Monday, October 22, 2007

One fan at a time


There’s nothing better than a booksigning when a stranger comes in with your books (previously bought and read) and tells you how much they enjoyed them and can’t wait for the next. We had that happen last weekend. A lady walked into the signing and wanted us to sign her books. She was so excited, raving about how she was hooked from the first page in every book. She was thrilled to meet us and just had to tell us how wonderful our books are. Well, if we didn’t sell a single book, that lady made it all worthwhile. (Luckily we did sell some and picked up some new readers). Most of the time I don’t think you get a good return for the time spent at a signing, unless of course you are a NYT bestseller and readers are lined up to meet you. Otherwise the time would probably be better spent writing. But last weekend reminded me that you build your readership one reader at a time. That lady has me back at the keyboard today and happy to be here.

3 comments:

Mark Combes said...

Lynn~

As you've found out, the benefit from book events isn't finacial, it's emotional - both for you and the reader.

Keith Raffel said...

For me, most of the time, setting up a table and talking to passersby works better than a formal signing. Just sold 40 books at a Borders in San Jose in a few hours this past Saturday that way.

Mark Combes said...

You won't get filthy rich selling 40 books a weekend, but you'll meet some interesting people, have a few laughs, maybe convert a few apostles for your book. Again, not huge financial reward, but then I don't see events as places to "cash in." I look at events as places to connect with readers and booksellers. And there is value in that too....