Every Signing is an Adventure

Every book signing is an adventure. Truly. I think Mark Burnett has missed a segment for "Survivor." He should try throwing those people into a bookstore and telling them to fend for themselves for a few hours, armed with only a pen and a couple "signed by author" stickers. See how well they do. They may just end up eating the cover flats for lunch.

[Here's a picture from my fun and really busy signing at the fabulous Valparaiso, IN Barnes and Noble, with the great CRM, Becky Ashcroft, on the left].

First there's the people who come by my table, look me up and down, clearly seeing that I am sitting behind the "AUTHOR" sign, and ask me where the restroom is. Or where they can find Bill O'Reilly's book. Or demand to know why the latest book by XYZ isn't on the shelves when they saw it out just last week. I tell them I write the books, not sell them, well, except for my own. ;-)



The last guy I said this to scowled. "So? You're in a bookstore. You should know where the books are."



Uh, okay. I smiled politely and showed him where the information desk was. Yeah, that big round thing in the middle of the store with the huge sign over it saying "Information." :-)



Then there's the guy who came up to me at my last signing asking me about some journals he'd found in his apartment, left behind by the previous tenant. Apparently, they contained some salacious details about her life, and he wanted to publish them and reap the financial rewards. I told him it was illegal because those were her words, and thus, she owned the copyright, because she'd written them down.



He thought about this for a second. "But she didn't write her name on one of the journals. Can I publish that one?"



Uh, no. I reminded him once again that he would be violating federal law and that she could indeed sue. Not to mention the whole ick factor and violation of privacy and a whole host of other legal sticky wickets. Sorry, but the answer was still...no. A note to anyone moving...don't leave your diaries behind.

But overall, I have to say that book signings are fun. Booksellers are a great bunch. Library visits are wonderful, too, because libraries are filled with people who love to read. I have a built-in audience of people who love books. There is the occasional person who thinks they're there for something else ("What do you mean, this isn't a children's book?", as if I'm some bait-and-switch and the "romance" on the spine of the book wasn't a huge clue to the type of book I write) but overall, I have a blast at my signings. Every one of them has had its memorable moments (like the time a guy sat down next to me and just started reading his unpublished preschool-age children's manuscript with its horrific, violent ending...that's a story for another day!).

Truly, though, I love to talk books and spend time with people who love books. Signings are always fun (and the free coffee is just a bonus!) and to me, simply connecting with readers, whether it's one or a hundred is the best part of the whole day.

So, if the people who produce "Survivor" are ever looking for a unique spin, they just might want to consider the bookstore setting. I'll tell you, it's an adventure in and of itself!



Shirley