Are book signings dead?

You hear a lot of people, including booksellers, say that the traditional signing is dead, unless maybe you're Jimmy Carter or someone equally famous. I remember when he signed in Fort Worth and there were crowds around the block waiting in line. But like all authors I've had plenty of experience sitting at a table watching people walk by while studiously avoiding eye contact. I remember once sharing a signing table with a western writer who would shout out to people, "Hey, you there, you're wearing blue jeans. I bet you read westerns." I considered crawling under the table.
But let me tell you about a couple of wildly successful (in my terms) signings I had this weekend. My mystery, Skeleton in a Dead Space, hot off the press, is set in a well-known neighborhood in Fort Worth. Many residents of Fairmount patronize the Old Neighborhood Grill frequently, as do I, and the Grill is mentioned often in the novel.One press considering my novel said I had to get written permission from the owner of any business mentioned--gosh, glad I didn't end up there--but I mentioned that to Peter, owner of the Grill, and he jokingly signed his name in the air. But when I told him that the novel really was going to be published, by Turquoise Morning Press, he said, "You know, we've had some successful signings here." And so it was a done deal. Peter would provide the space; everything else was up to me. Since I'm with a small publisher, I had to buy the books (at discount, of course). I sent email invitations to a long list of people, I got a cash bank, and I prepared to handle the sales--actually my granddaughter and daughter did that for me.
I had a most unusual signing Saturday: seven o'clock in the morning. But Peter said  he had a lot of readers who come in early on Saturday morning with their books. So at seven my oldest son, two of my granddaughers, and I were at the Grill. Colin had gone out really early that morning and bought a beautiful bouquet, which drew attention to the table. A bit later my other son, my daughter and her husband, and two more grandchildren drifted in. It became a family party, which was great--the kids greeted some people they'd known all their lives and I got to introduce them to some who'd heard me talk about them a lot but never met them.
It's hard to get book publicity in the local paper, but that morning they published a nice feature on the bottom of the front page of the Living & Lifestyle section. Several people came because they had read the paper; some regulars at the grill bought books to take home to their wives; some people I'd never seen bought books because they saw the display. And many of my friends came. By ten o'clock, I had sold twenty-five books, and we wrapped it up.
Peter and I agreed that two signings would be good, the second Monday evening at 5:30. I didn't expect it to be as busy as Saturday morning but Jordan hustled me out the door to get there early--and there was a crowd waiting. For almost an hour, I signed books frantically, people stood in line--lots of friends, several people I'd never met before, a few from groups I'm scheduled to speak to. It was absolutely amazing. By a little before 8:00 I sold the last book I had--holding one back for myself. Between the two signings and a few independent sales, I sold 75 books if my math adds up right, and I think it does.
The Grill was a perfect place--people could come, get their book, and leave, or, as many did, come and stay to order a meal. Some were Grill regulars but others were new to the place I'm sure. So it benefited Peter--he picked up some new customers, drew some people in for meals--and it certainly benefited me.  Not every author may be so lucky as to have a good relationship with a local cafe, but this worked for me.
And it didn't turn off the local booksellers. I talked to the CMR at our nearby Barnes & Noble today, and he confessed he forgot about our conversation until he saw a small ad I took in the neighborhood newspaper about the signings at the Grill. Now he's looking into a signing at B&N. And tonight one woman said her book group in the Fairmount neighborhood is interested in reading it. I asked if they'd like me to come talk, and she was amazed. "Would you?" I assured her I'd love to and she took down my contact information. It's all like ripples spreading in a pond.

If retirement is like this past weekend . . .

