Book signing are always interesting

Last weekend my editor/illustrator and I had 3 book signing sessions; one at Coles in Saint John, another at Indigo in Saint John and one at the Chapters in Fredericton.  Jenn brought her sketch book and spent the time having children "boss" her hands to make aliens, monsters and other things that they could take home and colour.  I used this time to chat with parents and promote our books.

One thing we are realizing is that our distributor was right about the way sales work for a picture book versus a middle grade book.  "Owen and the Dinosaur" is a picture book and many of the sales are for people buying gifts for preschoolers who need to be read to.  They know that small children are just happy to sit on someone's knee and have a book read to them.  They usually don't care what type of story it is as long as it's interesting.

However, "Emily Find's a Dragon" is a first chapter book for children in grades 3 to 5. Our customers are now often parents or grandparents with a child in tow.  Now this little person has been reading for some time now and has definate ideas of what they like and don't like.  So now, if said child isn't in tow, then people are less likely to take a chance on what book they might like or don't like.

We are always happy with the results of our book signings.  We get a chance to speak with a lot of fans that have read our books and fans that haven't read our books yet.  Okay, so that might be a stretch, but we do get some great comments and feedback and that helps keep us going.  When a person tells you they love your work, and hope you have another book coming out soon it is an amazing feeling. It certainly makes up for a lot of time beating on the keyboard.

Jenn and I will be at Cover to Cover Books in Pinewood Plaza, Riverview, on Saturday, November 26th from 1pm to 3pm. I hope you will be able to bring your kids down and have Jenn draw a picture with them and maybe you can find a book too.