Sunday Drive-by Signings
Since Don't Get It Twisted came out this week, I thought I'd stalk...errr, check and see if it were in my local stores. So I did a few drive-by signings today, offering to sign stock for any store that had them in.
The good news is, both Barnes & Noble, in Annapolis and Bowie had it and the Annapolis Borders had it.
What was really cool, upon introducing myself, the rep at Borders said the seven words every author loves to hear: "We can't keep them on the shelves."
Apparently they go quickly. And they're not even face out (like they are at B&N). Sweet!
The Borders Customer rep (who may or may not have been the Manager) was very knowledgeable of my book, too. She remembered the name of So Not The Drama with no prompting and remembered that it had been stocked downstairs where they keep Af-Am fiction. Don't Get It Twisted, happily, is stocked with its YA brethren.
Oh, and at B&N Bowie, there was a teen book-shopping with her mom. So I introduced myself and told her to check out the book to see if it might tickle her fancy.
The bad news is, Karibu is still not carrying my book in the stores. Seems you can order them online, but I've never seen my book on shelves.
They're my local indie. They're (I believe) the largest African-American owned independent book chain. I've supported them as both a customer and an author via the Black Writer's Guild. My book is made for their target customer (African American, not young adult). So why aren't my book and their store a match made in book heaven?
It's a rhetorical question. I've long gotten over trying to solve this puzzle. There's way more about the book business that I don't know than I do - I'm learning to scrutinize each issue to determine which are actually worth solving. And some may not have an easy answer, anyway.
I plan to do a couple of drive-by signings a week - reaching beyond my usual haunts. I'm excited to touch more indies. There are no Booksense indies where I live. So looks like I'll be gassing up the ol' SUV (and that's a lot of gas) and heading North.
Some people Christmas shop in December, I do drive-bys...signings, that is.
The good news is, both Barnes & Noble, in Annapolis and Bowie had it and the Annapolis Borders had it.
What was really cool, upon introducing myself, the rep at Borders said the seven words every author loves to hear: "We can't keep them on the shelves."
Apparently they go quickly. And they're not even face out (like they are at B&N). Sweet!
The Borders Customer rep (who may or may not have been the Manager) was very knowledgeable of my book, too. She remembered the name of So Not The Drama with no prompting and remembered that it had been stocked downstairs where they keep Af-Am fiction. Don't Get It Twisted, happily, is stocked with its YA brethren.
Oh, and at B&N Bowie, there was a teen book-shopping with her mom. So I introduced myself and told her to check out the book to see if it might tickle her fancy.
The bad news is, Karibu is still not carrying my book in the stores. Seems you can order them online, but I've never seen my book on shelves.
They're my local indie. They're (I believe) the largest African-American owned independent book chain. I've supported them as both a customer and an author via the Black Writer's Guild. My book is made for their target customer (African American, not young adult). So why aren't my book and their store a match made in book heaven?
It's a rhetorical question. I've long gotten over trying to solve this puzzle. There's way more about the book business that I don't know than I do - I'm learning to scrutinize each issue to determine which are actually worth solving. And some may not have an easy answer, anyway.
I plan to do a couple of drive-by signings a week - reaching beyond my usual haunts. I'm excited to touch more indies. There are no Booksense indies where I live. So looks like I'll be gassing up the ol' SUV (and that's a lot of gas) and heading North.
Some people Christmas shop in December, I do drive-bys...signings, that is.
posted by Paula at 1:48 PM
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