If retirement is like this past weekend, I'm in for a lot of fun and hectic times. Forgive me if this is one of those "And then I did this" blogs, but it was too good not to relive. Saturday morning Jeannie and I left for Albany (Texas, of course--someone asked me Saturday night if I'd been to NY for the day. Wrong). We sort of left at 8:15 but by the time we picked up the cell phone I'd left at the office and dropped her son's dog off at his house, it was 8:45 before we got on the road. Albany is about a 2-1/2 hour drive from Fort Worth, and it's a lovely drive. A few miles west of Fort Worth you leave the trees and hills behind and are suddenly in the edges of West Texas--great rolling plains and expanses of land, places where you can look for miles across the empty land, other places where you pass fields of mesquite and then fields of young mesquite where you know someone has plowed and the new pests (as ranchers think of them) have started up. It always makes me realize how much empty land there is in Texas, even though cities seem to reach out their tentacles all the time. We left the interstate at Cisco, home of the first Hilton Hotel--and this time, on the way back, we were able to identify it. Before we'd been looking at the tallest buildings and wondering which one it was but the bookstore owner in Albany described it, two stories, built right on the railway tracks which makes sense. It was not a hotel where one went for days but only for perhaps a few hours on a layover between trains or negotiating oil deals. It's now the Hilton Historical Center.

In Albany we had lunch at a place witha limited menu--either turkey legs or hamburgers. We had the latter, though it's not on my diet, but it was grilled outdoors and was absolutely wonderful. Then we shopped, something Jeannie is better at than I am, and from 1-3 I signed books at the Lynch Line Bookstore. They had a variety of my books, and I sold some of all--19 in total. Surprise: this man walked in who looked really familiar but he was wearing a gimme cap and was certainly out of context. I stared at him and he said, "You don't know who I am, do you?" Just then it dawned on me, and I said, "Yeah, I do, but why are you here?" It was my longtime bank advisor and turns out he grew up in Albany and had brought his grandkids for the annual outdoor pageant called Fandangle. The town was full of tourists there for Fandangle, which is why it was a good time to sign. all in all I sold 19 books, which I consider a good days work. Jeannie and I had been there for a signing and gone to Fandangle and eaten BBQ on the grounds of the courthouse two years ago and still remember it all fondly.

Then whoosh back to Fort Worth for Jacob's third b'day party--about 30 adults and who knows how many kids of all ages. Jord has cheese, crackers, dips, etc. and someone brought taquitos (I later figured out that meal cost me as many Weight Watchers points as the elegant dinner I'd had at Central Market a couple of weeks ago!). About 8:30 Jamie was ready to go, and we went by my house to feed animals and pick up my suitcase. Then off to Frisco, five exhuasted people by the time we got there.

Sunday was Father's Day, and the girls had planned their dad's day--lunch wherever he wanted it, then a movie he wanted to see (Eddie Murphy in Imagine That). They had also made him, on the computer, a booklet of poems and letters about why they loved him. Here he is reading it, if I can get the picture positioned in the right place. His choice of restaurants was the India Palace--now I would tell you I don't eat Indian food. Way too spicy, but Jamie was there to tell me which things were mild, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I loved the movie, though the only time I go to a movie is with them, and they choose movies with a six- and ten-year-old in mind, so they're right up my alley. It was funny and touching, and I enjoyed it. Then to Barnes & Noble to browse--six-year-old Edie got her first chapter books and spent dinner reading one, carefully saying the words out loud to herself as she read and often spelling a word to ask what it meant. Maddie got the first in a series I've heard good things about, The MagicKeepers. She likes the fantasy and semi-fantasy and is an avid read.
Then off to an Irish pub for dinner--I felt like I was having a gastronomic tour. Jame talked me into corned beef, mashed potatoes, and boiled cabbage--then sent his half of the corned beef back because it was dry. I ate mine with horseradish sauce and enjoyed it. Not sure I liked boiled cabbage that much.
We finally met Jordan and Christian at a point between Coppell where they'd been and Frisco, and we all headed home about 8:45. I was exhausted, and so were the Burton crew except Jacob who crowed and screamed until his mother did the ultimate bad--stuck a pacifier in his mouth! Still I got sweet kisses and hugs when I got out of the car abut 9:30. And it took me two hours to settled in and go to bed. No wonder I slept in a bit this morning.
My really good news. I lost another pound plus last week, so now I've lost 7.9 lbs. Do you think I could call it an even 8 lbs?
I'm still tired but still relishing what a wonderful weekend it was.
And today I had lunch with a friend who was once my physician and is now a friend. We hadn't seen each other in a long time but had been emailing, and today we had a lively conversation--about families, medicine, medical economics, the government health plan, etc. Lots of fun, and I'm grateful for a new friend.

