Fun at Local Author Day at Cupboard Maker Books

The 4th of July weekend was the perfect time to hold Local Author Day at Cupboard Maker Books, even if it was part of an extraordinarily busy day for us. We wanted to participate in the Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers meeting (of which Michelle leads), so we got up earlier than usual. Since the LAD event for us started at 2 p.m., I packed the car the night before so we could get to the meeting on time.

The main event of the meeting revolved around author-bookstore relations, which is something every writer, whether trad-pub or indie, should know. I shouldn’t go into details, since the meeting wasn’t recorded, and that allowed Michelle to speak freely about her experiences, good and bad, with writers. As usual, she named the great authors and not the ones who made the Naughty List.

What really stood out to me was what should be an obvious and simple rule:

Be nice.

That’s all. To me — and here I can speak freely because this is my interpretation of what she said — whatever you do — visiting bookstores, asking for signings, meeting readers — be agreeable, pleasant, easy to work with, and willing to cheerfully accept screw-ups, miscommunications, and all the other irritations that beset writers.

Here’s my example: A few years ago, I agreed to participate in a library’s local author event. I would appear, talk about my books, hand out literature, you know the drill.

Total number of attendees: zero. Nada. Nothing. Goose egg.

The librarian who arranged the event felt bad for me. Heck, I felt bad for me. When I was just starting out, I probably would have been irritated. Maybe even sarcastic.

This is what experience taught me: Everybody has days like these. You can get angry, which won’t help. You can lash out, which really doesn’t help and even makes it worse. Or you can let it slide off, joke about it, and make it better.

So the librarian and I talked for about a half-hour. I think we talked about books, about the writing life, books she liked (always a great question to ask when you’re stuck: “What are you reading?” I’ve gotten amazing book recs that way). And we parted on good terms (I hope).

Now, this about this: That Michelle has to state something so obvious, something you should have learned in kindergarten, means that there are authors out there who are Not Nice. And every bookseller, if you buy them a drink and ask, will have Naughty Author stories.

And you know what happens to those Naughty Authors? If they’re best-selling authors, nothing that affects them. They’ll do fewer booksignings, because indie store owners won’t have them back. They’ll sell maybe a couple hundred fewer books, because owners won’t hand-sell them. They may get fewer opportunities put their way, because word gets around. If they piss off book reviewers, they’ll get fewer reviews.

Like I said, bestselling authors probably won’t feel the sting. But what if you’re a midlist author? What if you’re scraping by? And what if you’re still with small presses, or indie publishing? At a place where someone’s book recommendation can put your work before a larger audience, or on a podcast, or a couple more booksignings and speaking gigs?

Being naughty only hurts yourself.

So let’s talk instead about Nice Authors, who showed up when we were there for Local Author Day:

* Rachel J. Good (www.racheljgood.com) writes sweet Amish romance. of which she has quite a few, such as “The Amish Teacher’s Gift,” and “The Amish Midwife’s Secret.” She also writes young adult westerns such as “Grace and the Guiltless,” and children’s books about horses (“Taking Chances” and “Wild Midnight”).

* Barbara Conrey (www.barbaraconreyauthor.com) showed up with her first book, the novel “Nowhere Near Goodbye.” Described as a story about family, failure, and second chances, it’s about a cancer doctor who has to navigate between her research into a rare brain cancer, marriage, and motherhood. We had met before at the store’s new author class, so it was great to see her here. And with a USAToday bestseller tag, too!

* Brigette Barto Harris (www.brigettebartoharris.wordpress.com) showed up with her first novel, “Bellow,” a young adult novel about finding your voice.

* And let me add a hello to Judi Fennell (judifennell.com) and Stephanie Julian, who were in the noon to 2 p.m. time slot (photo borrowed from Cupboard Maker Books’ Facebook page). I didn’t have enough time, so I talked only with Judi a bit (sorry Stephanie!), and learned about her Raven Morris “Internet Dating Chronicles” series (www.ravenmorris.wordpress.com) and her Bottled Magic and Tritone Trilogy.

What interested me more was that she also runs Formatting4U (www.formatting4U.com). It looks like an all-purpose editing and design studio, covering print and ebook formatting, copy and story edits, cover design, branding, logo design and websites (she’s also branching out into audiobook production). After publishing 25 books, we’ve learned a lot about the publishing process, and services like Fennell’s — so long as they provide quality work — can boost your author game and take a load of work off your shoulders.