Squawk Radio

This is a photo of my most recent booksigning. I was with fellow Blaze authors Susan Kearney, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Karen Kendall and Cara Summers. As you can see, the place was absolutely SWARMING with readers, clambering all over each other to get at our books. There was a frenzied energy in the air that was unmistakable. We couldn’t sign copies fast enough. Some people wanted two, even three books signed. We went through scores of books in less than an hour. THIS is how a booksigning should always be.

Of course, if books were given away free at other booksignings, as they were at this one, they probably WOULD always be this way. Unfortunately, they almost never are.

I’ve never met an author who said, “Oh, I LOVE booksignings. I sell hundreds of books at every one.” Speaking for myself, I’m lucky to sell a dozen books at a typical signing. Even the time I specifically set up a signing at a mall bookstore for my book THE WEDDING to coincide with a bridal fair occurring the same weekend, I hardly moved any copies. Oh, I chatted with LOTS of people, answering burning questions like, “Is their a ladies’ room nearby?” and “Where are the children’s books?” and “I don’t have a receipt; can I still return this magazine?” and “Want to try Auntie Anne’s new garlic pretzel?” But I’m not sure how much good all that PR actually did my career. (Though I must say the garlic pretzel was pretty !@#$%ing good.)

Nowadays, I don’t do signings unless there’s another author there with whom I can pass the time when I’m not selling scores of books. (Or, um, not selling one book. Ahem.) At least that way I can use the opportunity to catch up with writer friends or make new ones. And, on the outside chance someone DOES come up to the table while I’m back in the children’s section shopping for my son or over in magazines flipping through the latest VANITY FAIR, there’s someone there to yell, “Hey, Liz! Got a live one out here!” and bring me scurrying back.

There are a few exceptions, of course, those handfuls of bookstores and booksellers that specialize in Romance and go out of their way to make signings a massive success. My local new/used store, A Thousand and One Paperbacks, is such a place. The owner there has hosted several signings for me (along with fellow Squawker Terri), complete with refreshments and flowers and lots and lots of faithful customers and readers. Those signings are delightful, and make all the “Where’s the bathroom?” signings fade into faint memory. I’ve e-mailed with other booksellers who are likewise enthusiastic about hosting authors and do a great job. To those people, all of us here at Squawk Radio send out a HUGE roar of “Thank you!”

Still, even the less-than-stellar signing experiences offer us writers some meager opportunity to meet the people who read and love our books. If even one person comes to a signing to tell us she’s read and enjoyed our latest or previous efforts, it makes all the difference in the world. It will be that one reader whom we tuck into our memory, that one reader for whom we will agree to a next signing, even though, to paraphrase Han Solo, we got a bad feeling about this...

So what brings readers to a signing? Or what keeps readers away? Who knows of an especially caring bookseller in her area? We Squawkers are always on the lookout whenever we hit the road.