Once again, I am drinking from a firehouse of information from some of the best people in the industry. Since I can’t give you everything, I am giving you just a quick highlight.
I’ve wondered whether it even makes sense to do a book signing. Dan Wells in a seminar on Book Signings said that there are three purposes to doing a book signing, none are about selling books directly at the book signing:
- It gets the author’s name on a poster somewhere and that’s great advertising. Dan Wells says he mostly does book signings at conventions because there is a high potential for more fans and superfans to see his banner.
- Book signings are a great way to get people to sign up for the author’s newsletter.
- It allows authors to meet and shake hands with booksellers. These people can hand-sell an author’s book if they love the book or love the author.
The other highlight for me personally was realizing that I have been censoring myself too tightly. This came from two sources. First, my consultation with Dave Farland about Writers of the Future. It’s ok to have Jewish characters in my stories and it is ok to examine religious themes like repentance and meditation as long as I’m not trying to convert anyone, which I am not.
The second experience was in talking to my fellow Superstars about LGBT+ issues tonight. I realized that people here are much more tolerant and encouraged me to reduce my self-censorship.
I hope you are with people as wonderful as I am with this weekend. Be well, friends!