Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Book Signing Success

Samson, my photo-happy buddy on the Pittsburgh trip, shared the photos he had taken last week, including the ones of his meals. You can see several of them (sans the food pictures) on my flickr thingy by clicking here.

Samson took some great pictures of the book signing I did at Barnes & Noble, and speaking of which, I have to say I am completely impressed with the B&N folks. About a month before the event, when I’d contacted a few stores, the downtown location booked me in, but another location, in a Pittsburgh burb was already booked up but did offer to order in copies of my book if I was willing to swing by and sign copies.

Thank God for that, because on the day before my signing, I got a call from Leeann, the Promotions Manager at B&N downtown. My book hadn’t arrived, despite the fact that Ingram was showing over 100 copies in stock, and when she called the B&N distribution centre, they told her the stock wouldn’t arrive before the signing. I remembered the Squirrel Hill store had stock, so told Leeann. They were willing to transfer the stock over, and that night after work, Leeann went to pick up that stock. Excellent save.

The signing went well (which means I actually sold some copies of the book), a lot of my friends in the WPC Scripting class showed up to show their support as well, which was really cool. And the B&N staff read from a series of three different announcements I had prepared for the event every fifteen minutes. Apart from the overwhelmingly efficient, courteous, organized, supportive and friendly staff at the Sudbury Chapters, this B&N hosted the best bookstore event I’ve participated in as an author.

And I can say, without a lie, that it was the very best and most successful signing I’ve ever done in the U.S. (yeah, okay, it’s the only one I’ve done south of the 49th parallel -- but I did make a promise to the wonderful B&N folks at the Monroeville Mall, 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh, that the next time I’m in town I’ll be sure to arrange something with their store. It is, after all, only a 6 hour drive from my steeltown to that steeltown.

7 comments:

lime said...

hey that's terrific! congrats. so glad to hear it was so productive and positive!

Magdalena said...

Congrats Mark! In the end, it is all about networking and getting yourself out there. And you never know where your book might travel to and who might pick it up as a result of your signing there. This could very well be the beginning of great things.

Jen said...

Very exciting!

Sheri said...

Wonderful!! I'm glad the book signing did so well. Have you releaseda any of your books at Bookcrossing.com? I love doing that!

Mark Leslie said...

Thanks, everyone.

Ameratis, LOL. If I ever sign a book to a "Billie Rae Bubba Joe" I'll certainly call to tell you about it.

Sheri - I have released my book on bookcrossing. Bookcrossing is an awesome thing. One of the books of mine I released never got picked up off the GO Train seat (a local commuter train) I left it on, and the other did make some "planned release" rounds through the U.S. and is now somewhere in British Columbia.

Zephyr said...

Glad the signing went so well... sounds like quite the fortuitous combination of events! That's got to be one of the best parts of being an author... to actually watch people choosing to buy YOUR book. It must give you shivers.

Oh wait. I've read a bit of your writing. I suppose you don't get shivers easily. *wink*

Tish said...

I'm happy to hear that the signing went so well! I'm going to have to get a copy of One Hand Screaming. How can I get a signed copy?