Saturday, May 28 – Mosaic Books set me up at a small, round bar table near their store entrance. Fresh breezes blew in through the open door and I had a good view of people strolling down Kelowna’s main street.

A man stopped by the table as I was putting up my signs. He was impressed that I’d managed to publish a book and seemed to have an idea of the work that goes into this. He became my first customer of the day. Deadly Fall and I were off to a good start.

I’d had higher hopes for sales at Mosaic than I had for Vernon. Will had sent the word out to a couple of people we know in Kelowna. A friend sent invitations to relatives. I had contacted two writing groups.

A man from COWS, one of the Kelowna writing groups, showed up. COWS = Central Okanagan Writers’ Society. He’s writing a mystery and thought our books had aspects in common. We also discovered that we were both from Montreal. About ten years ago, he packed up and left for the Okanagan lifestyle.

I had another interesting chat with Maggie. She had driven her mother from Calgary to Kelowna for the summer and knows two of my writing friends -Lori Hahnel and Lee Kvern. Maggie used to attend Calgary readings. Maybe I’ll meet her at one of mine of in the future.

For the rest of the three hours, I talked to customers, handed out cards, received some book promotion tips, advised a woman on book club selections (I was seated next to the store’s bestsellers) and was given a sketch of a fantasy scene by a high school student.

As I was packing up, a woman bought my fifth book and the store took four more to put on their shelves. A little short of expectations today, but Deadly Fall is getting out further and acquiring some new readers.

Before the signing, Will and I managed to fit in some good touring. We spent a couple of hours walking around Kelowna. Despite ominous clouds, the day was mostly sunny. We saw the historic district, the Okanagan agricultural museum, the waterfront and a Korean fan dance in front of the arts centre. The drive from Vernon to Kelowna had beautiful views of lakes and cultivated nature. I hope to return to the Okanagan one or two summers from now, later in the season to enjoy some fruit – and include a couple of singings or readings.

Friday morning, May 27th, Will and I set out on our road trip to Victoria. We left at 5:00 am to make sure we got to Bookland, Vernon, in time for my 1:00 pm book signing.

I had thought driving into the mountains at sunrise would compensate for lost hours of sleep. Alas, it poured rain through Calgary and Kananaskis. Rain turned to snow in Canmore and the mountains were shrouded in cloud. Between the weather and my fatigue, this was far from my best ever mountain drive, but due to minimal stops we made good time.

In the Okangan, the rain cleared over lush farmland and homes backdropped by hills. We got to our Vernon hotel at 11:00, went for a brief walk, settled in and finished the parts of our lunch we hadn’t eaten in the car.

Bookland is located on Vernon’s main street. The store had posters announcing my signing on the front door and an end-aisle display inside. They had ordered 12 hardcover copies of Deadly Fall. I went into this thinking I’d be lucky to sell three, since I was outside of Calgary, where the local setting has been the book’s main appeal, and several people I knew had come to the signings and bought.

Store traffic this Friday afternoon was lighter than it was at the Indigos I signed at in Calgary. By 1:30 I was ready to revise my sales forecast downward, when a woman bought a copy for her 90 year-old father, a retired policeman. My ‘Gift for Dad on Father’s Day’ poster inspired her.

People continued to trickle in. A high percentage of men, it appeared to me. Many went directly to the cash to pick up magazines and books they had ordered. My table was angled toward the cash, rather than at the door. The placement seemed to work well. I hailed most people as they passed by.

Some took cards; others bought books. I think it helped that Bookland was offering a 25 percent discount on the hardcover that day. One man told me his wife, an aspiring writer, was going to the Bloody Words conference in Victoria next weekend. I gave him a card and said to tell her to be sure to look me up there. Another man said his cousin was a homicide detective in Calgary. He took my business card to pass along to her – she could be a new resource. A third man bought the book for his mother as a belated Mother’s Day gift.

A woman who is an avid mystery reader urged me to join two mystery Internet sites to promote the book: For Mystery Addicts – called 4MA – and DorothyL. Someone else had already advised me to join the latter site. This prompting by the customer might get me to do it.

