Promotion GuideThe Dragon suggests laughing instead of stabbingThose of you who have been stumbling into the blog the past few days will remember that I attended the Naples Renaissance Art Fall Festival the past two days as an exhibitor (of sorts). I helped a few other members of the Naples Press Club man the NPC booth/table/tent to distribute information about our group and upcoming authors and books festival, which is held in conjunction with our writers' conference in early April. I also sold and signed my fantasy novel
Choices Meant for Gods. The other people in the booth are writers and were selling their books. The fellow next to me yesterday, J.D. Sousa, has a novel that I can't really classify easily (it's a crime/historical fiction/mystery thriller that sounds intriguing) called
Rise of Empires. You'll be seeing it in theatres shortly, I believe. Anyway, this gentleman and I compared war stories. Why? Because we were laughing instead of stabbing.
People in the general public probably don't realize just how rude they are when they ignore a person who has just said "hello" to them. They probably don't realize how rude they are when you hand them a bookmark (free for them; pain in the neck for you) and they turn away without even acknowledging that you're smiling at them. What got me was that when J.D. handed someone a bookmark, he would say, "here's a bookmarker for you." He didn't just hand it over; he said something in greeting to them. He announced what he was doing. Here's a free bookmark that you can use when you go home. Take it. Use it. Throw it away. Whatever. But some people just ignored him like he was flotsam. Criminy. By the end of the day, I'd be slitting my wrists! (I didn't take bookmarks to this event. See paranthetical above.)
He told me a story of a book signing where a "gentleman" stopped at his table, read his poster all the way to the end, and when the author reached out to shake his hand and said, "Hi, I'm J.D.," the "gentleman" said, "Why don't you get out of my f***ing face?" Hello? What has happened to society? It reminded me of my experience with the old woman snapping at her poor husband that my book wasn't Harry Potter and dragging him away through the store...
What has happened to people? I lost track of how many times some person wrinkled up her nose and said, "Fantasy" as if it was synonymous with radioactive material or a Nazi concentration camp, and then turned away. I wondered if the people realized I was the author or not. Or if they cared. Some folks acted genuinely surprised when they learned that all the folks in our booth were the authors of the books that were for sale, but they still acted a little "concerned" over that fantasy stuff. Cripes. The good news is I handed out some business cards to people who want to get the book online for their grandchildren who read the Harry Potter books. :)
My point for this post: J.D. and I could have gotten bent out of shape over the bizarre behavior of some of the folks at the festival this weekend. I could have launched myself across the table and tackled some hoity toity Naples senior citizen who said, "oh, fantasy" at my book. I could have packed up at noon and stormed out because the crowd wasn't "my crowd." But why? I got to talk about the press club to some folks. I got to talk to an 11-year-old girl about her writing goals (she's entering a short story contest this December). I sold a few books to a few folks who might become fans now and might tell their friends about
Choices Meant for Gods. I met some other writers in the press club whom I didn't know prior to the event and enjoy with them some strange and improper behavior in front of us. It was a good weekend.
And I didn't stab anybody.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."Tags:
Choices Meant for Gods,
Naples Press Club,
Rise of Empires,
Harry Potter,
fantasy,
promotionLabels: Choices Meant for Gods, Naples Press Club, promotion
