My book signing on Monday went really well, I think. I spent the morning walking the aisles of the convention with my little fliers I'd made with the information about my book signing. It had a copy of my book's cover, the title, and then the book signing info:
Monday, July 11
BOOTH: #338
3:00 - 4:00
Christian Small Publishers Association Booth
I'd made 500 of those little fliers (four to an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet) and I was determined to hand them all out. I didn't make it. But I did hand out a bunch of them! My goal was to get enough business to give away all the copies of my book that I had brought.
The Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA) required me to supply 75 books. At this book signing (at ICRS -- the International Christian Retail Show) we don't sell books. We give them away. (Crazy, right?)
I was one of five CSPA authors. The others are David Hope, Peter Stanway, David Yanez, and new member Joy Schneider. We helped each other with our book signings by standing in the aisle with CSPA catalogs and directing passersby to the book signing.
Don't forget that I missed all the deadlines to be in the daily newspaper that tells which personality is signing which book in which booth at what time. (Yeah, now I'm a "personality.")
Anyway, my strategy must have worked because by 4:05, all my books were gone! I've got to hand it to the CSPA folks. They seemed to know that a person can sign 75 books in an hour. I had a couple of lulls, but that was it. I would guess that 90% of the people in my line were folks I recognized from handing them a flier, so it was good that I did that.
The response to my book has been tremendously positive. I haven't had a negative reaction yet. Whenever I tell people about my book, I can see their face light up. That's a good sign. Lots of people say the cover is "beautiful," and that's huge since people really do judge a book by it's cover.
There was another CSPA author signing right before me. So as soon as he got up, I sat down and away we went. And do know who stood in line to get one of my books? It was about the second or third person in line. I looked up and there was Cecil Murphey! I have stood in line at past ICRS shows to get one of Cec's books. To see him in line to get one of mine, well... I think that might have just been the coolest thing ever. It was because Cecil graciously gave me a scholarship to the AWSA conference that I was even at the ICRS convention. What a blessing that man is.
Then, I guess it was about half way through the signing that I looked up and there was another familiar face stepping up for one of my books. This time it was Linda Evans Shepherd. Now Linda is not only my friends, but the founder of AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and it was she who urged me to join the group and come to the AWSA conference and so I wouldn't have been there without Linda either.
And if all of that wasn't enough, David Yanez invited all these authors to be on his Internet radio show! And so after I finished my book signing, Linda Evans Shepherd, Joy Schneider, and I walked down to the media room and did the interview. You can listen in at David Yanez Ministries. Linda was interviewed first, and then me, and then Joy, so if you don't want to listen to Linda's, you can fast forward. My interview starts at about 17:30 and runs about nine minutes to approx. 26:45. I hope you'll take the time to give it a listen, link to it, and/or leave a comment.
That was only my Monday! It was a great experience. More highlights from my other days to come...
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