I sure wish I'd seen this BEFORE last week-end, which was my first booksigning. I liken last week-end to the first gig I ever played: Lots of high expectations and excitement, followed by my feeling like a red, smacked ass.
I thought I'd covered all the bases. A $300 full-page ad in the local weekly. Several other papers in the area gave the event a blurb...one even added my picture...IN COLOR... to the story, and is part of Gannett
Newspapers. I figured with the name recognition from playing in bands all my life around here, coupled with all the ink I had in the papers, I might just sell two or three hundred book.
I sold 11. Five went to guys and gals that I've played with at one time or another. One went to my son's father-in-law, who, I suspect, showed up just to see our mutual grandson, who was in tow on his mother's hip.
No less than three thousand people walked past me on Sunday, between 1 and 4 PM, in The Berlin Mart. I was supposed to stay until 5, but, like I said in my profile, I get bored easily. Plus, my pool was waiting.
It occured to me that just because I was sitting there, smiling, saying "hello" a thousand times per hour to the strangers that tried to smile back at me, wasn't a good enough reason for folks to buy my book, let alone stop and ask what the hell I was doing sitting there in their way. They paid more attention to the 2 ft. x 3 ft. poster of the book's cover I had propped up on the floor mirror stand I nixed from my wife's bedroom. One person wanted to BUY the floor mirror stand, but never asked why I was sitting there, or picked up a book.
I love people.
So, I need to get a buzz going about this book of mine, I've leaerned. People have to WANT to buy it. Then, I'll have another booksigning, this time WITHOUT the dancing bears, flame-thrower carrying Special Forces units, and naked maidens serving chocolated insects.