Jeri Smith-Ready

Stock signings

Cruised around the Greater Baltimore area today signing stock, i.e., going into bookstores and signing copies of Eyes of Crow so that they can put little "Signed by the Author" stickers on the covers, which presumably encourage sales.*

All the booksellers were friendly. One told me I was by far the nicest author who had come in to sign stock. He said they'd had three recently who acted like total prima donnas and ordered the staff to gather all their copies so they could sign them. No 'please' or 'thank you' or any sign of respect. He told me one of their names, so if I ever meet her, I'll know she's secretly a Jerkface.

I apologized on behalf of my kind. But really, what kind of nitwit treats booksellers like servants?

Yay to Barnes & Noble--all of them had Eyes of Crow face out on the bookshelves. One of them, the beautiful B&N in Ellicott City, MD, had it on their New in Paperback table at the front of the store:


Best of all, to me, was the Borders in Columbia, MD, where I've spent quite a few paychecks, even though it's located in the sadistically designed Columbia Crossing Shopping Center, where, if it weren't for the aid of a helicopter and laser-guided GPS, I would still be sitting in Christmas 2002 traffic.

Many times I've walked through those doors, looked at the front tables and thought, "maybe, someday I'll get a book out here--no, who am I kidding? " Even after I got the Luna contract, I didn't think it would happen. I thought those spaces were reserved for Big Time Authors, whose publishers paid dearly for that real estate.

Turns out, store managers can decide which books to put out front (within limits--some of those spaces are sold ahead of time). If they think the cover is cool or the concept is attractive, or maybe if they've read the book and liked it, they can put wherever they bloody well please.

So my old favorite bookstore had four copies of my book on the front table. I thanked them profusely for making my dream come true. The manager said they were Borders' #1 seller in the country in the SF/Fantasy and Young Adult categories (my mom suggested it might be because of the proximity to Goddard Space Flight Center and NSA--lots of geeky readers with smart kids).

Then I took my husband to Great Sage Restaurant in Clarksville, where we stuffed ourselves silly with delicious vegetarian food.

So much for being an author. Time to go back to being a writer and finish this book. I might not blog again until Monday. Can you say 'crunch time'? I knew you could.


*Studies showed that "Licked by the Author" labels were less successful.

Labels: Eyes of Crow

• posted by Jeri @ 7:35 PM
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