Just Keep Moving Forward

Was up half the night sick again, so I hope this makes sense. If not, just pretend it's surrealism. 

I called and talked to the proprietor of a local bookstore, J & M's Used Bookstore. He was a gracious young man who said that, unfortunately, his store was not large enough to host a book signing. I saw he was completely sincere when I walked in later that evening--the place is crammed full of books of every shape and description. I can't believe I'd never been there before. I will definitely be going back regularly. But he did agree to look at my book and carry it if he felt it was a real, serious book and not just some piece of junk published from pure vanity. Interestingly enough, when I walked in to deliver the book, the owner was talking to a lady who turned out to my cousin Nancy. She spoke on my behalf about how much she really loved my book. The owner decided that was good enough for him. So I'll be delivering some books to him to sell in his store. I'm in my first bookstore!

As I said last week, sales have slowed among the people I know, but now I'm starting to hear from students and friends that friends of friends are slowly starting to hear and buy. And I'm up to four 5-star reviews on Amazon (though one is, well, interesting). I'm in a bookstore now and I'm excited to say that the place he showed me that it will be displayed is right inside the door. And the Wood County Library's director asked me to email him dates for doing a signing there.

As an independent author, I didn't expect to sell in the thousands in the first two months. I'm really pretty happy with where I am at this point. And I feel like I'm moving forward. It's slow progress, but progress nonetheless. As long as I keep moving forward, it doesn't matter how fast it is. I would like to add an advantage to the list I wrote last week. Publishing on my own without an agent and/or publishing house, I don't have any sense of pressure to succeed quickly. If it takes months or even years to really catch on, I don't have to worry about my agent or publisher dropping me. I'll stick with me no matter what. :)

I usually end with a link to Amazon, I'll end with a plug for J & M's Used Bookstore. It really is a cool little place that's spread out among what I think used to be three small shops. They support local authors and it just feels like a good old fashioned local bookstore. There's even a comfy chair for reading. It's located at 1215 Blizzard Drive. If you're coming from northside, go past the Kroger shopping plaza and start up the hill like you're going to South High School. It's halfway up that hill on your left. Go take a look!