BookConnector Matches Small Press Authors to Book Signing Venues in Novel Way

    /24-7PressRelease/ - Seattle, WA, June 12, 2005 - Authors have traditionally held signings and readings at bookstores, occasionally at cafes or grocery stores. Now they're cropping up in unique, non-traditional locations: retail stores, airports, malls. It makes sense if you're an indie author scrambling to build a readership. BookConnector.com plans to help writers get in front of that readership.

Their complimentary new service, called Connect to Book Signing and Reading Venues, not only finds appropriate, newly discovered venues in the author's area, but encourages them to rate the stores and management according to their book signing value. And the service, like all those offered by BookConnector, emphasizes the need to share information.

"Anyone can find a list of bookstores to hold a signing," says Paul Petrucci, founder of BookConnector and himself a mystery novelist. "That's the easy part, and that's the traditional way. But for indie authors it's a more difficult prospect. We need to share experiences in order to get an edge."

Those experiences include not only who to talk with to get the book signing gig (a task that is harder for small press authors) and which stores pay promptly, but how to find untapped new venues. In the brave new world of indie authorship, department stores, toy stores (if you've published a children's book), and music stores (if your book has a music theme) are all in the running for places to sign books. Once an author discovers a niche signing spot, BookConnector can become the repository for that knowledge.

"The community aspect of the BookConnector site is a key to its success," says Petrucci. "Authors who hear about a venue - usually provided by another author - can pay the favor forward by adding their own venues and signing experiences to the list." Thus, they help their fellow scribes to reap book signing rewards.

BookConnector.com is a book promotion portal used by authors and publishers to match their published manuscripts with a large database of book promotion resources. The new Connect to Venues service is similar to its flagship Connect to Book Review Sites service in that it customizes search results (for sites, venues, etc) based on the characteristics of the book and author (venue location, genre, etc). BookConnector is on the net at http://www.bookconnector.com.

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