No, no, no...not that kind of drive by. Whatever are you thinking?
Susan Lyons and I had a booksigning on the weekend at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA on Saturday evening. At various points on the trip there and back, we stopped at different bookstores to autograph whatever stock they had of our recent releases.
For me, that would be Pure Sex (July) and for Susan, Hot in Here (August). Not only did the stores have our new releases...they had copies of our previous ones, too! So I signed a ton of The Hard Stuff along the way while Susan signed the first of her awesome foursome series, Champagne Rules.
What a fabulous time we had. Bookstore staff was helpful, friendly, approachable and very kind. One fellow looked up a sales history for me and I now know how many copies of The Hard Stuff and Pure Sex his location has actually sold.
But, the VERY best part was meeting, totally by accident, some readers in a great Borders Express at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, WA. If you're anywhere near that area...please stop by and talk to the wonderful staff. It's the type of store where they know what their customers like to read. Where regulars are recognized! The kind of friendly bookstore all readers love to have.
While we were in this Border Express, we met two readers. Big waves to Jessica and Sara! Jessica is one of Aphrodisia's very first readers! She told me she was thrilled to see the ad that Kensington put in the January issue of RT Book club mag, and started digging for info on the Kensington website and visits this very blog on a regular basis.
Well, I'm apologizing here for *HUGGING THE LIFE OUT OF HER* in the bookstore. I tell you, I blinked back tears to think she's been buying and reading our Aphrodisia titles right from the beginning. What a sweet thing for me to experience.
Meanwhile, Susan was chatting with Sara who loves continuing series and insisted on buying Champagne Rules so she could start with the first of her awesome foursome.
Right before we left, Susan had the foresight to ask what we as authors can do to reach out to more readers. There was a chorus from Amanda, the store manager and Jessica and Sara, "keep writing those wonderful stories".
And what a wonderful chorus to hear! Thanks so much ladies for the time you gave us, the inspiration , and all the kindness you showed.
I'm still grinning from ear to ear! My heart's warmed, my fingers are revved up on the keyboard and inside, I'm doing the happy dance.
