Live and Learn

In the British television series "As Time Goes By," one of the story lines is that the male lead, Lionel Hardcastle is writing a book called, "My Life in Kenya." When the book is published, the
publisher, Alstair Deacon arranges a book signing at a London bookstore. In preparing Lionel for the event, he tells him that he has planted some people on the line, who will wink at him, meaning that they really don't want to buy the book, they are just there for appearances.

I probably should have thought of something like that for my book signing this past Saturday at the Town Book Store in Westfield. My sister and nephew were there to provide moral support and since we forgot our camera, my nephew saved the day with the picture to the right.

When this book came out, I contacted about a half-dozen or so independent bookstores in New Jersey about a possible book signing. I got two responses and this was the only one that came to fruition. I was there two hours, had three lengthy conversations and sold two books. When we got there, a man talked to me for a good 20 minutes, but he apparently thought I was going to give a talk and left without buying a book. Another man talked to Carol and I for some time, he said he wasn't that much of a baseball fan, but bought a book to support local authors - bless him!

Then just as we were thinking of ending it early, a woman came in, interested in her grandfather who played for the Brooklyn Tip-tops of the Federal League as well as (I think) the Phillies and the Yankees. The Federal League was a third major league that lasted for about three years, dying out after the 1915 season. I was able to give her some ideas on where she could find information about her grandfather and she very graciously bought a copy of my book.

I entitled this post, "Live and Learn" because that is what I am basically doing with this book. When "The Mutinous Regiment" came out, I was to busy to try to promote it much and I didn't want to get involved in selling them myself. Now with more time, I am trying different things to see what happens. Thus far the really productive approach is where I give a talk of some kind that builds interest in the book. To this point it has primarily been Civil War Roundtables, but I have some baseball talks scheduled and I think that will progress. I am attending the 19th century baseball conference at the Hall of Fame on April 18th and there will be a book signing for any authors attending at the bookstore so we will see what happens. In any event thanks to Anne Laird, the owner of the Town Book Store for the opportunity and we will continue to live and learn.