A small local coffee shop advertised an author signing. Since I had to be in the area, I attended, to make a fellow author feel better. Having sat in that chair and been through that stress, I vowed to buy a book, regardless how good or bad it was. After all, it takes guts to do a signing.

I walked in and felt instant pity. If she sold a book to other than me or one of her family members, I would be surprised. Walking away, I saw lessons worth mentioning in this newsletter.

1) The books were overpriced.

People will ask, “How much are they?” Be prepared to answer and don’t elaborate further unless you can offer a better price for multiple books.

The answer this dear lady gave me was “They are $24.95.” The books were maybe 50 pages and paperback. She launched into a soft rant (she was sweet and soft-spoken) about how books are expensive and that an author cannot make any money selling books anyway. I told her I was an author (and I stopped there, not wanting to steal any of her spotlight), and I understood how expensive the business was and the low-profit margin of a book. But she continued to say how the book industry wasn’t worth the trouble and came across so pitifully negative.

2) The books were clearly, obviously, self-published.

The covers were amateurish, the formatting a bit messy. She spoke of the books with love, though, which I appreciated. However, if I hadn’t vowed to buy a book, I would have walked away. I always look at the publisher of a book, and she admitted she published her own books, something I’d already figured out.

3) She only took cash.

She even had a chocolate candy box on the table to take the money, like a garage sale. Here I was TRYING to help her, and she didn’t take plastic. She told me that the coffee shop would let me buy something and ask for cash back so I could buy her book. I thought, okay, if that’s what they have been doing I can work with that, so I went to the cash register. They know me, yet they looked at me like I had three heads. They’d never done that before. She smiled and said, “See? We taught them something new.” She told me something hoping it was right, and embarrassed everyone involved.

4) She never stood.

There’s an awkwardness to the author remaining seated and the customer standing. Stand and greet the person interested in your work. Keep a respectable distance (COVID, you know) but respect them by welcoming their presence. Strike up a conversation. Of course you often need to sit to sign the book, especially if there is a line, but be animated and greet people openly if you do. But when you can, stand and shake hands and make eye contact. Trust me, it makes a difference.