Please join Eldon at the Barnes & Noble in Santa Clarita on Friday evening,
July 22nd, where he will be signing books and otherwise doing what he can to
make a nuisance of himself.
For additional inquiries, please contact Cecilia at 661-254-6604.
"Given all the horror stories that authors bandy about regarding
these events, I went into this with more than a little trepidation.
In the end, however, it wasn't nearly as scary as it could have
been. Granted, I am an unknown author, and unknown authors don't
draw crowds, no matter how well publicized an event may be.
Therefore, there were no fans lined up when I arrived, and only one
person who made the trip specifically to see me. Nevertheless, I had
expected as much, and was not concerned. My only concern was in
doing my best to make the event worth the effort of those who had
organized it.
To that end, I greeted pretty much everyone who walked in the
door. It was pretty easy to do, given the positioning of my signing
table. The store's community relations manager, Cecilia Yung, placed
me near a giant stack of Harry Potter books, right near the
entrance. My first question to any potential reader was always, 'Do
you read fantasy?' It seems to me that those who tend to read
fantasy do so with great zeal, while those who don't are often bent
against doing so. Since I'm not much of a salesman, I didn't want to
annoy those in the latter category with further questions if their
response to my first was a negative one.
That said, there were in fact a small number of non-fantasy
readers who picked up a copy for a spouse or child, proving that it
never hurts to ask. And there were some pleasant conversations with
others who didn't. I've always been told that the purpose of these
events is not necessarily to sell books, but to get to know
bookstore employees and help to create a friendly atmosphere for
their customers. So that's what I tried to do.
Still, no one wants to leave behind a great big pile of unsold
books for the store to return to their warehouse. While I don't know
what the store's expectation was, I think we did pretty well. We
didn't come close to selling out, but we could have done much worse,
by my estimation. Hopefully, I'll be invited back, and will be able
to do even better next time.
My thanks go out to Jim Urbanovich, who brought his wife Rene and
their four children in to pick up a book and say hello. And a great
big thanks to my youngest brother, Billy, who made the drive from
Pasadena and helped out the entire time. I also enjoyed meeting
bestselling author Rosalie Maggio, who was there to sign and promote
her newest book, The Art of Talking to Anyone. Rosalie was
incredibly kind and professional, and set a great example. Finally,
my sincere appreciation to Cecilia Yung and all of her fellow
employees who contributed to this event. Thanks for taking the
trouble, and for proving my early fears to be unfounded."