my kids will be playing in milwaukee tonight in case anybody from milwaukee happens to spot this. love the poster designed by tom stack of stackmatic.
they play saturday night at the Picador in Iowa City. It's the grand opening of what used to be Gabe's Oasis. I saw Frank Black there several years ago. Hottest i've ever been in my life. bet i lost ten pounds in 3 hours.
september is going to be crazy. i'll be doing some traveling, visiting friends and relatives, book signings. i have something coming up i'm really looking forward to. nothing to do with writing. not sure it's going to happen, so i won't mention it yet, but stay tuned.
edit: oops. almost forgot to mention that i did make it to once upon a crime last night. not a great turnout for stuart's signing, but decent. i've really seen signing participation drop drastically over the past few years, and i wonder if there are just too many writers doing signings.
16 comments:
hmmm... I take allergy drugs year round and don't feel flattened by them. Maybe a different med?
Congratulations on the rough draft! Woohoo! It's all just tweaking and rewrites from here on in.
And yes, that is a great poster.
bethany, i think i've tried all of them! if i stayed on it i would probably adjust.
thanks, stephen! i love all of tom stack's bird art. wonderful stuff.
I started a great long rant about book signings, but lost it.
In short, I don't think they promote them very well, at least not around here.
And I want a Total Fucking Blood to wear to the Alexander McCall Smith event in October. :)
Did you get to talk to Stuart?
sandra, here they really promote them. it was in the free weekly papers, it was in the daily papers, emails and mailings. i think some sort of buzz has to go along with it.
i'll keep working on that t-shirt!
i did talk to stuart. and when i mentioned you he mumbled something about condolences. :O
Congrats on the first draft being done! I noticed that on your little word bar before I read the post! WOOHOO!!!
I hate allergy medicine as well...refuse to take it, but then i suffer. Sometimes I wonder what's better, being drugged or having a stuffy head all the time.
I've noticed the drop off as well. They advertise signings in the local paper here on Sundays (in LA also) but that's about it. It seems the book stores will put up a little standy thing in the actual store, but nothing more. I was pissed awhile back because I happened to not read the Sunday paper one week and I came into a Borders one hour after Anne Rice was signing. I missed her by ONE HOUR and I had NO clue she was going to be there. I lived about 5 blocks from the store and hadn't heard a word. Bad advertising there if you ask me!
LOVE the poster for the band. Veddy, veddy cool.
I don't know about the book signings - I've only been to a few & they were all pretty well packed. Then again, the Poisoned Pen does a fair amount of promo & all the signing events are listed on their monthly book mailing. Too bad about Stuart's event, but great that you got to go! Here's hoping the allergies take a hike you can get back to feeling better.
That poster is great. Congrats on the first draft! Very exciting. A little early, right? I seem to remember you saying your goal was by end of August. Of course, I just went to see Snakes on a Plane, and that could be causing any number of neurons to misfire. (Capsule review: sure, why not? I mean, come on, Samuel L. Jackson and snakes. On a plane.)
In the book signings I've been to, seems like they're either packed, or it's me and an author chatting at the table. I enjoy both from a reader's perspective, but I always wish those with just me had more attendees for the author's sake. But it is nice to have dibs.
tami, that's so strange that they didn't publicize anne rice more than that! wow. i wonder what kind of crowd she drew? i remember reading that people used to line up for blocks when she had signings.
angie, i think a lot of it depends on the store skill at getting the word out. also buzz within the store itself.
i also wonder about location within a town. for instance last night i was stuck in stop and go traffic on the interstate. ugh. i usually avoid that kind of thing at all costs. i just don't even try to go to that area of town that time of the day. i wonder if people are less willing to go out of their way to attend not only book signings but special movie screenings, etc. an increase in homicides might also keep people away. the bookstore isn't in a bad area, but right no the edge of one. that would never keep me away, but it might some people who live in the burbs and don't know the area.
bill, you're right about getting it done early! i didn't take my usual 100 page break, because i wanted to finished before the end of august. pushing ahead almost killed me. i'm getting too old for writing marathons.
and i agree about turnouts. i've seen a lot that are either well-attended of not attended at all. i need a gimmick. i keep thinking a band and fog machine might be nice.
That twerp! I bought three of his books at Harrogate and lugged them home on the plane and this is the thanks I get?
That's it! I'm telling all about him and the sheep and the patio stones!
Congratulations on finishing the first draft.
As far as the allergy meds, maybe a change in the weather will allow you to wean off of them.
Good luck to The Chambermaids! And that is a cool poster.
You could try giving out coupons for free White Castle's at your signing.
And I'll throw in a few $1 off coupons for JNEP products and services if you want them. :)
thanks, jeff. :) i noticed i wasn't as stupid for as many hours today, so there might be hope for me.
white castles. hmmm. i haven't had one of those in years, but i did recently watch the movie.
i really like idea of JNEP coupons!
sandra, i do believe he also mentioned sheep... and goats. and testicles. a lot of testicle talk. oh and be sure to ask him the title of his next book if you haven't already heard. i think it will fly off the shelves, but i don't feel right posting it here.
Congratulations on your first draft! I'll be happy just to get my outline and synopsis done!
I wonder if part of the reason for a dropoff in signing attendance is that people are burned out from being so busy all the time. It seems like people just don't get out as much anymore in general. Then again, aybe that's just Phoenix because our traffic has gotten so bad and we're not used to it like the rest of y'all.
thanks, elizabeth. i think you're so right about people being too busy. that's probably a huge part of it.
well done on the draft!
thanks, jude! could you see me wiping a hand across my forehead? ;)
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