What's a good book event?

 I recently did a "meet and greet" at a bookstore in a medium-sized northern Minnesota city. Sherri, the events manager, set me up with a table, a couple of book stands, and a selection of pens. Stepping back, she wished me luck and assured me there would be somewhere between one and one thousand people buying my books. Hmm, somewhere between one and a thousand people offers a lot of wiggle room. 

As is usually the case the sales were closer to the one than the thousand. However, that doesn't represent the fun I have talking about books to intelligent, well-read people, like those who frequent bookstores and libraries. One young gentleman who was dressed like a lumberjack, paused when he saw me. Roger walked over and read the "A Bourbon to Die For" blurb, then looked at me with a very serious expression. "What's it like to write a book? I mean, so you sit down and write it from beginning to end without thinking about where it's going, or do you have a skeleton?" He went on to explain that he was a professional musician and composer. As he put it, "There are times when I've been commissioned to write a song and there's literally nothing musical that comes to mind. Other times, I'll be doing something mindless and a whole melody and lyrics come so fast that I can't get them all on paper."

His comments brought to mind my friend, Terry. He'd worked as a roadie for a big-name country star while he was trying to decide if he was going to be an engineer or a truck driver. (He became an engineer). As Terry explained it, one night the roadies and the band were drinking beer and jamming when Terry overheard something that made him start picking a song. Kenny O'Dell developed the melody and Terry sang three verses of "Behind Closed Doors". Charlie Rich heard them singing it, had them write it all out, and he added it to his next concert. Terry and Kenny won a Grammy Award for a song they wrote in half an hour.

So, this young songwriter and I talked about books and songs, dungeons and dragons, and what it's like to live in a city with nine months of winter and three months of "poor sledding". (Yes, we were that far north.)

Roger bought a book, then thanked me for sharing my story, and for listening to his. It was the sale of one book, but it made my day. I hope Roger went home and wrote a hit song! 

Sometimes, a book event isn't about how many books you sell. It's about meeting and connecting with people. Yes, I'd love to have another event like the one where I sold eighty books in an hour. But even without that type of sales, there's so much value to talking to people, sharing ideas, and maybe strumming a guitar.

In the end, Sherri was right. I had somewhere between one and a thousand people buy books. But better than that I met Roger, and a woman who was spending her children's inheritance by filling her new house with books, and another woman who was awestruck to meet an actual author and get MY signature in her new book. How do you put a value on those things?

Check out my books at the BWL website. I might be prejudiced, but I think "Skidded and Skunked" and "A Bourbon to Die For" are pretty good reads.

A Bourbon to Die For — BWL Publishing