good news: that last part is something that can be taught.

Maybe you're like me. Then again, maybe you're not like me. Maybe the thought of talking to another live human to make a sale makes you cringe like you just cannon-balled into a frigid pool. That's okay. I've got tips for you, too, so remember to plug your nose as you hit the water and keep reading.

After encountering more than a few authors, and even other artist/creators at similar vending opportunities and being asked if they could sit awhile and watch my process or pick my brain, I decided there was the need for a book regarding my particular set of skills. I'm always happy to help and firmly believe in the motto of the 20Booksto50K group (an online author collective that I participate in) that a rising tide lifts all ships. I am more than happy to help and have taught several folks how to sell better, how to maximize their sales, or best prepare themselves for selling books at live events. (And technically, most of the principles in this book could be used to help you sell pretty much any product.)

Regardless of your particular personality, you probably want to sell as many books as possible when you book a live event. Just as I've taught many authors previously, and in person, this book will teach you the same things.