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| Photo courtesy of freeimages.com |
Greetings, duckies! It’s been an absolute rollercoaster around here these past few weeks. Various forms of drama, and none of it the fun kind that you can leave behind after two hours in a matinee.
Sigh.
I decided to treat myself to an outing, which turned into a (possibly) naughty bit of free advertising. Mind you, I only did it to give my favorite authors a boost; there was nothing at all self-promoting about it. Shall I tell? All right, then.
I found myself enjoying one of those rare but glorious days when there’s actually time and gas money for a trip to a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Might as well go out in the cold when you have a lovely new jacket, don’t you think? Rounding a corner of the mystery novel section, I spied a familiar name.
Gasp! One of our own from the Blood-Red Pencil!
Deciding that the volumes weren’t nearly visible enough, and since I had the department to myself, I set about twitching the books a bit closer to the front of the shelf. Much better. And lovely covers, I might add. Pleased with my work, I set out on a methodical search for anything by any author known to me personally. It wasn’t long before several seemingly unrelated tomes were, shall we say, subtly obvious to passers-by.
An extra step involved looking up more authors on those charming “help yourself” kiosks, leaving tabs open to display books that most assuredly should have been available. The final brooch on the blazer was to declaim, “Oh! You have this author’s book in stock! How divine; I adore their work.”
It was quite a giggle to see one or two interested souls venture closer to the book in question and actually pick it up. Perhaps I’ll make this a regular pastime; I do have a new pair of heels that need to be broken in. Hmm …
Well, dearies, that’s it for me. There’s a loaf of pumpkin-cranberry bread in the oven, and I need to finish setting in the sleeves of a new sweater. Leave a story about your own PR escapades, and remember: a well-turned phrase is always in style!
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| Photo courtesy of Darrick Bartholomew
Due to an abundance of coffee and cocoa drinking brought on by intolerably cold weather, The Style Maven is considering switching to an all-brown wardrobe to disguise jitter-induced splashes. Find her alter ego at The Procraftinator.
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Oh, my what a naughty but fun thing to do Style Maven. I have been known to do that very thing for my author friends, and, okay I'll admit it, sometimes for my books. There I've come clean and the bookstore police can just try to find me.
ReplyDeleteWhat was even worse was when my first short story was published in a national magazine. My husband went to the grocery store and tried to open every issue of the magazine to my story. The store manager was not thrilled.
We did adapt a bit more decorum in our later years and tried to be more subtle in our BSP efforts.
Scathingly brilliant idea.
ReplyDeleteLove it! Love it! Love it! Blatant promotion (or self-promotion)? I don't think so. How about creative marketing? :-)
ReplyDeleteOkay, Ms. Maven ... declaim as opposed to exclaim ... splain, please.
ReplyDeleteThirty-odd years in theater, love. I have a tendency to *project* in public. ;)
DeleteI love this! It's fun to do, and it works in small indie stores or in the big chains. I sometimes cruise the mystery section of B&N, rearrange to display covers, and make unsolicited recommendations to shoppers browsing for a good read.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant idea. Unfortunately, mine and many of my indie friends' bookds won't be on shelves in bookstores. Maybe someday. Things, they are a'changing.
ReplyDeleteI shall add, "Oh, what a pity that you don't carry So-and-so's new novel. I'm desperate to buy it!" to my repertoire. :)
DeleteBack when I lived where there WERE brick and mortar stores, my local B&N was friendly to local authors and would face out my books (or I would, if I was in there.) One caveat ... if you move a book, make sure there are still some properly shelved, because that's how the staff finds them. Go in and say "Do you have XX by Favorite Author" and they go to the computer which tells them exactly where that book should be on the shelves. So, if a kind-hearted soul has moved your book to a display table, nobody who works in the store will be able to help a customer find it. But making them obvious within the confines of where they belong is a good thing.
ReplyDelete