Sold one “Best Ride.”
The buyer was a thirtyish, baseball-capped civil engineer, who works on the Bay Shore trail. He said he would read it next week on his flight to France.
I hoped he would have something to cover the remaining several hours. I figured he would leave it in France, where it would be picked up by someone who would adore it and make me the next American artist to have his career revived there.
In other news…
1. A colleague gave me a brochure by a self-publishing guru. Of her Top Tips, the most relevant seemed “Persistence is Key.” Well, I thought, every day I sit in the café with my “Buy Bob’s Books” sign and wares, so I have that covered. But then there was “Build Your Platform.”
With the drain of the actuarial tables upon my core audience, I was having trouble holding my own. And this was even before people began bailing on Facebook.
2. The new, photo-illustrated edition of “Cheesesteak” has arrived and is currently available from my hall closet ($15 to POB 9492, Berkeley 94709; $10 in person) and presumably from discerning book stores and on-line. I sent copies to five Philly-area papers (since that’s where most of the action occurs). For promotion, that’s it. See what I mean about being “platform”-challenged. (But if you want to write a review, lemme know.)
3. Responses to the proposed reading series at the café have been positive – but not too many people want to actually read. The manager has been enthusiastic and supportive – but took the announcement down when the building owner was in town. I’ve also posted announcements at my other café and health club, which produced zero attendees at my last reading, but, you know…
Persistence is key.