ComicCon was a kaleidescope of colors and sounds, bright and loud. The Javits Center was absolutely jammed with people making moving in the aisles between the booths a challenge most of the time. I did my first signing today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve been to many signings over the years, but always stood several feet away watching as one of my authors chatted with a reader. Now that it was my turn I had to remind myself that the line in front of Pocket’s booth was actually for me. People were incredibly friendly and very encouraging. I signed somewhere between 150 and 200 copies and had a chance to engage many people while I did so. A few questions came up more than once – is this a trilogy (yes) is this book one of the trilogy (yes again) and any advice for an aspiring writer (write, finish, then start writing the next one.) Hard to quantify, but I’d guess at least half of the people I talked to were also writers so the atmosphere was very collegial.
Speaking of writers, I met Naomi Novik, Richard Knaak and Sherrilyn Kenyon for the first time today, and Terry Brooks for either the second or third. Writers, artists, tv and movie stars were prevalent throughout the show and at one point I spotted Seth Green (huge line for his signing.)
Thanks to all the folks at Pocket Books that set up my signing today. They had it down to a science and had advertised it nicely. They also did up a very smart looking postcard which, when I figure out how, I will post to my website, www.ironelves.com which I’m happy to say is now fully functioning with active links. As time goes by we’ll be updating it further so if you have any thoughts on what you see please let me know.
Wow, very cool! How neat! And thanks to your brother for updating while you were abroad. It’s fun to watch the progress of your parents on their bookstore-visiting-road, and also to hear how well the bookstore managers respond to the personal visits. I highly doubt my parents would ever be willing to do such a thing, due to their personalities, location, and how my dad still doesn’t consider writing a “real job,” (which is funny considering he has a text book published and is about to publish another non-fiction book — maybe it’s just a non-fiction vs. fiction thing… hm. Non-fiction is acceptable, telling stories is not? I’ve never asked him what the deal is, though when I had short stories published in an anthology he could hold in his hand, he did tell everyone about it, so maybe I’m misjudging him, and he’s just waiting for the moment my novel is in his hand. Sorry for the diverted thoughts there…)
Parents can surprise you. Often their resistance to something is less about not believing in you, and more in wanting the best for you and trying to protect you from what appears to be a very difficult path, like writing. I do appreciate how fortunate I am to have parents who have supported me through everything, including chucking my academic career to pursue commercial editing and writing.