Books and Reading - Part One

Books and Reading - Part One

I didn’t start reading particularly early, at least that’s what my mother says, but my love for books did. As family folklore has it, at four years old I was found in my bed one night under the blankets with a flashlight and a copy of Winston Churchill’s memoir in my hands. I’m sure I was looking at the pictures of course but who knew it was the beginning of a life long love of books.

My first memories of books are from my mother. She often read to me and my siblings from a vast selection that included classics like Beatrice Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Jean de Brunhoff’s Babar’s Stories and of course favorites from the Dr. Seuss catalogue like Horton Hears A Who!, The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. I can recall the anxiousness of our weekly trips to the library excited by the countless shelves of books to choose from. But most of all what I remember from those early days was the monthly anticipation of what book would come in the mail from the “Beginner Books” series. Many of the titles remain indelibly marked in my memory: Come Over to My House, Sam and The Firefly, Stop That Ball! and A Fish Out Of Water to name but a few. They all captured my imagination and allowed me to go to that “other place” for a while.

My first memories of reading come in early elementary school with Fun with Dick and Jane series that led me back to “reading” the many titles my mother had already introduced me to. I read all of the books many times over in those early first years. It was my “other” world, though I don’t remember recognizing it as such. Then I remember a particular book from the “Beginner Books” series You Will Go To The Moon that led to the classic Danny and the Dinosaur and a fascination with space and science. The pictures made the stories come to life and the words I could now read made the pictures even more real. Reading and books were wonderful fun.

But then, like life, things changed.

In retrospect, it’s hard to discern exactly what took place. More words and fewer pictures were the trend in school. I began reading only for school. The fun of reading replaced by what looked a lot like work. Most of my reading was from textbooks. Oddly, I don’t remember much from those years.

And I don’t remember how long it lasted—but things changed again.

And change for the better they did. It was Frank W. Dixon’s (aka Leslie MacFarlane) Hardy Boys series that flipped my world upside down. My first Hardy Boy book was a birthday present. Reluctant to pick it up—reading meant school that meant work—it wasn’t long before I couldn’t get enough of Frank and Joe’s adventures. There were many: The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff and The Shore Road Mystery being amongst my favourite. I read dozens of them. Saving my allowance to buy each new hardcover released. It was probably the start of my preference for hardcovers to this day.

No doubt, MacFarlane’s ability to suspend my disbelief eventually finding it’s way into my own work.

But what happened next, rocked my world, and will follow in Part Two of Books and Reading.

Book Signings - A Gift To Authors - Part Three

Book Signing – A Gift to Authors – Part Three

Your day has arrived. Feeling a little anxious, a little insecure. Questioning your sanity. Those are all good signs that you’re not taking your book event lightly. Remember it takes guts to do what you’re about to take on. Is your book worth it? You better believe it is! You’ll likely be in a bookstore that sells titles from hundreds if not thousands of authors and you’re the only author there in person. What a privilege. Your stage is set.

You’re joining the few that are willing. Its not crowded.

Let’s get a few of the givens out of the way. From my last post:

• Books ✔
• Book cover poster ✔
• Pens ✔
• Bio and book description card (8-1/2”x11”) ✔
• Business cards ✔
• Bookmarks ✔

Now before I forget and missed earlier - “Promote your Event”. Any exposure you can get on TV, radio, or in print will help. The store will no doubt do some promotion. I provide small signs for posting. And last but not least take advantage of social media. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever works for you. Promote. Promote. Promote.

Now back to your event. I dress business casual. Not too dressy but not too casual either.

In the store have the poster of your book cover beside or behind the signing table. Keep nothing but your books and your small bio/book description card on the table. No clutter—coffee cups, water, food or anything else.

When someone stops and wants to know more about your book. Be ready with your 20-second “elevator” speech. Practice it until its part of you. Be respectful to your future readers’ time. Be prepared. Be present. Have your business cards ready for those who stop to talk about your book. Give away a bookmark when a reader buys your book.

