A friend sent me this amusing (I found it hysterically funny) video made by Parnell Hall about his experiences with booksignings. Boy could I relate!
I’ve, um, not heard of Parnell Hall and I don’t read mysteries, so I don’t know if he’s a legitimate writer of mysteries or not, but he’s sure got it down as far as booksignings go. My first one, attended by friends and family went very well; my second, done at an out-of-town bookstore was much like the experience in the video — except instead of talking to the guy who’s looking for John Grisham, I talked to the guy looking for “a book against Harry Potter”. The signing for my third book, again on home turf, didn’t have as large a crowd as the first but was still respectable. And the next time I went in to the Barnes and Noble to see about setting one up, I was met with an entirely new coordinator of events, who was not at all interested in book signings, said they really didn’t do well with only one person and would put me with two other (secular) fantasy writers sometime in a few months, if I’d just call back then.
I didn’t. There were a couple of other “successful” signings, in that I had a fair number of signers — the two I did from the Bethany House booth at CBA (now called ISBA… or something) (I know — I am SOOOO out of the loop these days). But since those are free books given out to booksellers and other attendees, it’s not quite the same. Especially when as you try to make conversation while signing, you learn that the person is not interested in fantasy themselves, but is only wanting to pick up a free book as a gift for their… nephew, son, neighbor, niece, or… whoever comes along (since they have no name for me to sign it to). Not all of them, but a lot.
So. Booksignings are weird.
Okay, time for the LOST finale… Gotta go.
Karen
This is totally hilarious! (or not)
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/search/label/book%20signing
for more on the topic!!!
Let me know if you’re ever in the Seattle area for book signings. 🙂 I would love to get you to sign all 4 of my Guardian King series books and buy 4 more for my mom (who loved them).
Blessings~Nona
I was so disappointed with LOST. It was all just a dream! Aaargh!
SO OVERDONE! Gargh… How disappointing, and and and anti-climactic! The series deserved a better end.
I actually wasn’t that disappointed. In fact, it ended better than I feared. The last fifteen minutes or so, though, were… well, that’s tonight’s post… 🙂
Nice to hear form you, Lelia! I didn’t think it was all a dream, but neither did I think it made much sense. I wasn’t terribly disappointed though, because I wasn’t really expecting them to get it right. I’ll talk more in tonight’s post…
Hey Karen, I’ve been reading your blog for years and buying every single book you’ve published. I hope someday I can get a blurb from you for The Pacifist’s War.
LOST: Okay, not a dream; a shared hallucination for six years until they were all ready to let go and move on. Shall we call it purgatory? I did not recognize every religious sign in the window. Did you?
Thanks, Lelia.
I recognized all the symbols were religious, but had to look up the Hindu and buddhist ones to find their names: the Hindu om and the Buddhist Dharmacakra (otherwise known as the frozen donkeywheel) There’s an interesting “explanation” on what it all was supposed to be at http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/05/24/lost-finale-theories-explanations/