Toward 4:00 PM, my finishing time, Will returned from his touring of Vernon. He’d walked to our hotel and back and stopped at Polson Park, where he witnessed the Vernon tradition of high school grads dressed to the hilt, gathering for pictures. I had seen one of these grads in the store. She clerks here on weekends and evenings.

I began to pack up, more than satisfied with my seven book sales. Will’s cousin’s daughter, Lahaina, came in. We hadn’t seen her in years and hadn’t expected her to turn up. Our chat extended my stay long enough to sell book # 8, to a woman who bought it for a friend recovering from surgery. Four books leftover for future customers seems about right. One of the sales clerks said she’d buy one, after payday.

When Will and I sent out Deadly Fall book launch invitations to everyone we’d ever met, a surprising result was requests from people I hadn’t known well, or at all, to speak to their group.

One invite came from Fran Kimmel, a writer I met in a couple of workshops at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society. A former Calgary resident, Fran now lives in Lacombe, AB, and is a Friend of the Mary C. Moore Public Library in Lacombe. Fran offered to set up a workshop, followed by a reading and discussion at the Lacombe library.

We decided on the two-hour workshop topic: Creating Memorable Characters. Since Fran expected half the registrants would be memoir writers, I studied up on creating characters for memoirs as well as for fiction and found published excerpts from both genres as teaching examples. This workshop could easily be expanded to a full day session or even an 8 week course, which I’ll eventually offer to the Alexandra Writers.

Fifteen women registered for the workshop. It turned out to be a lot of fun. I hope the participants learned something. Fran and Christina, the librarian contact, said they told her they did. A number of the students stayed for the reading and discussion. They were joined by others from the public. We gathered in a lovely, window corner of the beautiful new library complex.

I read Chapter One of Deadly Fall. The discussion topic was supposed to be “Why Do We Read Mysteries?” but we never got around to talking about that. People preferred to ask questions about writing and getting published. As I’d discovered in earlier presentations, the questions were interesting and challenging. I’m getting used to answering on the fly.

At the end, people purchased books – 13 in all. The library paid for my lunch and gave me an honorarium and such a generous mileage allowance that I told them they were paying me too much. I’m not used to getting adequately compensated for what I do.

Another invitation came from the wife of Will’s former colleague. Janet belongs to a book club in Priddis, south of Calgary. Every spring, members of book clubs in that area gather at the Millarville Library to discuss the books they’ve read during the year. They had talked of having an author speaker. I got to be it.

About 30 representatives from 7 book clubs congregated in the small library connected to the Millarville community school. The session began with mingling. I discovered that the Millarville librarian went to my high school in Montreal. Her sister, who was in my grade, also lives in the region and is retired from the Calgary police. She might make a good resource for a future murder mystery novel.

For this presentation, I spoke briefly about Deadly Fall and left most of my half hour allotment for questions, which I find people tend to enjoy best. Will and I stayed for the club members’ favourite readings of the year and picked up some suggestions for our book club’s next session.

The meeting ended with book sales. Nine sold and I expect these readers will pass the book around to their fellow book club members.

I have a Calgary book club gig lined up for the fall. This came from a member of a United Church Women’s group that invited me to speak after their launch invitation. The book club has 10 members and they promise great discussion, food and wine.

Writing is a lonely task. I love my time alone absorbed in writing, but sometimes it’s great to get out and enjoy these fringe benefits.

Sunday, May 15th, I had my second book signing – at Indigo Signal Hill in Calgary. The 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM stint being longer than my three hours at Indigo TD square, I approached this signing in a more relaxed manner and dressed comfortably in capris and my “Ask me about my book” T-shirt.

I arrived early, arranged my display on the small table set up near the door and tried to catch people’s eyes as they entered. I sensed less avoidance from these Sunday shoppers than I did from the business folk in TD Square, although I wondered, at one point, if those entering were tending to steer left into the store to avoid passing by my table. Dual signings might make sense here, with one writer to right of the door, the other to the left, so no one entering can escape.

