On Wednesday, April 27th, I experienced my first author book signing. It took place at Indigo Spirit TD Square, in downtown Calgary. Most of this store’s patrons are office workers on their lunch hour, so we scheduled the signing from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Since we hadn’t organized the event with enough lead time for Indigo to order extra books, they asked me to bring in my own copies to sell through the store. 

My husband, Will, dropped me, a box of Deadly Falls and my supplies off at TD Square and left to find a place to park. Inside, customers milled around the store. The manager had set up at a table facing the mall entrance door. I arranged books, posters I had made and postcards featuring Deadly Fall’s cover and information into an attractive and welcoming display. 

For the next hour, I stood beside the table trying to catch the attention of people who entered the store. Most avoided me. A few I pounced on lingered to talk. One or two said they were interested, but had to dash off to a meeting. Right. Will lurked in the background, trying not to look conspicuous.  He had sent e-mails to his former colleagues and was was looking forward to catching up with any who arrived. 

Toward noon, a colleague turned up. While the three of us chatted, a woman swooped by me, picked up a copy of Deadly Fall and excitedly said she wanted buy it. Wow. The next hour was hectic. More colleagues appeared, including one who’d come in to shop and hadn’t heard about the signing. A friend dropped by to wish me well and give me a power bar to propel me into the afternoon. The sister of my sister Lynn’s colleague breezed in. She said she was 80 pages to the end of Deadly Fall and wanted to tell me how much she was enjoying it. She bought a copy for her neighbours and convinced a hesitant woman standing by the table that Deadly Fall was a great read.  The woman said she was glad to support a local writer. A man who had escaped to a meeting returned to say he’d decided to buy the novel for his wife. 

Store traffic eased after 1:00 pm. By 1:30, I felt done. In the end, we sold 10 books – 4 of them to Will’s colleagues. I also handed out about 25 postcards. Perhaps a few of those people will follow through and later buy the book. Several asked if it was available online. Yes, it is.

As we packed up the table, I felt exhuasted and moderately satisfied and not feeling I’d entirely enjoyed the experience and already talking of doing it again.

My next author signing will be at Indigo Signal Hill on May 15th, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm, a longer stint with Sunday shoppers who may be more willing to browse and chat with an author at the signing table.

Friday, en route to Costco, Will and I visited Chapters in Chinook Mall. The store was reasonably crowded for a weekday, but few booksellers prowled the aisles. We found three copies of Deadly Fall on the shelf – the computer had said there were four. Since there was no one in the checkout line, I asked a clerk behind the counter about my book. 

She called Deadly Fall up on her computer.  “Only three in the store,” she said. Evidently one book had sold. Good news and also good that Deadly Fall, in this branch, is eye-level. She gave me the name of the events manager. With summer coming up, my thinking now is to only do only a few books signings and deal directly with the individual store managers. If these signings go well, for the fall I might try to arrange multiple signings through head office and, with some signing experience under my belt, be better able answer their question of how I see the event unfolding.

Saturday, we went Mission to see an artist friend’s gallery show and walked downtown to Indigo Spirit in TD square. They displayed four copies of Deadly Fall. The booksellers raised the possibility of an author signing and gave me the events manager’s card.  I phoned her on Monday. 

Indigo Spirit TD Square is open to more flexible selling arrangements than the other Chapters/Indigo branches that have the book in their system. Rather than order in a supply of books, I can bring in my stock and sell the books through the store. They will give me an invoice for sales that I can reclaim from the distributor. Independent bookstores can also function this way. It means zero risk for the bookseller and signings can be arranged with shorter lead times. 

For most Calgary Chapters/Indigo stores, Saturday is the busiest day of the week, followed by Sunday. Being downtown, Indigo Spirit TD Square sees most of its traffic during weekday lunch hours. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the busiest.

I have now confirmed two book signings in Calgary:

Wednesday, April 27, 11:00 – 2:00 PM at Indigo Spirit TD Square, 317  – 7th Avenue, SW, Unit T159

Saturday, June 18, noon-4:00 PM at Chapters Spectrum, Spectrum Shopping Centre, #500 – 2555  32nd Street N.E.

Drop by and visit if you’re in those areas. 

Susan

Wednesday, April

Our weekly Wednesday walk took place in the city’s northwest. On the way, Will and I stopped at Chapters Dalhousie. Three copies of Deadly Fall stood on the shelf. We asked the manager about book signings. He looked up Deadly Fall on his computer and said the distributor allowed easy returns, so he’d be happy to host a launch. He expected he’d order 15 copies of the book, hold them for 90 days and do a second signing, if I only sold four or five the first time. 

I guess I was due a reality check regarding sales.

Sales aren’t everything. Signings get the word out about the book; it might be fun to discuss writing and Deadly Fall with customers as well as a store’s Saturday bookseller staff, who might become intrigued enough to read it and, hopefully, later recommend it to customers.  

After the walk, we drove home via Indigo Signal Hill. Walking through the store, I spotted Judy, a bookseller acquaintance. In the mystery section, we found Deadly Fall on a bottom shelf – where, unfortunately,  my “Ca” name falls alphabetically in this store. Judy shuffled a few other books and turned Deadly Fall facing out. Now the large yellow cover page leaf gazes upward at browsers – a decided improvement. 

