how to make an author's heart beat faster
Just a note to say "Hello" from a lurker; Looking forward to the new book but decided not to enter the contest and wait for the fully finished version. I love the excitement of heading down to my local bookseller to get the new book the first day it comes out.And to this person I wanted to say thank you. That idea is exciting for me, too. When Into the Wilderness came out I happened to actually see somebody buying a copy. This was in a bookstore in Canada, I was waiting in line, and I noticed what he was holding. I felt a real jolt, I suppose what actors and directors must feel if they stand in the back of a theater and watch people come in to see a movie they've made. Delight and fear and curiosity, all mixed up. That person in line wants to read the book I wrote. This is somebody being drawn in by the title or the cover or something else, and choosing that book over the thousands right there available to be read, then paying money, and sitting down, and spending time, and actually reading.
Now, when a new book comes out, I have this terrible urge to go down to the bookstore and lurk. It's like watching your own kid at a dance from behind a potted palm.
Oooh look, he's slowing down. He's gonna pick it up. He's reading. Hey. Give it more of a chance, would you? And look at that guy, walked right by without even glancing, straight to the non-fiction section. He needs to broaden his horizons. Maybe I should go tell him that. Crickey, that woman is taking three copies to the register. What's that about? Does she need a foot massage, do you think? Can I buy her a coffee?
After all this gushing, it may sound strange to say this, but I am planning on also giving away a brand new, hot off the presses signed first edition of Fire Along the Sky in the week before publication. Not that I want to discourage anybody from actually buying a book, but I like to do this. It's a way to thank the readers.