A Fantasy Signing?

Wow, a fantasy signing, Holly? That's my kind of travel! As long as I don't have to wear any wooden shoes ;-) I'm more a high heel kind of gal.

That's too funny! Now that I'm back from Spring Break, the mail lady should be bringing by my copies of the book today, too, so I can hold mine and dream of some Netherlands signings, too!

Shirley

Fantasy Signing

This isn't a story about an actual signing...it's strictly fantasy. In it, Shirley and I have traveled to the Netherlands to do some signings of our mutual March book ONWEERSTAANBAAR VERWEND / EEN ZEE VAN LIEFDE
Door: HOLLY JACOBS, SHIRLEY JUMP
Vanaf: 15 maart 2007
90-347-1333-4
Prijs € 5,10

Onthaal aan Hulst en de fantasie van Shirley het booksigning in Nederland (the web translator said this says, welcome to Holly and Shirley's fantasy booksigning in The Netherlands...I'm hoping it's right). We're in Amsterdam in Holland in a quaint little bookshop tucked away in some corner of the city. Uh, we might need a translator! Hulda's agreed to help. Everyone's delightful, and if you read my other booksigning post, you'll be happy to know it's not currently raining in the store. Everyone's delightful! Afterward, Shirley and I head to Anne Frank's house (I once played Mrs. Van Dam in the play), then maybe the Van Gogh museum. And rumor has it, Shirley, when we've finished touring, there's some great shopping there!

Alas, this is just a fantasy signing. Though we may not be actually traveling to The Netherlands, I'm glad our duo book is, Shirley!! Maybe next time??

Holly

Among the Orchids

Okay, I've signed in some really weird places, but this one had to be the oddest. This past weekend, I did a two-day book signing at the Indiana Flower and Patio Show in Indianapolis. When Indiana Book Supply first asked me to sign, I thought the idea was crazy, because who buys books at a flower show?

But then Adriane, who put the event together and coordinates the authors, assured me that not only did IBS have a totally fabulous location, but that they were between both the cool coffee shop and the South Bend Chocolate store, which meant lots of foot traffic of women looking for a caffeine/candy fix. I agreed to go, and see if my romantic comedies with recipes series might sell.

Well, sell they did. I was astounded at the number of people who passed through the location (and Adriane wasn't kidding -- they did have a primo location) and the number of women who stopped to look at my books and then subsequently bought not just one, but many who bought the entire series.

But one thing about trade shows. You really have to grab people's attention. I'm not a shy author and have zero shame when I sell books. I have no problem with going up and grabbing people, making them aware that "Hey, I'm here and here's my books." I did get asked several times where the restrooms were, if I was selling those orchids over there, whether I was the cashier, and a number of other odd questions. Plus a lot of husbands nabbed my Shirley Jump pens (meant for customers who bought my books) right off my table. I felt like smacking their hands but didn't ;-). I can only hope their wives or someone else sees the pen and checks out my website and falls in love with an excerpt or two.

All in all, it was a VERY successful weekend. We couldn't restock the table fast enough, and had a lot of people who had seen the article about me in the Indianapolis Monthly this month, so that was an added bonus of PR. I'm glad I went, and was amazed that even among the flowers and patios, people still want to read books. :-)

Shirley

Watching the Wonder with Kids

My kids are at the age now where they are loving bookstores and libraries. On the bookstore end, this costs me, dearly. Especially with the teenager, who loves to read--and loves hardcovers, because she loves to keep what she reads (she's the one who has trouble returning her library books, so it's probably a good thing to buy her the books instead of borrowing from the library). I can't walk into a bookstore and walk out without at least four books, two for each kid.

And me...

Well, it goes without saying that if I walk into a bookstore, I'm coming out of there with something in my hands. I'm horrible that way, too.

Okay, I see where the kids get it from. But at least it's a good habit to inherit, right? Reading makes the world go round. And someone's got to buy those 185,000 new books released each year.

Well, not all 185,000 books released each year, LOL. I'll buy my fair share, though. Support the hand that feeds me, after all. And I can write it off as research, which on my end, it is. Researching the competition, researching locales for books I'm writing, researching careers for my heroes and heroines, researching little known facts that I throw into my books... there's always some new fact to learn.

