New Bookmarks!

I don't have a release date yet for Love's Gift, but I have bookmarks! I ordered a bunch of them. They are better than business cards in my opinion. The URL for my website is on the back. In case anyone is really interested in finding out more about my books, they can easily find information at my website. When I sell books at book signing events, I usually give the customer a bookmark along with the book. I have to order another bunch of bookmarks for The Keeper's Secret, which will also be released in the near future. 

Of all the marketing things I must do to get the word out about my books, putting together bookmarks is my favorite. I go to Canva to design the bookmark and then upload them to Vistaprint. I've been using Vistaprint for a long, long time. So even though there are plenty of other printing companies out there, I plan to stick with Vistaprint.

Do you like to use author's bookmarks? Should an author sign the bookmark? What do you think?

 

Worst Book Signing Ever

A Beautiful Book Signing at a Library

I have gone to many book signings in the hope of selling some books. In the photo above, at a library, I was treated royally by the librarian. But nobody showed up. 😕

I have discovered that there are good days and bad days to hold a book signing. The day before Mother's Day is a bad one to sell and autograph romance books, at least that has been my experience. Many years ago, I was scheduled--along with three other authors--to do a book signing at a bookstore in northern New Jersey. When I arrived, the store did not have any of my books. I had some in the car, which I put on the table, but it didn't matter. I did not sell a single book.

Of the three other authors that were supposed to be there, two showed up. They sold a total of three books.

Not many people were in the store. It was a glorious day outside. If I had been at home, I would have done some gardening. I suspect that is what many people were doing. Others were probably enjoying family time with their children and grandchildren, which is a wonderful thing to do on Mother’s Day. Or go out to eat. 😁

As unprofitable as that book signing was in northern NJ, I believe the worst book signing for me was in a small bookstore in a local town where the road outside the store was being repaved the night of the book signing. It would have been better for the owner of the bookstore to reschedule the event, but she didn’t. There is a municipal parking lot in the back, but for those who like to park on the street, it would have been impossible. The noise of the repaving was constant and loud. The smell of hot asphalt permeated the air. Not many people came into the store. However, even that night, I sold some books. So, it wasn’t a total loss.

Still, I just haven't had many good experiences with book signing events, which makes me hesitant to sign up for them. 

Make me feel good. Tell me your worst booksigning experience.

When I Was Young and Single

     Summer is coming. When I think of summer, I think of traveling. When I was young and single, I traveled quite a bit. One of the best trips I went on was a summer study course through Trenton State Collcge, which is now the College of New Jersey. It was eight weeks long, with one week in Paris, six weeks in Florence, and one week in Germany. I took two courses and got six credits, which went toward my Masters degree.

     At that time, I took photos with my little Kodak Instamatic camera. As you can see, any cellphone nowadays takes much better pictures. Technology has made great strides since that time. 

   

     The cost of the trip was a little over $1000, which was a lot in those days. Especially when you consider that my salary as a teacher was about $8000 a year. But I was still living at home with my parents and I was quite thrifty, so I was able to save enough money for the trip. The cost of the trip did not include any beverages. 

    Healthy and strong, I climbed to the top of Montmartre and the Duomo. I walked everywhere. 

        I spent so much time in Florence, I didn’t feel like a tourist after a while. Learning about history and art while looking at the work of the artists who created stunning masterpieces made an impression on me that I never would have gotten from a book.  

     My high school French was not very useful and I did not learn Italian. Fortunately, there were other people in the study group who knew how to speak those languages. 

     Rome was the only city where my usual sense of direction was confounded. But I put my feet in the Trevi fountain, saw the Pieta, and the Roman Forum. 

    I liked Florence better. It wasn’t that big. I’ve never been a fan of big cities. Even cities like New York City, which isn’t far from where I live. Although, at least in Manhattan the streets go either north and south or east and west. That makes it easier. 

    

     That’s me at the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was very strange to walk up to the top. Since it leans so much, sometimes the stairs weren’t really going up. 🤨

    I was very fortunate to have such adventures and see other countries. I thought of setting book in Florence. I started one but never finished it. Maybe one of these days I’ll get back to it. 

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