Some thoughts on book signings
2 August 2010
Book signings are scary beasts.
When you’re unpublished (or when you’re unpublished and uneducated the way I was) you romanticize book signings. I always thought it would be one of those “if you build it, they will come,” kind of things. Like if I published a book and held a signing, that’s all it would take to have people show up.
Well, kinda. My family is always there, camera’s clicking. My mom collects the signage with my picture on it, along with the Barnes & Noble monthly events newsletter that mentions me.
But book signings tend to be quiet affairs. Even someone like me – a lover of books, a writer by profession – has only ever been to one.
Determining the success of a book signing, particularly in these early days of my career, is tricky. There’s value in filling the book store, even if it’s with my Nana and Aunt Penny. For one thing, a long line creates curiosity in casual shoppers. For another, the book store appreciates extra books my relatives buy, and they’re extra interested in having me return for future events.
And yet, my Nana and Aunt Penny would buy 20 copies of Me, Just Different even if I didn’t hold the signing.
While I sold a decent amount of books on Saturdays signing, and while I’m grateful for every sale, I’m most appreciative for four girls who came and didn’t buy a thing.
They’re girls who don’t share any of my genes, and who don’t have to look at me at church on Sunday morning and explain why they weren’t there:
Mary and Moira Quinn, who are Sion girls and brought Out with the In Crowd for me to sign.
Carolyn, a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas, who brought a copy of So Over It.
And Kayleigh. Kayleigh brought all three books for me to sign, and she brought them all the way from Parsons, Kansas. I don’t know that I wowed Kayleigh with my intelligence, because when her dad told me they’d come 130 miles because Kayleigh saw I was holding a booksigning, I couldn’t even make sense of it. I’m pretty sure I just stared stupidly at them, because nothing in my life had prepared me for a logical response to this.
I wanted to hang out and have coffee with her, or buy her lunch, or a pony or something. At the very least, I wanted to come up with something brilliant to write in her books.
But the signing was just starting, so coffee and lunch were out of the question, and I’m a complete dud when it comes to witty book inscriptions. So I signed her books and they were gone within minutes. I’m hoping they at least caught a movie or something, because I’m sure I underwhelmed. (And this was minutes before Ben came with Connor and McKenna, so I didn’t even have cute kids to offer.)
In short (um, 500 words later…) the signing went well.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Comments
Oh man, I laughed too at the pony comment!
Those are some true fans!
I took So Over It to the youth group girls…squeals of joy!
Posted by erica vetsch on 3 August 2010
Yay! Thanks for sharing the book, Erica!
I finally mailed in my order form for YOUR books last week :)
Posted by Stephanie Morrill on 5 August 2010
You succeeded in making me laugh out loud with “coffee or lunch or a pony.”
Glad the signing went well!
Posted by Roseanna White on 2 August 2010