My First Appearance/Signing

The photo above was taken by one of the daughters of our very best friends at the signing event!

"So," you're asking right now (I can feel it), "How'd it go!?"

I left the house with my daughter in-tow, headed for the venue which is about 45 miles from our house.  I have been to the Four States Fairgrounds a couple times, and have passed by it MANY times on my way to a couple of the schools I service as part of my day job.  As we approached the exit, however, my daughter and I began to play a game of some sort and that was distraction enough for me to miss the exit.  It also proved distraction enough that when I realized that I should be exiting soon, I knew something was amiss.  I was seeing restaurants, stores, and other landmarks that only added to my confusion.  The fairgrounds aren't down this far, I told myself, second-guessing everything before my eyes as if awakening from a dream.  I took the last exit before going "way too far" and pulled into the Best Buy parking lot.  Firing up the Droid and asking it to route me to the fairgrounds, I discovered I overshot the exit by several miles. 

Now, a normal person would find the quickest route back to the Interstate and head for the correct exit.  Not me. That would be too easy and lack the adventuring spirit I evidently possessed that day.  I drove through bizarre construction patterns, missing one on-ramp, until I found myself on a road that would eventually get me back on the correct path.

Once I took the exit for the fairgrounds, I followed the various signs that led to the entrance and ultimately to the building where the event was taking place.  By that time, I was sure I was the last person arriving and that everyone was standing inside tapping their shoes on the floor and checking their watches.  I was wrong on both counts.

My daughter and I unpacked the car and hurried into the building.  Inside, a large circle of tables occupied the middle area of the open floor while many other tables lined the side walls.  Some people walked around, purposefully looking at each table's display or examining the displays on the walls behind those on the outer edges of the building's main room.  Other folks were still putting their displays together.  Still others sat behind their tables, reading or looking around.  I approached the first table to my left (where I saw event bags, t-shirts, etc) and spotted a placard with my name and book titles on it.  It also had a picture, but the person in the photo was definitely *not* me.  I met Tammy Thompson (author and event header-upper).

"Is this," I held up the sign, "my sign? 'Cause, I don't think this is me."  I smiled and chuckled a little, hoping to make light of things.  She bit.

"What!? That's not you?" She said jokingly.  She laughed and tossed the sign aside after taking from me.  "No, you're..." she looked around the room for a moment, "Over here! Next to me."  We walked to the table where my *real* placard rested on top of a six-foot table with a red tablecloth.  A stack of event bookmarks also sat on the table.  I thanked her, and my daughter and I began unpacking my box.  I created a small twin-stack of "All This Digging" and then laid out five copies in something not quite like a fan and then did the same with "Summer Breaks."  I had created business cards that featured the covers of the books with my contact info and I laid those out on the table.  My daughter arranged the bookmarks and moved the baseball card-sized contact cards (I had no business card stock, and used what I had instead - trading card creation paper).  Inspiration struck, and I stood a copy of each book upright with the BACK facing outward so that passersby could read the synopses while standing at my table.

My daughter and I made the round, checking out other author's books and displays.  There were several children's book authors, many fiction authors and several non-fiction authors.  I met secular authors, Christian authors, a couple fantasy writers, and more than a few southern writers (which would stand to reason given the location!).  Some authors had big posters and banners, while others had their own signs.  Still others thought to bring candy in dishes.  Most of the folks had their pricing and "checks payable" info on their signs.  I was feeling more and more like the novice outsider who had mistakenly received an invitation to the ball.

Luckily, the woman next to me, opposite the side Tammy occupied, (and I forget her name just now) was in the same boat I was - new author, first-timer.  Though, she had a VERY cool model to go with her novel and she *did* print the price of her book on her sign.  I removed my sign from its holder and wrote the prices next to the images of my covers.  I also invented an "event special" in which folks would get a discount for buying both books at the same time.

Opposite of my table, the "Kids Corner" took up a nice portion of one corner, and children of all ages were in there coloring pages, writing for a contest or listening to tories being read to them.  My daughter never left my side (at least not for a long, long time) despite my best efforts to shoo her over to the kid-friendly area.

I talked with visitors and other authors.  To my surprise, a co-worker appeared and bought a copy of each book!  Then, another woman I knew from one of my area schools also bought a book!  I had sold three books within just a few moments.  Based on a talk I had with a "regular" to these things, I was told to expect to sell about half a dozen.  I was halfway there! 

Throughout the day, patrons (or authors or anyone for that matter) could buy raffle tickets to benefit St. Jude hosptial.  Drawings were held roughly fifteen minutes apart.  There were a LOT of prizes, and by day's end, even we had won four things!

At one point, my wife came by and she hung out with me for a couple hours.  Our best friends (whose daughter took the picture at the top of this post) dropped by, which was a total surprise!!  We had a lot of fun.

In addition to books, kids' activities, and folks, the event also featured free sandwiches, snacks, and drinks! 

Around 6pm, the kids all went outside for a pinata-busting and my daughter came rushing back with a double handful of goodies!  I sold a couple more books during the day and at 630 or so, Kathy Patrick (the featured speaker) got up and told us about her "Beauty and the Book" endeavor, some of her life story and about her author event "Pulpwood Queen's Book Club" (and the guy version, "Timber Guys").  She is a  lively, fun woman who is taking full advantage of her time on this earth!

I offered a copy of "Summer Breaks" to each Ms. Patrick and to Ms. Thomspon, and they both gladly received their copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and my daughter not only stayed to spend the whole day with me (she was given the chance to go home with her Mom but refused), but she also finally went to the kids corner to color a couple pages.

I made several notes should the opportunity to join a signing arise in the future:

• Make sure you have business cards/contact info ready to hand out to EVERYONE that passes by,
• Print out an 8.5" x 11" page with your pricing for display,
• Provide a notebook for people to provide contact info,
• Talk to EVERYONE that comes to your table (turn small talk into book talk - remember, you are trying to SELL your book(s)!),
• Don't take yourself too seriously (some authors were a bit haughty for my liking),
• Stay for the whole thing! Because I stayed, I learned the 'secret' to being invited to Kathy Patrick's author gatherings!  I hope to invited someday!
• Have realistic expectations for the number of sales you will make (and try not to be hurt if you don't sell as many as you thought you would)
• HAVE FUN, NETWORK, VISIT!

Oh sure, I have only been to my first signing ever, but hopefully some of the things I learned will help someone else out there.  After all, everyone has to go through this once as their "first time."

(The "gathering." I am standing to the right of the woman in light blue near the center. You can see my head and a portion of my navy polo.)