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Binghamton University Signing
Oct. 20th, 2008 05:42 pmThis past weekend was Homecoming Weekend for Binghamton University, where I got my PhD in mathematics. Since I happen to know the bookstore owner, at the last minute I ended up doing a signing. So I was there from noon to 4pm, sitting at a table at the front entrance, stacks of books beside me . . . and I discovered once again that there is a disconnect between what people see and their logic circuits.
It was impossible for people not to see me as they came in the door. Most of those coming in were Binghamton alumni of course. I nodded and smiled to each. I also had chocolate displayed as a way to lure unsuspecting victims to the table, just in case. During the first hour or so, I was asked repeatedly by those who not only made eye contact and nodded (and perhaps smiled) whether or not I was the author.
So I ask: Who else would I be? There are stacks of books, all by the same author. There's a table. There's a sign, rather large, saying the author will be there from noon to 4pm signing copies of his books. I was the only person near the table. And I was holding a pen.
In any case, I managed to sell a few books during that time period. During a fit of boredom, I decided I'd been asked the question with the obvious answer enough times to warrant a sign. So with my pen and some paper scavanged from the sign, I wrote up another sign:
Yes, I am the author!
And underneath:
BU Alum 2005
I have to say that many, many more people actually stopped at the table after that. Some because they thought the fact that I had to make such a sign amused them, but others because they honestly hadn't realized I was the author. And as I said in my post on signings, what you're actually selling at a signing is not the book, but yourself. So the sign was extremely helpful. Enough that in the future I will always make a sign (a crude sign, as if I was forced to make it on the spot) that proclaims that yes, indeed, I am the author. Because after I made that sign, I sold another 5 books, in half the time I'd sold 2 before that.
And why did I sell the books? Well, because they actually stopped to talk to me. Some because the sign drew them in, with its innate humor, and they found me humorous, so they bought the book. Others because they stopped and talked about me and BU and what I'd gotten my degree in, which was amusing because I'm a mathematics Phd and yet I'd been publishing fantasy. In the end, it didn't matter why they stopped. THEY STOPPED.
So the signing ended up being both fun and educational. Hopefully I'll be back again during such events, with sign in hand. Becuase I've learned my lesson, that's for sure. *grin*
It was impossible for people not to see me as they came in the door. Most of those coming in were Binghamton alumni of course. I nodded and smiled to each. I also had chocolate displayed as a way to lure unsuspecting victims to the table, just in case. During the first hour or so, I was asked repeatedly by those who not only made eye contact and nodded (and perhaps smiled) whether or not I was the author.
So I ask: Who else would I be? There are stacks of books, all by the same author. There's a table. There's a sign, rather large, saying the author will be there from noon to 4pm signing copies of his books. I was the only person near the table. And I was holding a pen.
In any case, I managed to sell a few books during that time period. During a fit of boredom, I decided I'd been asked the question with the obvious answer enough times to warrant a sign. So with my pen and some paper scavanged from the sign, I wrote up another sign:
Yes, I am the author!
And underneath:
BU Alum 2005
I have to say that many, many more people actually stopped at the table after that. Some because they thought the fact that I had to make such a sign amused them, but others because they honestly hadn't realized I was the author. And as I said in my post on signings, what you're actually selling at a signing is not the book, but yourself. So the sign was extremely helpful. Enough that in the future I will always make a sign (a crude sign, as if I was forced to make it on the spot) that proclaims that yes, indeed, I am the author. Because after I made that sign, I sold another 5 books, in half the time I'd sold 2 before that.
And why did I sell the books? Well, because they actually stopped to talk to me. Some because the sign drew them in, with its innate humor, and they found me humorous, so they bought the book. Others because they stopped and talked about me and BU and what I'd gotten my degree in, which was amusing because I'm a mathematics Phd and yet I'd been publishing fantasy. In the end, it didn't matter why they stopped. THEY STOPPED.
So the signing ended up being both fun and educational. Hopefully I'll be back again during such events, with sign in hand. Becuase I've learned my lesson, that's for sure. *grin*
