Mark's Ad Hoc Self-Promo Rules

I was able to make contact with two Barnes and Noble locations in Pittsburgh yesterday. I'll be spending a week in Pittsburgh March 13 to 17 for work related training with IBM. I figured that while I was in town I'd see if I might try to set up a booksigning or two.

The Barnes and Noble in Squirrel Hill seems very receptive to hosting events and particularly to genre authors. Horror author and PA resident Michael A. Arnzen was kind enough to share with me a positive experience he had doing a signing at that particular location. But they were already tightly booked with events. The manager I spoke with did offer to order in stock of my book if I was willing to swing by the store and sign that stock for them; which I thought was a very generous offer. I'll certainly be taking advantage of that. And if there happen to be any signed copies of Michael's books in that location, I'm certainly going to be picking up some copies while I'm there.

I also spoke with the Barnes and Noble downtown, and, while we still haven't solidified anything, there's a possibility I'll be doing a lunchtime signing when I'm in town (being a downtown location, lunch time is their busiest time slot, and my hotel and training building are right downtown as well, just a few blocks away from this location).

This all just sums up one of Mark's Ad-Hoc Self Promo Rules. If you're travelling either for business or personal reasons, it's always a good idea to scout ahead and see if there might be an opportunity to connect with or make arrangements for an appearance at a local book store while you're in town.

It never hurts to try. In this case, I was delightfully surprised at how receptive the managers I spoke with were to even speaking with me, particularly with me being an unknown "foreign" author.

I think I'm going to like Pittsburgh. It's a steel town, after all, just like my good old Hamilton. I'm sure I'll feel right at home.