Attended my first book sale/signing this weekend at the La Viña Winery Harvest Festival. We were situated right next to the very loud music stage in the El Paso Writers’ League booth. The booth was nice and it was loaded with books by our members. I sold 3 Saturday and 2 Sunday, but that was just my own. I sold several books by other authors as well. I am not and never will be real pushy. My theory is: I want people to get the right book for them. No sense having them mad at me for talking them into the wrong book plus badmouthing the book to their friends. Better for everyone if they say: “I got it from El Paso Writer’s League. The guy was really nice and the book was good.” Good for me, good for EPWL, and good for the author.
Being the only SF book was a bit tough, but those to whom it sold seemed really enthusiastic about it. I had hoped that my bargain price would make the book sell a little better, but it didn’t sell much when I wasn’t there. So I am assuming it’s either my charisma or the lack of others’ knowledge of the book which made the difference.
It was a fun experience. Fun to chat with the customers, other authors, browsers, and just to hang out in the clean air. We had the world’s longest corndog, samples some wines, and even had a funnel cake. Two weekends in a row. You can’t beat that!
In any case, I hope to do more of these and start selling my book. I really need to get the income and make back my investment, plus, I’m proud of the stories. I think they’re enjoyable and a good tease of my writing, even if they’re shorter and simpler than most of what I do.
One weird thing about book signings is that sometimes people ask you to write things like “to my best friend” or “with all my love.” I wasn’t asked to do that this time, thankfully, because I won’t do it. To write anything untruthful just isn’t me. But I did have a guy who wanted me to include “outlandish” in whatever I wrote. So to him I wrote: “May this book inspire you to dream outlandish dreams and reach for the stars.” Pretty good improv, if you ask me, but then, I am a writer, so I’m supposed to have a way with words.
I’m going to offer a special deal. The first 15 people to comment on this blog this week will get the discounted price from LaViña of $5 per book. That’s $7.49 retail, so you ave $2.49. You’ll either have to pay shipping or arrange to pick up your copy, but hey, everyone who’s read it has liked it, and you will too.
Okay, let’s start those comments…
