THE JOYS AND WOES OF BOOK SIGNINGS by Linda Warren

On Saturday I had a book signing for my Oct book, The Texan’s Bride, the second book in The Hardin Boys series. The heroine, Jessie, is loosely based on the woman I mentioned in an earlier blog—the woman who’d been sheltered and isolated all her life. Jessie’s life has been very isolated too, but once she gains her freedom she makes all the wrong choices for what she feels are the right reasons. It turned out to be an emotional book as Jessie learned about the real world, heartache and pain.

Since it was my blog day, I decided to share some of my experiences with book signings. Below are some memorable signings and some tips.

5) Saturday a lady from another town had driven in to buy the books—all three. I tried to tell her I didn’t have the 3rd book in the series, that it wouldn’t be out until December.
“That means I’ll have to come back to get it?”
“Yes.”
“But I drove all this way and I thought I could buy all three.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t understand why the store doesn’t have all three.”
I smile and take a long breath. “We can mail it to you.”
“But that will cost more.”
“Yes.”
I could see she was getting upset. I pushed a piece of paper and a pen across the table. “Write down your name and address and I’ll mail you a copy as soon as I get one. No postage charge.”
That did it.
“Thank you,” she replied. “You’re so nice.” She wrote her name and address and then looked at me. “Will I get it next week?”
I smile and take another long breath. “No, ma’am. I won’t get the books until November.”
“I don’t know why they can’t put these books out all at the same time.”
I keep smiling as she takes the books and goes to pay for them.
Tip 1 – Always be patient and accommodating even when it feels like sharp needles are poking at your nerve endings.

4) One time a lady came in to buy a book and had her grandson with her. She’d bought him a children’s book. I signed hers and then he pushed his across the table to me. The grandmother grabbed it and said, “She can’t sign that. She didn’t write it.” He started to cry and she took his hand and led him from the store. He started to scream, “I want her to sign my book.” Now everyone is looking at me and I feel terrible. I really would have signed it if she had given me the chance. Is that unethical? Or maybe signed a piece of paper and put it in his book.
Tip 2 – Try to please everyone even it means breaking a few rules.


3) Then there was the time I was late. There was a football game in town and we got caught in traffic. People were waiting and the bookstore owner was stressed. She thought something had happened. I started signing books as fast as I could.
Tip 3 – Never be late. Always check to see what big events are in town. And always blame the husband because he should know these things.

2) A fun book signing. I signed a book for a friend and she opened it and read out loud what I had written. (To a good friend. Love, Linda) She smiled. “That works because I’m not mad at you today.” She’s never really mad at me but she gets annoyed when she calls to go to lunch, shopping or the movies and I can’t go because I have a deadline. The next lady asked if I’d put Love, Linda in hers. I told her I’d sign it anyway she wanted. That set the pattern for the day. One lady wanted “Howdy y’all” because she was from up north and wanted her friends to know she’d met a Texas author. Honestly, I never hear people say that. It’s mostly, “How y‘all doing.” Then there was the lady who’d seen the ad for the signing in the paper. She came because her last name was Warren and wanted me to sign the book with her full name and my full name so people would think we were related. But love was the favorite word of choice that day. It really lightened the mood. Everyone had fun
Tip 4 – Give the reader what they want.

1) This signing I’ll never forget. A lady in her eighties hurried to grab a book saying, “I can’t believe you’re here. I have all your books. You’re my favorite author.” Wow, this was wonderful. I never had anyone gush over me like that. I was smiling from ear to ear. I signed the book and handed it to her. She looked at the cover and then at me. “Are you Linda Warren?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She looked at the cover again and frowned. “I thought you were Linda Howard.”
My puffed up ego deflated quickly. “No. I’m Linda Warren.”
She looked around as if she was lost. “I asked a lady what was going on and she said Linda was signing her latest book. I thought she meant Linda Howard.” She stared at the unwanted book in her hand.
I had to make the offer. “You don’t have to buy it. I’ll take it back.”
“But you signed it to me.”
Yes, I did—to a favorite fan. I smiled with effort. “It’s okay.”
She looked at the book again. “I’ll take it.” And she did.
Tip 5 – Be polite. Keep smiling even when the ego is in the dumpster and it hurts every muscle in your face. God bless Linda Howard.

The joy for me is that I get to meet all these wonderful readers who are unique, different and special. And they read my books. That’s a gift to me because without them I wouldn’t be writing.

How do you feel about book signings? With the popularity of ebooks, do you feel book signings will soon be a thing of the past? I’d hate to lose that one-on-one interaction with readers. What are your thoughts?

A winner will be drawn from the posts for a copy of The Texan’s Bride.
And your name will also go into a drawing for a Kindle that will be given away in November.

Thanks,
Linda