Recap of My Signing - The Most Popular Book Being Cinders

I was so nervous for my book signing/sale on Friday, if you couldn't tell from my previous post. However, I'm excited to let you know how well the event went! I showed up and set up my stuff, just a small table filled with my books, bookmarks, and my poster. Oh, and candy. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't. Sorry! I sat down and waited. Surprisingly, within the first hour, I sold five books. I was surprised! I expected to sell that for the entire day! Several friends showed up to see me and buy a copy of my short story collection, True Colors. I sat next to two very nice women who kept me company the whole day, and near the end of the day an amazing music group came to play Christmas music. This guy had an electric mandolin. That is the most beautiful instrument ever!

The amazing thing? I kept selling books! All day.

What sold my books?

I talked to people. I stood up and called them over and told them they could have some candy. I asked how they were doing and talked to them about things other than my books. If they looked interested in what was on the table, I told them more about each book, conveying my excitement for each one.

Which was the most popular book?

Cinders!

So popular that I sold out! Of course, it was the one I had the least amount of copies, but still. You know, when you say, "It's the story of Cinderella and what happens after she gets married," people's eyes light up. They snatch the book and look at it. People love fairy tales, even when I tell them it's an unexpected punch-in-the-gut-ending. After that, they seem even more interested. This doesn't surprise me, though. One lady stopped and saw Monarch and said, "Oh! I read that! I found it here in the library."The other wonderful thing? When someone buys your book and hugs it to their chest and says they can't wait to read it - and you can tell they really can't wait to read your book. It was also great to have a large book group invite me to their Monarch meeting once they've read the book this month.

This is what being an author is all about. I didn't sell that many books, but I sold them consistently, and I made enough to recoup my costs of doing the event - and more! I feel down all the time about sales and all these numbers many authors constantly obsess about. I get down thinking I'll never make it big or make a lot of money or ever be truly known or win some special award or something. But whenever I sit down to work on my next book or do an event like this, I remember why I do this - the same reason I did it before I was ever published. It's all about the stories and sharing them with readers, whether that be one reader or millions.