Toward noon I made my first sale. A customer got interested when I told her my protagonist is an insurance adjuster. The customer is a claims examiner, doing the job I had 30 years ago. I told her I could use an insurance adjuster contact for authenticity with future books. She said her colleague used to be a property adjuster and took my business card to pass along. We talked about the three of us meeting for coffee to discuss my future novel insurance questions.

Customer traffic picked up. Many were parents with children. Sunday shopping seems a popular family activity. A few more people bought the book. A man remarked, “I’ll take a chance” – on an unknown author, I assume he meant. Others took Deadly Fall postcards. A woman bought the novel for her father’s birthday, which was that day. She thought he’d get a kick out of the setting, being a life-long Calgary resident.

A couple arrived and said they’d driven here from Nanton because they saw a notice of my signing in the Writers Guild newsletter. The wife, a writer, had struggled with the question of going for a local or exotic setting for her novel. She’d opted for the local and was interested in seeing how I handled that in my book. I told her I was scheduled for a book signing at the Tumbleweed Coffee House in Nanton on June 16th. She said she’d drop by.

As we were exchanging business cards, a friend from my writing group came in with her daughter. They hadn’t known I was doing the signing and decided, while they were here, to get the book. The daughter wanted her own copy, so they bought two.

Another friend with daughter showed up for moral support. She liked my table display, but suggested I add something ghoulish. A toy gun? Dagger? Proabably not appropriate. Later, I noticed a store customer carrying a purse with a police tape shoulder strap. I have some yellow “caution” tape at home leftover from a driveway repair. Maybe I’ll drape some around the table at my next Calgary signing.

By 3:30, I felt drained by my day. The last purchaser was a clerk at this Indigo store. She likes myseries and was interested in the novel premise. She’s a high school student, which I hadn’t thought to be my reader demographic, but you never know who will like a book.

The total sold was 10 books, the same number as my downtown TD Square sales, but only two went to people I knew vs. 4-5 the last time. Deadly Fall now being available in paperback helped.

Even though it was a longer period of time, I liked this signing more than the first one. I still wouldn’t say I enjoy signings, but both experiences felt productive for selling books, getting the word out about Deadly Fall and, potentially, making contacts. And things happen that are kind of interesting, like the man with the European accent who heard me talking about the Calgary setting and made a bee-line to the table to tell me he hated Calgary. “They should bottle it up and throw it away.” He also hated fiction and had come to the store, on someone’s advice, to buy a non-fiction book – on anger management.

Yesterday, I caught part one of Oprah Winfrey’s interview with James Frey. This is a follow-up to her 2006 interview with the notorious author and his publisher. Oprah had chosen his memoir “A Million Little Pieces” as a book club selection and later felt betrayed when it was revealed many of the book’s details were fabrications.

After that initial interview, Oprah was blasted by a number of people for being hard on Frey. I watched the 2006 interview and agree. She picked on Frey for fabrications that didn’t strike me as that terrible. He lied about undergoing a root canal with no anesthetic. He changed an acquantance’s method of committing suicide. Frey claimed he did that protect the woman’s identity. Oprah insisted he chose a more sensational suicide method. Isn’t any suicide, by however means, awful enough?

My impression from this recent interview is that Oprah hasn’t changed her tune in the intervening years. Frey suggested that both his agent and publisher knew the memoir was borderline fiction. He’d been struggling for years to publish the book as a novel and obviously grabbed the chance to get his story published. The publisher and agent were the experts. In both interviews, Oprah skimmed past their guilt and heaped the blame on Frey.

In yesterday’s interview, Frey was contrite. He accepted full responsibility for his mistake. I wanted to see him argue back, but his approach is probably better for gaining sympathy and, perhaps, respect.

In his own defense, Frey did say that most writers of memoir fabricate. Oprah seemed startled by this remark and took it as evidence that Frey still doesn’t understand or accept that he did wrong. From my friends who write creative non-fiction, I gather that today some fabrication is acceptable and encouraged. This includes things like re-creating dialogue the writer could not have recalled literally. Some claim it’s even okay to alter facts to improve the story. I’m surprised that no one has told Oprah this is being done. Possibly they have and she still believes she’s right.

Part two is airing right now – Tuesday, 3:00 PM. I’ll watch the repeat show at 5:00.

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?