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I hope the responses gave you encouragement to not give up!!!

That's a great story. I thought it was going to be about a bunch of authors piling on about the death of small book stores or something. But instead it was them talking about their own horrible book signing experiences as a show of support for how hard it can be to be an author. Nice.

I feel like there's a good crop of authors out there full of compassion and humor and camaraderie - this is evidence for that.

Steven King's reply was this:

> At my first SALEM'S LOT signing, I had one customer. A fat kid who said, "Hey bud, do you know where there's some Nazi books?"

clickbait title get lost

Paul Harvey: And that fat little boy who nobody liked grew up to be … Steve Bannon.

"And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!"

It’s exactly what happened

That kid grew up to be Kanye West

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The author? Albert Einstein.

I checked her book listing on Amazon.

It is #1 in it's category.

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That's really cool about the responses she got

I’m not sure who you’re talking about. GRRM?

What a lovely lot of people.

Robin Hobb and I have gotten together a few times. She’s a really cool person. She would totally just go get coffee with her one audience member.

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I'm sure at least a chunk of that was the publishing process itself. It's not like you have a finished manuscript and then it gets published the next day.

Also it doesn't seem like she's independently wealthy, so she probably was never able to write full time.

Apparently she had been working on this story in some fashion since she was like 14. Probably is counting all those years.

Neil’s response is hilarious.

Yeah I bet that kid went on to great things. /s

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Could be because famous authors know how it feels. They might've been there with their first books too.

While waiting on SOIAF I started The Gentleman Bastards and The kingkiller chronicles. I didn’t know that they too had ground to a halt!

I love this!

There was one where only one person turned up, and they had a lovely chat for over an hour. Then it came up that the one person was an accomplished author who was only there to introduce them.

I was at a black tie charity event for my partners company. After dinner there was a book signing room with Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.

I never read anything by them, but know the names well - peeked my head in with my fiancé and doubled the number of people in the room. They we so welcoming, made some small talk for about 10 min.

Conversely I went to a release week signing for A Fest for Crows by GRRM in NYC. The line was so long at one Barnes and Noble it almost stretched to the next nearest BN bookstore.

Neither of those sound like enjoyable events from the authors side.

I've heard so many nice things about him as just a really decent human being.

Steven KEVIN Bannon, put some respect on his name /s

Shaq also seems like the sweetest and funnest person you would ever meet. Like there are videos of him buying bikes for random kids at Walmart, or standing around in sweatpants almost blending in on the sidewalk behind a red carpet lol

David Sedaris is not one of them

And now Reddit has move to my demographic.

Then link the tweet, not a random jerks news site.

They’re talking about the author in the article. She started writing this story when she was 14 years old.

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It’s so sweet they commented. Hopefully it inspires her to keep going

Is NPR a “random jerks news site” now?

Aww man, I miss Paul Harvey

Tell me authors are awesome folks without telling me they are.

I...I want to believe that was some kind of joke, but...maybe some people reeeeally don't like NPR or something?

Right?!? Seems highly sus.

It’s a bit confusing. You should create things in your free time for personal enjoyment, you can’t expect the general public to latch on to a literary work just because the Facebook RSVPs didn’t show.

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Love her! I've read the Farseer Trilogy a dozen times now

That sounds great and I am quite jelly.

Glad she got the positive notes from some famous authors.

In a "post Covid" era . . .

In a "Zoom" / "online" era . . .

Heck, the "line up (in 1978?) to see Star Wars" rarely happens now . . . movie theater sales are down, lines for "super" movies are down. (Streaming is changing things.)

Yes, Taylor Swift (for a LIVE IN-PERSON performance not a movie) can "break the system", but . . .

I don't think it's at all fair for her to consider this a comment on the quality / desirability of the book(s).

This may just be the shape of things to come.

Sus, yeah, but I'm not even sure what to be suspicious *of* lol

Do they just not know news sources? Did they not see the link? I have no clue what's going on orz

Was at a corporate event last year in sf by some hot shit company. They had DAN THE AUTOMATER djing and all the tech bros stood around. Not one person dancing. Except me.

It harkens a simpler, softer time.

You need a moderate amount of fans. MODERATE

“Banning tweeted about what happened with the intention of possibly deleting the tweet in a few hours”

Gross

Mate i just hate news sites that practically rip their info straight off reddit or some shit.