The kids actually put books on their Christmas lists. Now, that's a Christmas list I like to see. My oldest put The Grimmery from "Wicked," which is no cheap book, let me tell you. But she reads it constantly (we saw the play in Chicago...awesome play!). The younger one is into The Magic Tree House series and asked for some of those. We also got him lots of how to draw books because he's into that. Then the Scholastic Book Fair came around to school and the youngest made out like a bandit because the eldest was home sick from school that week, so he got the bulk of the book budget to spend. He was one happy camper, let me tell you.

But the best part of all, is watching the wonder on their faces as they dart from shelf to shelf, trying to choose a couple of books among all the ones on the shelves. Sometimes they simply can't, and I'll cave and go over the two-book limit and buy more or let them check out more than what we decided when we walked in. I remember how fun it was when I was a kid to find new authors and new stories, and let them read to their heart's content.

It's the best reward a mom could ask for...and when I sit down with my little one and read him Spiderwick, and he's cuddled up with me, asking for "one more chapter" before bed...

Well, who can say no?

Shirley

A Novel Leader

This year's Librarian of the Year is one unique leader. I read her story in the Baltimore Sun and was impressed with the way she got things to happen and advanced her library and the cause of reading. And I loved the story at the end about her dogs and her award (anyone who has read my stories of both selling my first book and hitting the New York Times list knows that I have a dog who also has a habit of turning those monumental moments into carpet-cleaning days).

I love libraries. I absolutely love walking into them and being surrounded by books. What I love most about libraries is the possibilities in them. You can find anything in a library. A two-hundred-year-old book, or a book that came out just two days ago. A history of the walking catfish, or a history of cats.

They're incredible places, with children discovering Clifford the Big Red Dog and teenagers working on the dreaded research paper.

My problem with libraries, and the reason I frequent bookstores more than libraries, is that I have this little problem with giving the books back. It's not that I mean to keep the books. I just forget, or I get attached. And before I know it, those fines have added up to a monumental amount.

When I was fourteen, I was working on my 9th grade research paper and ended up forgetting to return over a dozen library books. Well into the summer, I got a bill for close to $100 from the library for all those WAY overdue library books. There were so many, I couldn't even carry them all in to the building in one trip. By the time I came in with the second load, the librarian gave me a stern look and said, "Oh. You must be Shirley."

I have been marked ever since as She Who Does Not Always Remember to Return Her Library Books.

I have since learned to mark return dates in my Outlook calendar. And the library has created systems to work with offenders like me, such as e-mail and phone reminders. I'm better, and my fees no longer rival the national debt. So, it's probably a good thing I don't live in the same town as the Librarian of the Year because I think she'd be embarrassed to admit the connection ;-)

Shirley

Signing in the Rain

No, you're not reading that wrong...I meant signing, not singing, although there was a bit of singing to be heard. Picture this...my first booksigning for a great local bookstore, where everyone had been following my writing and were so supportive before they even had a book in their story. I so wanted this to be a great signing for them. Now, the night before, there was windstorm here in Erie, PA. A big one. Okay, so now you've got the set-up for my first signing for my first Harlequin, I Waxed My Legs for This?

I arrived at the bookstore, so excited to be doing a local signing for people who'd already been so great to me and I found...bags covering all the racks. Buckets sprinkled liberally about the store. And out in the hall, an entire section of the mall was fenced off because it was raining inside. And just to make things more interesting, every now and then one of the ceiling tiles finally became so water-logged it fell. Splat. It seems an awning had been blown off the back of the mall and across the roof.

So there I was, my table set in a fairly dry area in the archway. Unfortunately, the rain began creeping toward my table. I scooted it (and the people who'd been kind enough to come out) over until I ran out of room. Then, I simply began scooting my books over, until I was out of room. I warned everyone over to the one dry spot left...thankfully, all the readers were as nice as the people who worked at the store!

Now, before you think this was a bust...let me confess, it was one of the best times I had. I kept singing, "I'm signing in the rain," and as the tiles in the hall fell, I'd say something like, "All my signings are a blast...or bang as the case may be!" LOL Nothing could have made the day more fun...well, nothing except an umbrella maybe!

If you're ever in Erie, PA, visit the Borders Express inside the Millcreek Mall and tell them I said hi! You should be okay without an umbrella. They haven't had an indoor rainstorm since that first signing. LOL

Holly

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