Judy gave me the manager’s business card to contact about a possible book signing.  From our online checking, Will and I knew that one or two books have sold at this store. Judy said an automatic system places a re-order for each book as it leaves the store. That’s good to know.

That afternoon, I heard back from Chapters/Indigo’s home office and received a two-page Event Request form. It asks questions like, “Please describe in detail how you envision the event unfolding.” Since I’ve never done an author signing, I don’t know.  Chapters/Indigo said they would require 4-6 weeks lead time to arrange an event. With my spring schedule, I won’t be able to do a signing until the last two Saturdays in June.  After that, comes Canada Day weekend and two weekends of Stampede – would the influx of visitors to Calgary drop into bookstores and take an interest in a novel set in this city? I’ll have to think about that.

Monday morning, Will I drove south to Indigo South Trail in Douglasdale. I introduced myself to a bookseller standing near the entrance. She led us to the mystery section. Deadly Fall was on the shelves – four copies.

We asked about arranging an author signing. She said, yes that would be a great thing to do and gave me a card with the manager’s name and contact information.

From there, we drove to Chapters Spectrum in the northeast. Being Monday, a slow sales day, it was once again easy to get a bookseller’s attention. Marie Claire was thrilled when I told her I’d written a mystery set in Calgary and said she’d buy one of their copies – which weren’t on the shelves. Nor could her co-bookseller Rita find them in the back, although the records said they were there.

Marie Claire and Rita gave us the manager’s card and said he’d be in that afternoon. At home, I gave him a phone call. He said, author signings were a great medium for sales. Given delivery times and my spring schedule, we set a tentative signing date – Saturday, June 18th – the day before Father’s Day. I’d thought Deadly Fall would make a more suitable gift for Mom, but he noted this might be a day a lot of women would be out shopping.  Good point.

For the signing, he said he’d order 40 copies of my book. Forty copies! “You should easily sell that,” he said. “Really?” “Sure,” he said. “A man who came in for an impromptu signing on the weekend sold that many. Why not you?”  The manager suggested doing the signing from noon-4:00 or 5:00 PM, the prime customer traffic hours, but I could always stay later – the store closes at 10:00 PM that day. He added, “Sometimes book signings get to be a lot of fun.” “Really? Really?”

I asked if it would be a problem if I did signings in other stores. No problem, he said, and suggested that if I was interested in signings at multiple stores I should contact their home office in BC and they would organize a signing schedule and arrange book orders. After thanking him, I called home office and left a message.

Two days later, I haven’t had a reply. If I don’t hear back soon, I’ll go back to approaching stores individually. I find I’m enjoying the personal contact. Booksellers are are terrific people; they are enthusiastic about local writers and invariably love books.

Sunday’s sunny, mild weather turned post-blizzard Calgary into a winter wonderland. Will and I decided to go for walk in Fish Creek, where the paths, unlike Calgary’s sidewalks, are plowed. On the way, we stopped at Chapters Shawnessy.

Once more, no Deadly Fall was on the shelves. A bookseller looked the book up on her computer and retrieved the four copies from the back. I signed them and she attached the “signed by” sticker, saying that she liked mysteries and would read mine when she found the time. She put two copies of Deadly Fall in the stacks and the other two prominently (against company policy?) on the Hot & New Fiction table.

The bookseller told us her preference runs to dark stuff, so Deadly Fall may not be her ideal taste, but she said she’s interested in a local story. She first read Kathy Reichs’ mysteries set in Montreal, because she (the bookseller) was from there. “So are we,” I said. “And so is my protagonist.” The bookseller said, “I really will read this.”

We asked for the phone number of the manager who organizes author signings. When I got home, I gave the manager a call. She said the signing would have to be a date in the future, to give them time to order the books. A store ordering in extra copies of Deadly Fall? How bad can that turn out to be?

My husband Will and I have been following Deadly Fall’s appearances in Chapters/Indigo stores on the company website. Saturday, four copies were recorded for the store closest to us – Chapters MacLeod Trail. Excited, we drove through Calgary’s freak April blizzard to see how Deadly Fall looked on the Chapters shelf.

As we entered the store, we were greeted by local author, Hugo Bonjean, who was doing a book signing. Since I have lined up some book singings in the Okanagan for late May, we listened to Hugo’s spiel. Will bought the book.

Further into the store, a bookseller, Diane, offered us a sample of herbal tea. We told her we were looking for my novel Deadly Fall. When I said it was a mystery set in Calgary, Diane asked me to bring her a copy when we found it in the store – she wanted to buy it for herself.

Will and I walked up to the mystery section and found nothing on the “Ca” spot on the shelf or on the table display. We went back to Diane, who hurried off to hunt for the book in the back of the store. She returned with the four copies. I signed hers, with an inscription. Another bookseller standing nearby, asked me to sign the other three copies and they would attach a “signed by the author” sticker. Later this week, I’ll visit the store again to see how the books are displayed.

Diane directed us to the person in charge of author signings. Tracey gave me her card and asked me to e-mail her. If the store is willing, I’d like to set up an author signing – something I swore I’d never do. I hate sales and pumping my book goes against my natural shyness. But, now I’m thinking book signings are worth trying to get Deadly Fall known to potential readers.