To be honest news sites in general are shit. Nothing is really newsworthy. This shit aint newsworthy. Only newsworthy shit is... I dont know, local news and things that effect the global/national economy.

Ian Rankin, he was supposed to introduce her.

This article adds so much more context, though. In terms of text, it's like 15% tweets, then 85% talking about the author's history, what she went through, and the situation surrounding the tweets. Looks like they interviewed her directly, too. That hardly counts as ripping their info straight off of reddit.

I don’t understand this comment. People consume creative works constantly. That’s like saying anyone who works on tv shows, movies, games, performances etc should just expect to do it for free, even though everyone loves being entertained. All these forms of entertainment take time, effort and skill to make. Why shouldn’t the creators expect to see profit off it? Or, at the very least, a little recognition.

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Maybe he was checking them all out to keep them away from the hands of impressionable youth! Right? Maybe?

It's like Mitch Hedberg said: "I have a new CD; it's in stores, and when you have a CD in stores, you have to do in-store appearances, and if nobody shows up, I just pretend like I'm shopping. That's how I shop; I sit behind a table with a pen."

Most entertainment ventures fail, if you are familiar with the industry.

Besides stealing Lisa Simpsons book. Outside of that very upstanding guy.

but 37 people said they would come

Moderate fans are good

I think she’s a fantastic writer. Did a book swap a good few years ago where a colleague introduced me to John le Carré and and I Robin Hobb to him.

It’s unfortunate that marketing-effort tsunami never made whitewater

He’s amazing like that. In high school I saw him a number of times in Minneapolis and was always too shy/polite to bother him but it never stopped some of my friends and he’d always stop and chat with them. I regret never actually taking the time to talk to him. It’s really too bad he’s not on Reddit because I have never really gotten twitter.

Fiction authors tend to be a pretty nice, supportive lot. Not a lot of big egos make it through the constant rejections most authors experience before they get established (if they ever do).

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There was a quite random TV show here in the UK based on a story he’d written; I believe it was called Murder Island. Something like 4 teams of 2 people had to become detectives and solve the crime. All of the characters had to know their backstory inside out as they were questioned like an actual police interview. Was pretty cool, sorry for the random spiel, I just saw his name which reminded me of that!

This is so heartening to read. I have been writing since I was 4 (for pleasure, not commercially), and while I have long cherished a dream of becoming an award-winning fiction writer, I think our heyday is long past, so I have built a decent career in marketing/advertising instead. But it feels good to know there is still a community of good people in what is a dying profession...

Well, I told you that 4" spikes on your clothes wouldn't make you popular at the dance floor.

It's supposed to be 1" blunt nails. /s

Wow you are a glutton for punishment. Too heart breaking.

Haha! I laugh and clap when man call fat.

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Tbh I wouldn’t even know where to lookout for book signings near me

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And then there's James Patterson... (Not disagreeing with you, just one of those exceptions)

Yes, but movie makers aren’t supposed to expect that their movies fail. A lot of people make a living creating things. The skills it takes to write scripts and novels is a large overlap.

I want to travel back in time just to go to the signing with him and Terry Pratchett where nobody showed up.

That’s not how NPR works.

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Granted, the category is pretty niche. But still a great accomplishment!

Liveship Trilogy is literally and epic tale

He’s 100% a gem. My mom sold him and his wife multiple cars over the years and they still email every once and a while. I find it adorable that this incredibly BUSY man still responds to her emails where she says “hey I watched Sandman and I liked it!” Lol

*reich? maybe?

Book signings seem like absolute hell.

I’m sure he’s quite a… proud boy

I went to see Douglas Adams once, my Dad and I were the only ones there. That was in 1998! So not a new problem really. I felt bad for the guy but we did get to hang out and talk, which was very cool. So if you're a big fan of an author definitely go to these things, there's a reasonable chance you'll be making their day less boring and you might get to actually hang out a bit rather than just have your book signed.

While scrolling through quickly, I read this as, "It harkens a simpler, darker time." Not sure which one's more accurate.

And rules in place, like one book per person, so you don't have dickheads showing up with entire wagons of your books to sign so they can resell them on ebay.

Patterson turned writing into an assembly line and made it a business.

He's only interested in making money and stamping his name on as many books as possible while someone else actually does the fingerwork.

