It's hard to believe, but before I started blogging I never went to a book signing. I have no idea why not. I guess I'm just not a very good fangirl, lol. Last year I went to the Lori Foster Reader/Author Get Together and it was my first time at a book signing. It was a crash course because there were so many authors there and I was totally unprepared for it. This year I am going to be much more organized. I also want to bring something to giveaway-last year someone had a plain tote bag that they had all the authors sign and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I don't want to copy them, but have no idea what to use instead. Any ideas??
My first official book signing was last October when I went to see J.R. Ward. I learned to have a cute bookish shirt to wear. I recently saw her again on March 31st and that was totally overwhelming. There were about 800 or so people there. I got there about an hour and a half before the store opened, and I was shocked at how little publicity there was to direct people to the actual part of the store to get your numbered bracelet so you could get your book signed. There were also no staff members of Barnes and Nobles there to direct people where the line started or ended. Liza from Blogging by Liza did that, and she did a great job! (she also has a kick ass post of the chat JR gave.) Once we were inside the store I noticed that there were just two cashiers working. Eventually the manager opened, but why on earth wouldn't you have your whole staff there to help people? Later that afternoon at the time of the book signing I could tell that everyone was there, but I think they should have been there in the morning as well. The poor staff could barely push their way through the line to get into work. If it were me, I would have had everyone come in early. I also felt sorry for the poor Starbucks people working that Saturday, because it looked like they didn't get the memo about the signing. They just had two people working. Not a lot considering how many people were there.
When it came time to line up, they did a great job. It was how it should have been that morning. There were people there calling off numbers and people directing people to their spot in line. That part was organized. However, once I got up to where she was doing the signing, I was expecting to be able to get my picture taken with her, as that's how it was last time. They didn't do that this time because of the crowd, but it would have been nice to have been told that. I almost fainted though because when she signed my Kindle Fire she told me that "she loved signing these things." One of the girls has a picture of me looking stunned. I will try to post it later! The talk itself was crazy. It was in a small space, and it was hard to hear her from where I was. I met some women who had been to the Lori Foster Get Together last year, and had a nice talk about our favorite authors. Since there were so many people in line, the talk began a little late and I actually ended up leaving before it was over because I felt a little claustrophobic. I hadn't felt that way in forever!! I had a great time, and here is a picture of me and some of the women I went to the signing with:
The other book signing I went to was to that of Leanna Renee Hieber. She was equally as awesome as JR Ward was. I met up with Jenny from Supernatural Snark. This signing was much more low key and personal. There were about 30 people there and it was much more my speed then the other was. After the book signing and reading we had frozen yogurt with Leanna. She had invited us both and it was a lot of fun just talking about books and publishing with Leanna. Here are some pictures from that signing:
I have to say that I take the worst pictures ever!! My question is: How far would you travel to see your favorite author and do you prefer the big crazy signings or the smaller ones?