Still doing nothing--hard

The fact that I've not posted for 5 or 6 days does not mean that life has been dull--though I'm not sure where ithe week went. As I look back on it, there weren't that many events--a luncheon for the past presidents of the Friends of TCU Library where we had wonderful roast beef, a dinner of tapas and wine with Betty where I caught up on her trip to San Diego, and just lots of work. Yesterday, Thursday, Gayla came from College Station and A&M to pick up books, jackets--and me. We were supposed to have a late lunch, but I gave up on her. Went home, had lunch, a bit of wine, and a nap before she ever got here. We went to Dallas to a signing for Fran Vick's new book, co-authored with Jane Monday, Petra's Legacy. The party, at Fran's son's lovely home, was fun--I saw people I was glad to see, helped Gayla sell books, drank a bit more wine than I should have, and ate a lot of the most delicious meatballs I've ever had. Jamie came to pick me up--but he got most distracted visiting with all of Fran's children, with whom he worked for years. It was almost 8:30 before we left, but we did make it to Frisco before the girls went to bed, and I had a good visit with them. They seemed glad to see me and show off all their tricks, tell me what they'd been doing. This morning, before school, I got about another hour of their time. Maddie conned me with a card trick her dad had taught her--and then explained the con to me, including the way you distract your target victim from what you're doing. What is she learning at age 8? Edie claims she is counting the days until I come back--7 days--and how long I'll stay--four days, or at least parts of them. We're planning to cook and have fun while her mom and sister are at camp and her dad does a triathlon.
Even my reading was "escapist" this week--I finished the Catherine Coulter and moved on to a J.A.Jance novel that I finished today. So now I'll get back to some serious reading--a memoir about life in the Highland Breaks at the north end of the Isle of Skye and the book Same Kind of Different As Me, about the friendship of a high-end art dealer and a man who was homeless for 30 years. It's a "buzz" book, the kind that everyone talks about, and Ron Hall and Denver Moore are ubiquitous. As I mentioned I heard them last week at church. They've been at churches all over town and drawn huge crowds and were to be at TCU last night for an alumni dinner. Proceeds of the book--which must be mounting by now--go to help the homeless.
This morning we missed the train, and Jamie very sweetly drove me to Fort Worth because he said it was his fault we missed the train. Blame aside, I was glad to get home about 11:00, get a few things done at the office and grocery, and come home to read all the things I had stacked up. Tomorrow two book signings, Sunday a trip to Central Market and dinner for Jordan and Christian. No big deals, nothing significant, no earth-shattering insights to share or even penetrating analyses of literature--just the thought that life is good.

Book signings

It happens to all authors, but at least it's better when it's a shared experience. Tonight I was one of seven contributors to the TCU Press collaborative novel, Noah's Ride, who showed up at a suburban library for a program. We did our dog-and-pony show for four people, one of whom was the library director, another the city manager, and a third the husband of one of the contributors. That left one interested party with no stake in the show! But the seven of us had a good time talking about the novel and the process of creating our chapters--it was sort of like a reunion. In fact, we went on too long--with these poor four people captive--and the director of the library finally stood up. I think it was because we were having fun, and we each kept thinking of comments we wanted to add. Weren't smart enough to give the poor four a chance to speak.
I just discovered on my calendar that tomorrow at noon I'm to present a program on "Beach Read Books from TCU Press" (an oxymoron to beginw ith) for the Pinkbag Series (book-oriented brown bag lunches for women employees at TCU)--only I've seen not one bit of publicity on it and don't even know where it is. If I don't know, how will anyone else find it? I emailed one of the major organizers tonight and said I really didn't want to repeat the "no audience" experience twice in two days.
Fortunately, my ego isn't on the line with either event.