Book Signing Preparation

I’m preparing today to attend tomorrow’s Tennessee Wildman Convention. Before packing books into a car and showing up, there’s a lot of work to be done. The very first thing is the decision to go. For me, a big factor in that decision is whether potential sales justify the costs involved. Then there’s an application process to go through. Once accepted by the event, there’s advertising to be done. This event supplied me with some ads, even a personalized one, but it’s not enough people know about the event. They need to know that I will be there, and they get a look at the books I’m bringing.

For me, booth set up changes from event to event based on things like where my booth is positioned, the books I want to feature, what table decorations might draw the interest I want, table placement within the booth, and a big one is if the event is indoor or outdoor. That one determines how much stuff I need to bring. Tables, chairs, a canopy, weights, and lights take up a lot of room in the car and multiply the amount of labor involved in setting up and tearing down.

That’s not an exhaustive list, but it will do for my purposes here. What I really want to talk about is the mental preparation that goes into a book signing. I’m not the most outgoing, welcoming person you’ll ever meet. I might fare better if I had more carnival barker in my makeup. So, there’s a little bit of psyching myself up involved in preparing to engage people. That is, until the subject turns to writing or a particular book. Once we get there, stopping me is the hard part.

“Where do you get your ideas?” “How do you find the words to write an entire book?” I get asked those questions and more about my writing. Unlike some authors, I enjoy answering them. There is one question I have never been asked, but that I would love to answer. That question is, “Why do you write?”

I’ve asked myself that question every time I set up the booth on a summer day. The answer is always the same. If I want to be happy, I don’t really have a choice. I’ve always identified with what I do. When I do something, I tend to go all in. I’ve done some different things in life, and writing is what I do now. Writing is not a hobby. Writing fame may be the pipe dream I’ve been accused of harboring; writing is not. Fame and fortune are nice, but neither moves me to write. I am a writer, and writing is as integral to living as breathing.

I do all the book signing, advertising, and media things because the act of putting words on paper is not all there is to writing, not if you want people to read your work.

Jack LaFountain

Author of Trails of Trouble