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CurlSagan t1_iz7268r wrote

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?"

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thats1evildude t1_iz78pyv wrote

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

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Hybrid_Divide t1_iz7axjz wrote

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

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theshiyal t1_iz84e3u wrote

Aww man, I miss Paul Harvey

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alabasterwilliams t1_iz8cr66 wrote

It harkens a simpler, softer time.

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GirchyGirchy t1_iz9hi5d wrote

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

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imnotsoho t1_iz7ydzx wrote

And now Reddit has move to my demographic.

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routerg0d t1_iz7pilf wrote

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

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Bristonian t1_iz8l8ut wrote

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

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xd_melchior t1_iz9yss7 wrote

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

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b3rn13br0 t1_iza878y wrote

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

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Fuckedby2FA t1_izacwml wrote

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

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kneel23 t1_iz9ixrc wrote

Nancy Brophy has entered the chat

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isecore t1_iz8lxtc wrote

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."

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be4u4get t1_iz9t4vr wrote

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

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infinityetc t1_iz9uow9 wrote

I wish I had a suitcase handcuffed to my wrist

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isecore t1_iz9x6pm wrote

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!

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hkzqgfswavvukwsw t1_iza7g9o wrote

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.'

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Toxikfoxx t1_izaud2n wrote

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

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_JD_48 t1_izbnyip wrote

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

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malthar76 t1_iz7xlsp wrote

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.

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sabersquirl t1_iz8gbni wrote

You need a moderate amount of fans. MODERATE

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Littleman88 t1_iz9hsgl wrote

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.

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zombieinferno t1_iz7fz18 wrote

I checked her book listing on Amazon.

It is #1 in it's category. gif

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midgethepuff t1_iz9aq73 wrote

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

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zombieinferno t1_izbrwde wrote

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.

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midgethepuff t1_izbu1tk wrote

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!

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Rubik842 t1_iz7xd4q wrote

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.

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Robotdeath t1_iz8he2h wrote

Ian Rankin, he was supposed to introduce her.

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Bendy_McBendyThumb t1_iz8wy1k wrote

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!

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SanguineBanker t1_iz71lls wrote

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

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ApplesArePeopleToo t1_iz8u169 wrote

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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Alyse3690 t1_iz97209 wrote

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

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Littleman88 t1_iz9i36s wrote

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.

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DilithiumCrystalMeth t1_iz9wyc3 wrote

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.

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ArenSteele t1_izaf4yc wrote

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

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DilithiumCrystalMeth t1_izaicnx wrote

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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Gen-Jinjur t1_iz7lrzh wrote

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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hungryhungryhibernia t1_iz8piw4 wrote

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.

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routerg0d t1_iz7perq wrote

Neil’s response is hilarious.

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Catinthemirror t1_iz7xrc6 wrote

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

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Rolandersec t1_iz8qxvh wrote

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.

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LeighSkarz t1_iz9cnda wrote

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

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ZuluTurtle t1_iz8ouze wrote

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

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fusionsofwonder t1_iz98jgu wrote

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

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ArenSteele t1_izafd1g wrote

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

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russellbeattie t1_iz70rrl wrote

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.

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Annahsbananas t1_iz7idrp wrote

That's really cool about the responses she got

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MyFavoriteInsomnia t1_iz6z9pa wrote

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

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PhesteringSoars t1_iz8a8za wrote

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.

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Petewonder t1_iz8c7f8 wrote

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.

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Gadgetman_1 t1_iz8yq3s wrote

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

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findar t1_iz9pwhb wrote

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)

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Mattbl t1_izarhl0 wrote

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.

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commandrix t1_iz7szhq wrote

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

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CurrentQuarter8791 t1_iz7jbu5 wrote

gif

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Artnunymisss t1_iz7xvrt wrote

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

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TeacherPatti t1_iz9jh65 wrote

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)

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pmiller61 t1_iz84xe1 wrote

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

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IdleRhymer t1_iz9hhzr wrote

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.

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Spidersinthegarden t1_iz80sai wrote

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

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mauore11 t1_iz9ku73 wrote

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.

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Footner t1_iz93byg wrote

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

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4354574 t1_iz9pdgk wrote

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 :)

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compaqdeskpro t1_iz9tmsp wrote

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

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4354574 t1_iz9zf7a wrote

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.

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Slow_Yogurtcloset353 t1_iz8yera wrote

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...

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ostentragious t1_iz9ddmh wrote

Book signings seem like absolute hell.

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beckychicky t1_iz9lqm8 wrote

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

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microphohn t1_iz9opny wrote

I oppose Banning Books.

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L1mby t1_izag8ax wrote

This makes me think about picking up reading.

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BigOnLogn t1_izav4oh wrote

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

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PerpetuallyOffline t1_izb56nw wrote

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

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Carighan t1_izbxcg5 wrote

Has someone here read it? Is it awesome?

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compaqdeskpro t1_iz9snhg wrote

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?

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jjjdddmmm t1_iz8gz7k wrote

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

Gross

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[deleted] t1_iz7h37a wrote

[deleted]

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Muzzy637 t1_iz7krc4 wrote

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

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Lord_Despair t1_iz7t7b1 wrote

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!

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GhostGirl32 t1_iz7zqtp wrote

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

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RickardHenryLee t1_iz7n56p wrote

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.

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TinyCatCrafts t1_iz7ny5j wrote

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

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TreeLord23 t1_iz7z39z wrote

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

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JessicaGriffin t1_iz80v26 wrote

Is NPR a “random jerks news site” now?

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Octavia_con_Amore t1_iz85fgs wrote

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

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JessicaGriffin t1_iz85lx8 wrote

Right?!? Seems highly sus.

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Octavia_con_Amore t1_iz8awio wrote

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

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TreeLord23 t1_iz8h773 wrote

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

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Octavia_con_Amore t1_iz8hmin wrote

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.

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TreeLord23 t1_iz8hb7j wrote

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.

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BillCosbyGANG t1_iz85uzu wrote

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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PotatoBeautiful t1_iz8iwak wrote

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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BillCosbyGANG t1_iz8o54p wrote

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

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PotatoBeautiful t1_iz974g1 wrote

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.

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compaqdeskpro t1_iz9txcc wrote

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.

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