I am half way through my current round of Book Signings with Waterstones Bookshops here in the UK. I have been to Guildford, Woking, East Grinstead, Godalming, Staines, Windsor and Dorking. Still to come over the next few months: Redhill, Crawley, Walton-on-Thames, Petersfield, Eastbourne, Windsor and Guildford again... Phew!
And you know what? I have decided that we are an extraordinarily polite society! All this talk about manners being lost in an increasingly frenetic world is just not true. Even when I speak to folk who are in a hurry, they are unfailingly polite when they explain they can't stop to hear about the book - but wish me well.
My other observation is that you can never predict someone's reading taste. I've spoken to little old ladies with a penchant for the most farfetched science fiction, trendy twenty-somethings who only read World War II non-fiction, tattooed young men who go for Jane Austen. Fortunately, Karoo Plainsong covers a fair bit of territory and can offer history, romance (thwarted, coerced and real), travel, war, geography, and a soupcon of Karoo cooking. So... I have been able to persuade many Waterstones customers to give the book a try - in fact, well over 300 of them so far.
And I've heard back from quite a few already, who have told their friends in other parts of the UK - and the world - about the book. Keep it up! And gold stars to those who didn't buy on the day - but wished me luck and grabbed a promo leaflet as they dashed past.
No comments:
Post a Comment