Amarillo World Headquarters

Tee-ball practice went well. Thanks for asking.

So I call the headquarters of Hastings, and get a fellow by the name of Jason Haugen on the line. And, naturally enough, his first reaction toward me is one of guarded suspicion. He suggests that I send a copy of my book to the chain's book buyer, Mollie Quinn. This strikes me as Not Right, as Nebraska has a pretty solid grasp on the whole book distribution concept, and I'd seen titles from the "Frontiers of the Imagination Series" in Hastings before. I ask if there's any way to check if Quinn had already received a copy, so he agrees to check the company warehouse database (or whatever their distribution equivalent is) and is obviously surprised when my book turns up. At that point, he starts giving me real, useful advice. I am to email him with the locations of any stores I want to do a signing at with at least six weeks' advance notice, so they can can arrange marketing and order stock. After a bit of discussion, he decided that early evenings (around 6-8 p.m.) on Fridays and Saturdays would likely offer me the best chance for a successful signing, as the younger (and presumably more science fictionally-inclined) crowd, comes in at those times. He suggested that the College Station and Round Rock stores should be high priorities for me, as they've always had particularly strong SF sales for the chain, and have SF fans in management. He also suggested that I always maintain an author's cache of 10-15 books to take along to signings. Occasionally a title will be backordered, or a shipment misdirected, and the easiest way to kill a booksigning is to not have any books available. In that event, consignment is a viable option for me. It saves me the loss of my time and effort, and the bookstore presumably makes sales they wouldn't have otherwise, while being impressed by my professionalism.

In addition to the two stores I mentioned above, I'm also strongly inclined to schedule signings in New Braunfels and San Marcos (no-brainers) along with Seguin, Killeen, Waco and Victoria.

I have no delusions of selling dozens of books with people crowding up to get my signature. But if I could sign maybe 10 books at each stop, and get them to stock another five or so on their shelves, that would begin to add up after a while.

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