I’ve been wanting to have a blog for several years but was always stumped on why would people would want to read something I wrote, especially as I am not a writer - I’m a reader. Recently I was told, you write for yourself and let those who want to read it do so. I thought that this was good advice so here I go.
Today my thoughts are on the wonderful event we just had at the store. Best-selling author, Sandra Brown, was here last night for her National Tour launch of “SEEING RED”. It was a packed house, Sold out tickets and standing room.
Sandra was a perfect “Texas Rose” and her personality just shined. Charming, funny, classy are just a tip of how wonderful she was and she had us all thrilled with the new book. "SEEING RED" is highly addictive, fast-paced, in-your-face—suspense novel riddled with delicious tension and an underlying sexiness. This is Sandra Brown at her best.
I had tons of questions on how did little Sykesville, Carroll County, MD get Sandra Brown to come here. The easy answer is that we were asked and said yes. The more in depth answer is that when authors go on tour it is as huge undertaking by the author, publisher, and book sellers. The tours are generally set up way in advance. We, as booksellers, put in requests on a grid that the publishers send out about 9 months prior to publication. We then must put in proposals on how we are going to have an event with the author, how many books we can sell, how many people we can accommodate, how are we going to market the event and much more. Then the publishers go through the list and figure out where the author is going to tour and if you happen to fall in that area, they will look at your proposal. That still doesn’t mean you get to host that author. Luck has a lot to do with it as well. We worked hard to get some high profile authors by helping out with debut or newer authors on tour. We have had very successful events with this publisher in the past with lesser known authors and helped to get some great new books in hands of readers. We all love to see and hear from our favorites, but next time you see a newer author, or one you may never have heard of before, come out and support them. Hear what they have to say and try a new book. You may be very surprised how much you enjoyed the new experience!
