At the sign of the woot

Posted by: Jessa Slade

Currently working on: Book 2 of The Marked Souls

Mood: Late

I haven't signed my book yet, since it's not out until October, but I have already learned valuable lessons here this month:

• Be able to point out the nearest restroom.
• Bring your own chocolate.
• Seriously consider whether being a signing author actually is preferable to major dental surgery without anesthesia

But I'll have to try it, of course, if only to have my own horror story -- and hopefully an inspirational message too -- to someday share.

For now, all I have in the way of funny booksigning stories is this: I took my XY to a friend's booksigning once. (A male. At a romance booksigning. Yeah, see how that's funny alreayd?) Since my XY is a musician, we see a lot of rock shows. So at the booksigning, when they introduced my friend, my XY wooted. Loudly. Like you'd do in a dark nightclub full of half-deaf hipsters when the amps are already cranked to 9. All the romance ladies around us turned to stare. My XY asked, "Don't writers woot?"

I think the lesson here is we all need to woot more for our signing authors.

So here's your task, a literary rockstar theme song meme I ran across on the web awhile back. It goes a little something like this:

Find a song that sums up what you think it means to be a writer and post the lyrics on your blog and why you've chosen it. It doesn't have to be your favourite song, it just has to express how you feel about writing and/or being a writer. It can be literal, metaphorical, about a particular form or aspect of writing - whatever you want.

My literary rockstar theme song is Fugazi's Waiting Room. For more, click here. So what's yours?

Signings funny and not-so

Posted by: Lisa Hendrix

Currently Working On: Immortal Champion and losing 45 pounds

Mood: Exposed (see my new weight-loss blog, New Year, New Ass, and find out why). Also sad (see my regular blog for this one).

I have no funny signing stories of my own, so I'm going to tell one on Stella Cameron that I've heard her tell many times:

Some years ago, Stella was at a group signing in a mall in Washington state.  As per usual, she had set out a bowl of M&Ms by her spot and was merrily signing books when a nice-looking lady came up, picked up the bowl of M&Ms and...wait for it...dumped them into her purse. 

ALL of them.

In her PURSE!

Stella is a genteel English woman, and in her shock and dismay, said nothing at all as the woman walked off. When she recovered, she got more M&Ms, refilled the bowl, and continued signing books.

A little later, the same woman came sauntering back down the mall headed to her car, spotted the fresh M&Ms, and headed for the bowl.  Stella forgot she was a genteel English woman and dove across the table, snatching the M&Ms away just in the nick of time. The woman got huffy. 

With Stella.

Fail...

----

My personal story is a little less, um, amusing:

Years ago, I had a Saturday book signing on an island in Puget Sound which shall not be named in case the store owner is reading this (tho' I doubt the store is still open, and you'll see why).  This book signing had been set up for nearly three months. There had been several phone calls discussing the signing. All was set.  Then my husband was called out of town on business, so I hurriedly made arrangements with a friend on the same island to watch my then-3-year-old son during the signing. I drove 40 miles or so, took a ferry at some expense, then drove another 10 or 15 miles to the bookstore.

Where I found an old, wobbly card table and two books.

Two.  (Note:  at least they hadn't lost them, like they did Heather's)

No tablecloth. No chair. And no freaking ADVERTISING.

Yep, I had schlepped myself and my kid something like 60 car miles and a 40 minute/$6.50 ferry ride (that's 1994 dollars) to a bookstore where they thought two books made a signing. Thank goodness I had been forewarned about such occurrences. Thanks to advice from Debbie Macomber and Linda Lael Miller, I had, in the back of my car, a paper tablecloth, autographed copy stickers, and—the key to success—a dozen books.

I quickly covered the ugly table, made the store owner find me a chair and a not-too-ugly bowl, ran next door for a giant bag of M&Ms,  a la Stella, and proceeded to sell every available copy--basically one to every other person who happened to walk through the door that day.

These days, I travel with stand-up covers and posters, a real tablecloth sized for banquet tables, duct tape to tailor the tablecloth to a smaller table if needed, markers for sign-making, candy and an unbreakable but nice-looking bowl, stickers, promotional materials and giveaways (bookmarks, postcards, etc.), signing pens that don't bleed through the book paper, props according to book, various other things to make the table stand out and/or look nice, and at least a CASE of books, and usually a second case full of backlist books.

Always.  Always, always, always.

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  

Stella taught me that. 

How about you?  What have you learned from a romance author about how to take care of/stand up for yourself?