Author experience auction items

Most writers were library children, most writers' readers are library users, and most writers are asked for things constantly by organizations with no connection to their work. A library asking is a different proposition, and the response rate reflects it.

What to ask for, easiest first

• A signed copy — the smallest possible ask and a fine basket item
• A signed first edition or a proof copy — collectors bid on these
• A named character in a forthcoming book. Wildly popular, and the author must be the one to offer it, never the one to be asked for it
• A manuscript critique — a set number of pages with written notes. The highest-value item on this list for an audience that contains writers
• A phone or video call with a book club — an hour, no travel
• A school or library visit — where the author already travels
• Lunch or coffee with the author — for a local writer only
• A walking tour of the locations in their book, if it is set nearby

The manuscript critique deserves emphasis. A library audience contains people writing a novel, and a professional reading of fifty pages is something they cannot buy at any price from someone they admire.

How to ask

Short, specific, and to the right address. Publicist or agent for a well-known writer, direct for a local one. Three sentences: who you are, what the auction funds, and the specific thing you are asking for with a date.

Say what you will give them, because it is real: their name and book linked on the item page, a post to your channels, and a mention at the event. For a writer with a book coming, that is a small piece of genuine publicity in a room full of readers.

Do not ask for the named character. If an author offers it, take it gladly — but asking puts them in the position of declining something that touches their actual work, and it is the one item on the list that costs them creative freedom rather than time.

Scope it so it can be delivered

Author items go wrong at delivery more than at auction. Write all of this on the item page and agree it with the author in writing first:

• Exactly what the winner gets — page count for a critique, duration for a call, group size for a visit
• The window in which it happens, and who arranges it
• Whether travel is included and who pays it
• What happens if the author's schedule changes — a named alternative date, not an assumption
• For a critique: turnaround time, and that it is feedback rather than a route to representation. Say that plainly, because someone will hope otherwise

Multiple authors, one lot

Where several local writers each donate a signed book, a curated shelf of local authors is a stronger single lot than eight separate listings, and it gives every contributing writer a share of the same promotion. It also solves the problem of a lesser-known author's book sitting unbid next to a famous one.

Afterwards

Tell the author what their item raised and what it funded, and say it publicly with their name. Writers are asked constantly and thanked vaguely. A specific figure and a named programme makes next year's ask a formality.

The wider catalogue: item ideas that actually sell. How to approach publishers: getting items donated.