Survived another couple of signings

I made it through my signings in Seguin and Round Rock relatively intact. Seguin had a surprisingly large number of pierced, high school skater folk come through, which is not the best crowd for me. When two asked what I was doing, I pitched a short concept of the whole book signing thing, then, figuring "What the heck?" asked if they'd read any Gaiman (Gaiman being the closest thing to "hip" these not-quite-goths might be interested in). The two looked as me in utter astonishment, blurted out "Reading!?" then laughed their way across the store. Fortunately, I sold a few books, passed out some more reading lists and met a number of nice people. The customers in Seguin seemed pleased in general that an author would do a signing in their town, because I had half a dozen people come up and congratulate me on my book--but none of those people were impressed enough to actually buy one. The staff was very nice as well, although they were somewhat confused when I arrived and tried to have me fill out a bunch of consignment paperwork. I corrected this notion (to their advantage) because with consignment, I'd have taken a direct cut of any sales at the end of the night, as well as packed up any unsold books and taken them with me. Since the store'd gotten then via their usual distribution channels, they'd have basically taken the whole thing as a loss. Fortunately for them, I'm an honest sort.

The Round Rock signing was unique in that more of the sales staff were science fiction and comics fans, and came up and talked to me. Some had already read my book and discussed particular interviews--in the few minutes they could spare while on the job. I also had more customers come up and talk to me for extended periods about my book, interviews and science fiction in general. The husband of a fan of Elizabeth Moon's (and also a fencing opponent of her on occasion) said hi, as did a fan of Charles de Lint. Intellectually, it was the most stimulating of the three signings I've done, but paradoxically, I sold fewer books there than at either of my previous two stops. Funny how that happens.

My next signing, I believe, is Friday, June 10 at the San Marcos Hastings. It will be interesting to see how that compares to the other three--particularly since most of the university students are gone for the summer.

By the by, I've got a lot of stuff going this week, so won't likely be posting much, if at all. So if the stream of Gibberish falls silent, you don't have to stay up at night worrying.

Now Playing: The Beach Boys Endless Summer