I find the word “hello” is a magic icebreaker for those passing by. What takes place after that is often magical but be warned—often nothing happens at all. Find an approach you’re comfortable with. What works for one person may be a disaster for someone else.

Also, what I learned after several book events was to stand up. No one wants to interrupt someone sitting down. I know the authors we see are usually sitting down. It makes sense that an author sits to write. But unless you have a line-up in front of you with expectant readers waiting for their chance to see you—hint: you’re famous—stand up. Standing makes you more visible. It gets you in the game. You’re more attentive and aware. Remember it’s a privilege to be where you are in a bookstore. Anything representing a “careless” posture is disrespectful of potential readers and those working in the store.

Most of all though have fun with it.

That’s all for now. See you in the bookstore.

TDG

Book Signings - A Gift To Authors - Part Two

You’ve made the decision. Book signing it is. Congratulations! It’s a courageous step forward. Don’t look back but I warn you it’s only the beginning. And the courage part has just begun. We’ll get to that in part three. But now lets get to booking and preparing.

In part one, I spoke about booking a signing after that first meeting. It wasn’t my first signing to take place but it was the first one on my calendar. From there I started. First step was a phone call to a store. Did they do signings? Yes. Could I send them my information? Yes.

And so it began.

I spent time creating the email I sent to present myself as a new author in as compelling a light as I could manage with the little that I had to work with. Book reviews, interviews, trailer, any sort of thing I had on The Actor or myself as an author. Out it went to each store person I spoke to on the phone. In the beginning, each book signing often took several phone calls and numerous emails. I knew how important follow-up was and practice, I did. Always wanting a ‘yes’, I don’t stop until I have a ‘no’. Some of those stores I’m still talking to after two years. They haven’t yet said ‘no’ but I haven’t done a signing there either.

A book signing is one of the most ‘win-win’ situations I’ve ever experienced. Through my business life, I had come to dislike the ‘win-win’ expression as one party’s win more often than not resulted in the other party’s loss (cost). Here, all win—author, reader, publisher and bookstore. I will be first to acknowledge that book signings won’t work for everyone. Some authors dislike them too much and some personalities are not a good match, and for some it’s simply too much effort.

With book signings in the schedule, I then had to prepare. I learned a lot here mostly by doing things that didn’t work. I knew from my business background that I had to have a 20-second “elevator” speech. I had to be able to whet the appetite of a prospective reader of The Actor in 20 seconds. This might be the single most important thing for a new author to have for their book. No one wants to listen to someone ramble on and on about a book they’ve written. We’re all proud of our work but we have to remember that everyone else has a life too. Get it down and conversational.

Visibility might be one of the most important things at your signing. While we all want to sell books, getting your book seen is just as important. A two-by-three poster of the cover works. You’re in a bookstore. Be seen. You’ll likely have the privilege of being the only author in the bookstore that day from the hundreds if not thousands of authors with books represented there. Realize that privilege. You want readers leaving the bookstore remembering your book.

I have business cards that include the covers of both The Actor and The Drive In. I have them at the ready. After twenty or so book signings, I found bookmarks are a nice addition to anyone buying The Actor or The Drive In.

Now that you’re booked and prepared, my last book signing post will talk about being there and doing it.

Don't Start With The End In Mind

I’ve heard it over and over again, too many times. No doubt, you’ve heard it too—“start with the end in mind”. Many writers advocate such a plan. I’m not one of them.

It ruins all the fun. It containerizes me; keeps me in a box. It prevents the story from taking me somewhere I haven’t gone before. Creativity is not about knowing the end before you begin. Creativity is about discovery. Writing fiction is about discovery. It’s about venturing on a new journey. Pulling from experiences—some new, some old, some imagined—and letting the story take me where it chooses.

Knowing the end feels mechanical and constrained like I’m going through the motions. I never want to feel that way. I’ll stop writing when that happens. Maybe the story doesn’t turn out how I thought it was going to in the beginning. It takes courage to let a story direct its own path. It can be scary venturing off the worn one.

