Adventures in Marketing: Week 503

Sold a MESSIAHS – and was told by a former secretary/poet/grandmother of several, now living in Michigan, that she has ordered one.
The in-person purchaser was the friend whom frequent readers may recall from a couple Adventures ago as asking if he would be getting a free one. Now, when I told him the price, he said, “That’s a lot?” “It’s a good book,” I said. “There’re a lot of good books,” he said. “The publisher set the price,” I said. “You can probably get it for less at Amazon.” “Give me change.” He handed me two twenties.
This led to an interesting exchange as to why payment for my work was important to me since I did not need the money, in the course of which I made some assessments of my literary worth which probably most – more likely, nearly all – outside observers would dispute. It did not enter the conversation until later that he had recently purchased an ll-electric 50K Volvo so we did not explore why my price-setting even rippled his pond.

In other news – and again it’s all MESSIAHS:
1.) TCJ.com will run an extract from one of the pieces in the book, which will call attention to it in the corner of the world where it will matter most.
2.)The poster announcing the launch party has been up in the café for about a week. The only response I know of was the retired accountant who approached me to say that he had not known my last name, which was also that of his attorney;
3.) Mini-posters have been sent as “Thank-you”s to all people who ordered my book from me. (I would send them to people who bought the book from stores or on-line, but the postage would exceed my chintzy royalty rate.) Half the recipients said they thought the poster was cool. The other half has kept their opinions to themselves;
4.) Fran, who designed the poster and who is designing the launch’s commemorative T-shirt, promises final sketches in a couple days. The shirts themselves (100% cotton) are due Thursday, when he will silk-screen them. (FREE, remember, to the first 50 people to buy a book at the party.)
5.) Speaking of which, of the two-dozen people I thought most likely to come, seven have said they will be there; three will not (One is going to a book club; one to a conference; one to a sister’s birthday party); the rest have not been heard from. Of the two-dozen I thought semi-likely to attend, nine have said they are coming; (one is going to Majorca.); the rest have not been heard from. Of the dozen I thought least likely to attend, two have said they are coming. And two people who read about the party at FB said they will be there.
Long story short, it looks like we will have enough t-shirts.