Nancy Brophy has entered the chat

I've written some (very) small timey history books. Getting people to book signings is like pulling teeth and I've heard there is a trend away from it. (Kind of like how book launches used to be a thing but aren't anymore). Fortunately, my last book was about beer history and when you offer people free beer at your presentation/signings...they show up! :) (But yeah, still about 50% of who actually sign up)

Everytine I do a book signing, people don't seem to appreciate it. Granted, I've never written any book, but I have written on many books.

The description of her book sounds intriguing - going to add it to my list!

He is on tumblr, probably one of the sites most active famous users tbh

I oppose Banning Books.

Meetups are notorious for how many people bail. Expect 50% of people to bail on even routine stuff like get-togethers and dinners. It's a weird psychology - if you're not going to show, why RSVP at all? People want to have multiple options to choose from on a given night. Dinners are bad because someone has paid for a table that the restaurant could be using for something else. Organizers discovered that the way around the problem was to make people deposit like $50 beforehand - suddenly everyone showed up for the dinner :)

Saw Gwen Stefani for our annual kickoff meeting and maybe 5% of the crowd were dancing. She put on a surprisingly good show (from remote viewing)

Article sucks, not a single as theory to why this marketing isn't working, and an intention to continue a failing model.

Why do people who read books not showing up to bookstores? Should they livestream the reading on Twitch or YT instead?

I used to love Mitch Hedberg. I still do, but I used to, too.

Maybe the people who jump at a social event are the most likely to ditch you for a more prestigious one?

That was my thought. Is the book any good? If the clever tweet is the marketing plan, then why not shill the book while were at it? This article is so threadbare.

I wish I had a suitcase handcuffed to my wrist

and then there was Terry Goodkind, a man who refused to read anything other authors wrote and acted like he was the best shit since sliced bread.

I wanna be a race-car passenger. You know, just a guy who bugs the driver. Say man, can I turn on the radio? Why you gotta drive so fast? Man, you really like Tide!

That was lovely thanks for posting

...at least he wasn't looking for Apt Pupil.

Tumblr still exists?

Nope.

I don't organize meetups. I just have gone to enough of them to see this behaviour, and no, there is no connection to 'more prestigious' events, as I have been to a whole continuum of events from fancy to grubby and 50% of people still don't show up to them regardless of what they are.

I have never said 'Oh, here comes a frog.' in a horrified manner. It's always optimistic. Like 'Here comes a frog, i hope it will settle near me, and i can pet him. and put him in a mayonnaise jar. with a stick and a leaf. to simulate what he is used to.'

I was just gonna comment this lol, he could’ve redirected to his own book

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I love Stephen King. I just finished the stand for the 2nd time. What a stellar book.

Wait! That doesn’t sound very good, nor kind!

And ruin this meme able story? And that’s why you can’t be trusted with time travel!!!!

This makes me think about picking up reading.

correct, go look up interviews with him. Guy was a kind of a jerk. Sad really, Sword of Truth was the series that got me back into reading, at least until he started getting really heavy handed with the Ann Rand stuff and how literally the main character was always right all the time even though he should have no idea what he is talking about.

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Our company used to do a yearly Christmas party and one year they had a live band, but the thing is that everybody there wants to chat and get to know their coworkers outside of work. The live music was so loud that you couldn't even be in the same room, so everybody jammed into a side room so they could hear each other talk without screaming.

I felt really bad every time I went to the bar b/c I had to go through the room with the band, who was playing to a literal empty room. They actually were very good, too, it was just a terrible venue for them.

Rice is great if you're really hungy and want to eat two thousand of something.

Find the least used category and release under that

This article reads like a 90s Meg Ryan rom-com. A librarian, who spent 15 years writing her novel!? Where's Tom Hanks?

With the rise of digital books, I can't imagine there's a lot of people going to book signings.

Kanye doesn’t know how to read

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.

Yeah, i agree. Still, you got start somewhere and she managed to turn a negative experience into a really positive one in the end. World needs more of that imo.

Definitely not disagreeing with you! Just pointing out the fact that if you lost your book in a genre nobody has ever heard of before, it’s certainly a lot easier to top the charts than under a category like “fantasy” or something. But I’m loving all the other authors being so supportive!

Has someone here read it? Is it awesome?

Maybe speak with a time monk about it.

Seething with jealousy about this. How cool!