I am beyond excited to welcome my friend Susan Helene Gottfried to Diary of an Eccentric today. Susan blogs at West of Mars — The Meet and Greet and West of Mars — Rocks ‘n Reads, and many of you know her from Win A Book. But I hope some day in the not-so-distant future, everyone everywhere will know her as the author of Trevor’s Song, her debut novel about rock star Trevor Wolff and his band ShapeShifter. Some of you already know ShapeShifter from the outtakes Susan has posted on her blog, and you can get your hands on these short pieces in ShapeShifter — The Demo Tapes: Year 1 (read my review and my interview with Susan) and ShapeShifter — The Demo Tapes: Year 2. Susan is a class act, and I wish her much success!
Now, let me stop blabbing so you can give a warm welcome to Susan Helene Gottfried:
Even though I’m only here in a virtual sense, I do need to thank Anna for hosting me today. She’s shown me great support since hearing of my first book, The Demo Tapes: Year 1, and as our friendship has grown over the past couple of years (has it been that long already? Wow!), she’s never stopped being one of my many sources of inspiration.
Take the other day, for instance. I know Anna lives about four hours from my house, give or take traffic, construction, and the actual placement of the various roads we’d have to drive to get from here or there. And she lives in a great tourist area, one of those places I’m overdue to visit and bring my kids.
So I suggested I hand-deliver her a copy of my latest book, Trevor’s Song.
We laughed at the idea, but then Anna said I could make it my trademark: other authors visit book clubs. I’d visit the people who buy my book! A reverse book signing! And not much different from what my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins pro hockey team does every year, delivering a select few set of tickets to lucky season ticket holders. (I have yet to be one of the lucky families, unfortunately. But I have high hopes!)
Our idea wouldn’t be much different from what the Pens do except … people from all over the world want autographed copies of my books. And while it’s easy enough to carefully wrap up a freshly-autographed book and slip it into a Priority Mail envelope, it can’t possibly be so easy (or inexpensive!) to slip on my easy-off shoes and head to the airport to make a hand delivery to Australia.
Oh, how I wish I could! And not just because Australia is high on my list of places to see in my lifetime.
Rather, the attraction is in getting to travel and meet people who love to read. Sure, it’s a bonus that they like to read my books, but any day in which I can sit and talk about anyone’s books with people is a good day in my world.
Plus, my readers are precious, every last one of them. They’re the people who’ve taken the plunge and spent money on me and my fictional characters. They’re the readers who like my fictional world as much as I do.
Yep, those are precious people.
That’s why I do wish I could hand-deliver every last book I autograph and stick into an envelope. And yes, this happens more often than you might think. In this Internet age, authors are more accessible. If you guys want autographed copies, I’m all too happy to oblige. If you want me to hand-deliver your book, well… believe me. I wish I could. The adventure this idea promises is enough to make me drool. I bet it would inspire great fiction.
In the meantime, I’ll stay home, behind my computer screen, playing music and writing, writing, writing. If you need an autographed book, holler. I’m more than glad to help you get one — and if you buy Trevor’s Song directly from me, I’ll drop the price a bit, too, and save you a few dollars.
If that isn’t incentive enough, how’s this? During November and December, I’ll be giving away at least 50% of my royalties to charity. You can read the full details on my contests page at West of Mars — http://westofmars.com/west-of-mars/contests because this is big. It’s huge. It’s an awesome charity, one that helps our kids.
You can help a kid and get a book in exchange. With the holidays coming, I don’t know how you can do any better in your gift-giving.
Come join me in this. Because, after all, my continued success doesn’t just mean happy kids and a well-coffered charity. It means that one day, the book I hand deliver might just be yours.
Thanks, Susan! We’re definitely going to have to meet up, regardless of whether or not you come bearing books! (And do tell the story of the octopus…I’m curious!)
Disclosure: I am an Amazon associate.
© 2010 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
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