Things That Make You Go Grrrrrr
I walked into my local bookseller yesterday. Don't get me wrong, all the booksellers I've met since THE MARK came out have been incredibly supportive and patient, even in the face of some dumb questions.
So I waited in line at the information desk, and upon arriving at the front I began my well-rehearsed schpiel.
"This is kind of a weird request, my name is Jason Pinter and my first novel THE MARK came out this summer and I'd be happy to sign whatever stock you have." For whatever reason, I always begin these things by saying this is a weird request, as though I'm the first author ever to do a drop-in signing.
Anyway, he said that'd be great and he'd check the stock levels. He clicked his mouse a few times, then looked at me with a slightly apologetic smile and said, "I'm sorry, we don't have any copies left in stock."
My heart sunk a little, but I said, "Oh, ok, are you planning to reorder by any chance?"
He did a few more clicks and said, "I don't see any reorders scheduled. The book actually did pretty well here, we sold out of two good-sized shipments."
I said, "If you sold out of two orders, maybe you'd want to reorder, keep a few copies on the shelves?"
"You know," he said, "that's not a bad idea." He clicked a few more times. "I just ordered ten more copies. They should arrive in two to three days, and it'd be great it you could stop by and sign them."
Sure thing. No problem. Sigh.
I walked into my local bookseller yesterday. Don't get me wrong, all the booksellers I've met since THE MARK came out have been incredibly supportive and patient, even in the face of some dumb questions.
So I waited in line at the information desk, and upon arriving at the front I began my well-rehearsed schpiel.
"This is kind of a weird request, my name is Jason Pinter and my first novel THE MARK came out this summer and I'd be happy to sign whatever stock you have." For whatever reason, I always begin these things by saying this is a weird request, as though I'm the first author ever to do a drop-in signing.
Anyway, he said that'd be great and he'd check the stock levels. He clicked his mouse a few times, then looked at me with a slightly apologetic smile and said, "I'm sorry, we don't have any copies left in stock."
My heart sunk a little, but I said, "Oh, ok, are you planning to reorder by any chance?"
He did a few more clicks and said, "I don't see any reorders scheduled. The book actually did pretty well here, we sold out of two good-sized shipments."
I said, "If you sold out of two orders, maybe you'd want to reorder, keep a few copies on the shelves?"
"You know," he said, "that's not a bad idea." He clicked a few more times. "I just ordered ten more copies. They should arrive in two to three days, and it'd be great it you could stop by and sign them."
Sure thing. No problem. Sigh.
posted by Jason Pinter at
11:06 AM
2 Comments:
Haha! That's one of those things that are good and irritating at the same time- you sold the whole shipment!
I'm sure it feels odd for the book seller to stand there when an author comes up to sign books. I wonder if he is tempted to check the author photo and make sure you're the right guy...
I think that's actually good news. He also took your suggestion to order more. Most larger bookstores wouldn't do that without a blessing from a district manager.
I see your book on our local shelves but I'll never see my first novel on a Chapters/Indigo bookshelf. Apparently they don't order from U.S. POD publishers, but they do order from Canadian ones. So my next book (due out in July '08)will hopefully be there for me to sign.
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