Saturday, May 12, 2007

Book signings

From left to right, Connie Brockway, Michele Dunaway, Alexa Hunt (aka Shirl Henke) at MORWA's after-the-meeting book signing.

I don't do many book signings anymore. I don't play much golf either. I consider the reasons for both about the same.

First, let me say I love both golf and book signings. I see the chance to sell even one book to a new reader as a thrilling experience. The trouble is the time factor. Book stores expect you to sell mega books in two hours, not just five to ten. Since I'm not Nora or John Grisham, that's probably not going to happen. After my first signings, I noticed my numbers sold at signings went down. My family and friends came to my first signings, but now they don't stop or blink an eye. My being published is "old hat," just like them being journalists, or teachers or something. Just another day at the office.

Golf is about the same way. I discovered that my second time playing, I birdied on the second hole. I've never done as well since. For me, the ideal golf date is tooling around, tearing across the course in the golf cart trying to see who can be the first one to the next green. Since you're not supposed to do that, well...you get the idea.

Book signings can be the same way. The first ones are fun and exciting. Doing one for every book can get old quickly, and if you aren't Nora or someone "really" famous, you'll sit there and smile a lot. The only people who talk to you want directions to the bathrooms. There are others who hover at the end of the aisle and whisper about you. You keep smiling anyway.

Don't get me wrong. Both book signings and golf can be a lot of fun when done properly. With signings, you have to be willing to get out from behind the table and pimp yourself. Yep, that' s the only word for it. You have to be willing to talk to everyone who glances at you. Think of walking through all the sales booths in the middle of the mall. That person who jumps out and offers you hand cream--that has to be you with your book.

Just as golf is more fun to play with someone, so are book signings. Having someone there to chat with while people are chatting about you makes you feel a bit less conspicuous. It also makes the time fly, and if you tag-team the reader who stops for one author, you can often get them to buy both books. You're also guaranteed at least one sale--the other author at the table.

Now I've been a little tongue in cheek here, but all of the above is true. If the other authors are willing to share some of their funny signing experiences.....

And, if you are at RWA this summer, come see me and chat. If nothing else, I promise to know where the bathroom is.

Michele

1 comment:

bettye griffin said...

I usually limit my signings to my home town (Yonkers, NY) and the place where I lived for 17 years (Jacksonville, FL), when I had a new book out. Book signings are a lot of work. I have to notify people on my mailing list via e-mail or postcard, make flyers to send to the stores (if it's a Waldenbooks or a B. Dalton; the larger stores do their own), put together little promo gifts for people who buy more than one title (there's usually five or so who buy two or even three books), and finally, I have to arrange for a drawing prize (drawings help to coax people over to my table and also allow me to collect e-mail addresses for my mailing list).

Now that I live outside of Chicago, I'm trying to get established locally. I'm also not all that far from two of the leading stores for African-American fiction within the Borders chain (the Borders in Matteson, IL and the Waldenbooks in Calumet City, IL).

For these reasons, and also because I have two new books being released within one month of each other (romance and women's fiction), I took a deep breath and started scheduling. I'm booked for every weekend in June, with a couple of stores left for July or later.

I just did a signing in the Citicorp Center downtown on Thursday. The manager asked me to come in before Mother's Day, because store traffic always spikes. I gladly did, even though only one of my new books was out. It went well, but I'm already exhausted.

June is going to be a killer.

Bettye Griffin
www.bettyegriffin.com
www.chew-the-fat-with-Bettye.blogspot.com