There is a place for knowing how things will end. I know a bit about that. It was an integral part of my engineering world and the reason why it’s a profession. There’s a responsibility for knowing how the end will turn out. We want the wheels to stay on our cars and airplanes to stay in the air. We want those equations filled out with the upmost of correctness. We want the end result to be the right answer.

But in creating a story, “starting with the end in mind” seems like reading the end of a book before the start. Spoiler alert, spoiler alert! What’s the point of the story then? Why write if I know where I’m going to end.

I can’t think of a story I’ve started knowing how it will turn out. Sometimes the end comes sooner than I anticipate but often it’s the other way around. I want to follow where the story leads me. It’s part of discovering what’s inside me—the good, the bad and the ugly—and how the story pulls it out of me. Seeing the connections that weren’t at first apparent and being fooled by what I thought were.

My love for the physical aspects of writing likely had a hand in this as well. I love the feel of holding a pen in my hand and watching the words and sentences come out on a fresh, blank piece of paper. Writing simply lead to the story.

That said I usually have some idea of what I want to write about and at least a character’s name. My characters almost always start as a name.

It’s fun yet intimidating to follow where a story takes me. Life is like that and that’s what I write about.

It brings to mind a quote from Frank Herbert, author of the sci-fi magnum opus Dune. “There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” Such a realization makes it all but impossible to “start with the end in mind”.

Book Signings - A Gift to Authors - Part One

Book Signings - A Gift to Authors - Part One

For something I had decided I wasn’t going to do, in-store book signings have turned out to be an activity that in my book world now follows writing and reading.

My initial reluctance was really related to my own reservations and confidence. My thinking was that
book lovers and constant readers go into a bookstore to find a book and a shelf to get away from the world in for a while. Why would I want to interrupt such a fabulous pastime? I decided I didn’t.

Then a very fortuitous meeting, quite by happenstance, took place while visiting one of Canada’s national book chain stores. I was trying to find a way to get The Actor (my STARBook awarded novel) onto their bookshelves. The store manager confronted me with the question: “Why would we want your book on our shelves? Nobody knows who you are.”

Wow! And to think this hardwood head of mine actually heard what the book manager was saying. The Actor would take up valuable shelf space, and unless somebody knew about The Actor and valued its story, it was going to stay on the shelf hogging space that an otherwise known book might take. I had to find a way to change that. But as I said, this was a meeting of good fortune that changed everything for me and what followed.

The book manager asked me a question after a short exchange, perhaps seeing the glimmer of determination in my eye: “Have you thought about doing book signings?” I, of course with my naïve expertise, explained (whined) as to why I had decided not to do them. It wasn’t "the way". But the “magic” came in the manager’s next question: “Where else are you going to go and talk about your book and your work for a couple of hours, in a bookstore and—no guarantees here—possibly sell a couple of books?” I couldn’t answer that question. In fact it made so much sense that I booked my first signing there and then – technically not my first “signing”, but rather my first “booking”, eight months away. The reason for the date being so far out, as I later found out from the manager, was because he never expected to hear from me again.

All that is in the past now, after 75 book signings in our national book chain of Indigo-Chapters stores across Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. In fact, in July I reached a milestone 1000^th book from a book signing.

While having no desire to become a “carnival barker” at the front of a bookstore, I figured if I could have professional career as an engineer and still become an author, I could likely find a way to become comfortable promoting my books. That comfort has mysteriously become love. I love talking about books and writing with almost anyone, but especially with book lovers and constant readers. Mix in my love of movies and music, and it’s a wicked combination of fun and discussion.

Signings may not work for everyone, but for me its great way to get in touch with readers and book lovers. Today it feels a little unfair, as I take away so much from the interesting people I meet at each signing. Many have touched my life in ways they’ll never know. As the great Stephen King once said, “it all goes in”. But remember, none of this makes one iota of difference without first writing the book that you love.

I’ll talk more about how to actually book a signing in my next post.

TDG