This week, debut fantasy novelist Chelsea Banning posted this tweet:
Twitter showed that it could still be a force for good and her tweet went viral. Famous authors replied to Banning and shared similar horror stories. “I have sat lonely at a signing table many times only to have someone approach…and ask me where the bathroom is,” Jodi Picoult wrote. Margaret Atwood replied: “Join the club. I did a signing to which Nobody came, except a guy who wanted to buy some Scotch tape and thought I was the help. :)” And Neil Gaiman tweeted: “Terry Pratchett and I did a signing in Manhattan for Good Omens that nobody came to at all. So you are two up on us.”
I applaud Banning for being upfront about something I suspect many authors worry about but seldom discuss. Writing is a solitary activity and thus authors tend to be introverts. It can take years — or even a lifetime — to overcome self-doubt and summon the courage to bare your soul on the page. Sharing your writing, even with intimate friends and family, is extremely difficult. Your writing is subjected to additional layers of scrutiny if you take the traditional publishing route.
Then comes the terrifying prospect of being in the spotlight at a public event. Will people really come? Does anyone care about your book? I worry that the answers are often “no,” so I don’t do many solo events. (Panels are much less pressure. If no one comes, it’s the other guy’s fault!) I won’t buy a table and set up shop at book festivals or sit in front of a bookstore with a stack of my books. I realize it works for some, but it’s not for me.
I was fortunate to have a great turnout at Warwick’s that was timed to the book’s publication date. Even there I noticed two young women come in and sit in the back after I started speaking and left before the signing. The bookstore manager told me later that they said they were just killing time before their dinner reservation.
Here’s hoping Banning’s next event will be filled to capacity.