10 Days of Promotion by Debra H. Goldstein
of Promotion by Debra H. Goldstein
is often referred to as a lonely or introverted activity. Successful promotion,
on the other hand, requires one to be gregarious, friendly, and “on.” If you
hand me a microphone, I can take on the characteristics of a comedienne, but
the reality is I’m shy. So, why did I recently take on a four city in ten days
promotional tour? Insanity? A personal challenge? Stupidity? A detour side trip
addition of one city to meet my son’s girlfriend?
for every reason cited above.
January 3, I flew to Houston for a book discussion and signing with Kay Kendall
advance – months
before we knew that at the exact time we scheduled the event,
Texas would be in the playoffs. Kay and I were very thankful to the 30 plus
folks who obviously weren’t sports fans who came to the store and for the over
1 million who dropped in on the live stream. It was my first-time live
streaming and it was great to hear from people all over the country who watched
it. What a great signing…. and if you aren’t aware, what a wonderful store.
caught the last plane out of Houston to Denver. Boy, was I sweating considering
Denver had snow a day or so earlier. I had visions of the plane being
cancelled, but it wasn’t. Got to Denver, saw my youngest son close to midnight,
and by noon I was at The Book Bar for a signing. A combination bookstore,
coffee and other items bar, I fell in love with how they’ve pulled off the
(yes, I liked her)
concept. Also appreciated all the friends of my son who gave me a standing room
only audience. This was one time I’m glad he’s never met a stranger. Of course,
meeting his girlfriend and her mother while trying to do a book talk about my
life was an eerie feeling, but again, all went well.
morning, I left snow on the streets Denver and flew to Scottsdale for a dream
come true. When I began writing, a friend told me that if I could get a signing
at The Poisoned Pen, my career would have credibility. I don’t know about that,
but I can tell you that I’m a super fan of The
Poisoned Pen. Not only are there
books galore and a warm and engaging staff, but the hanging pictures of authors
who have spoken there sometime in the past thirty years was wonderful to see.
(Some of the authors still had hair when they made their first visit to The
Poisoned Pen). I also appreciated some special people coming out to join the
audience.
night, or should I say morning, it was red-eye time. I landed in Birmingham on
Thursday morning, did laundry, slept, and jumped
in the car to make Memphis before
a predicted storm blew me off the road.
Not only was it fun visiting friends,
but the Sunday book discussion and signing at Novel was with a friend, Beth
(Jaden) Terrell. Always fun to play off each other (we were on a panel together
at the Southern Book Festival) and we both adored the story of Novel. When this
local bookstore was going to have to close, people in the community raised the
money to take it over and keep it going. And that’s an understatement. The
store is full of books and people who love books.
tour finished the next morning with an appearance on Live at 9 on Memphis
television station WREG-TV. Marybeth Conley is very generous to authors — and
a great reader of our books. You can watch the interview here .
home and was tired, but I’d do it all again in a moment. Do you like attending
bookstore events? Leave a comment and have a chance to win a copy of One Taste
Too Many, the first in Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series.