As many of you know, local
authors united and held a book signing in June. There were seven of us at the
signing which was held at a St. Vincent DePaul location here in Eugene, Oregon.
We all prepared well for the event–making sure we had adequate supplies of
books, preparing for credit/debit card sales, ironing our Sunday-go-to-meeting
clothes, and putting on our happy faces, but the turnout didn’t muster up the
numbers we had all hoped for.
People are still asking me how
the signing went and I respond by telling them, “Good.” That really isn’t true
as it didn’t go well at all. Each author sold a book, maybe two. The reason for
this is very simple. Location. People go to St. Vincent DePaul to purchase
cheap books. Used books are obviously less expensive than new books and there
is no shortage of titles to choose from. Since all we had were new books for
sale, (much more expensive), we just could not compete even though our books
would be signed by the author with the opportunity to chat and visit with seven
authors. Even the free refreshments only lured in a few visitors but they didn’t
go to waste. We all enjoyed the goodies.
This is not to say that all book
signings are the same. A famous author, C. Hope Clark, which I have chatted
with many times, explained to me years ago that book signings are
unpredictable. Some go quite well with others being a total flop.
I will close by saying that I
will attend any book signing that comes my way regardless of past experiences.
I will keep a positive attitude and keep looking forward to meeting people and
having a good time answering any questions that may come up.
Until next time,
Kirk Toncray
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