Setting out my stall
4 November 2013
Yesterday was a first for me. I had been invited to attend “Who’s in the Library”, an event which was taking place at Mansfield Library and although it was a 250-mile round trip, I had never done a book signing before and on the basis that I might never get asked again...
Elaine made the trek down to Nottinghamshire too – just so that there would be one person in the building that had actually heard of me! The special guest at the Doctor Who-themed afternoon was Nick Briggs, who is currently the man behind the voice of the Daleks. We received a warm welcome and Joanne, who had organised the event, had arranged a table and lovely little display for me – as the photo shows.
I had no idea what to expect, but beforehand, I had told Elaine that selling ten books would be more than I could have hoped for. After twenty minutes, I would have settled for selling one book, because nobody seemed to notice my little stall. But then some interest, a bit of a chat, and a sale!
And then another, and another. Three books – that was the petrol cost covered. One more book and we could get a bite to eat too!
I would guess there were about one hundred and fifty people at the event, including a few dressed as various incarnations of the Doctor (which was a bit on an eye-opener!). Plenty of people came over for a chat, I was even asked to sign a few autographs – I did try and talk my way out of it, but they absolutely insisted. I also had a quick natter with Nick Briggs – he seems like a nice bloke. I gave him a copy of the book, so that’ll be the last I hear from him!
In all, I sold eleven books. Perhaps that’s nothing to an established author, but I was genuinely thrilled. I have no idea whether or not I’ll be asked to do anything like this again – obviously I hope so – but it was great to be invited to this event and I’m certainly looking forward to finding out what the good folk of Mansfield thought of my book!
Elaine made the trek down to Nottinghamshire too – just so that there would be one person in the building that had actually heard of me! The special guest at the Doctor Who-themed afternoon was Nick Briggs, who is currently the man behind the voice of the Daleks. We received a warm welcome and Joanne, who had organised the event, had arranged a table and lovely little display for me – as the photo shows.
I had no idea what to expect, but beforehand, I had told Elaine that selling ten books would be more than I could have hoped for. After twenty minutes, I would have settled for selling one book, because nobody seemed to notice my little stall. But then some interest, a bit of a chat, and a sale!
And then another, and another. Three books – that was the petrol cost covered. One more book and we could get a bite to eat too!
I would guess there were about one hundred and fifty people at the event, including a few dressed as various incarnations of the Doctor (which was a bit on an eye-opener!). Plenty of people came over for a chat, I was even asked to sign a few autographs – I did try and talk my way out of it, but they absolutely insisted. I also had a quick natter with Nick Briggs – he seems like a nice bloke. I gave him a copy of the book, so that’ll be the last I hear from him!
In all, I sold eleven books. Perhaps that’s nothing to an established author, but I was genuinely thrilled. I have no idea whether or not I’ll be asked to do anything like this again – obviously I hope so – but it was great to be invited to this event and I’m certainly looking forward to finding out what the good folk of Mansfield thought of my book!