Gain strength in small successes

Trying to get momentum in word of mouth about a new author from a small press is as about as daunting a task as any I can think of. While much easier now than it was was before the days of the Internet, still you never quite know if your efforts are worth it or not. A small success can fan the flames of hope and lighten your heart enough to make all your efforts worth while. When you are feeling down take stock of your successes...a good review by a reader, a web blogger asking you for a review copy (instead of the other way around), or seeing a forum discussion where someone other than yourself is talking about your book. I'd like to share a recent success we had that emphasizes the importance of another topic (which I'll blog on shortly) bookmarks.

I was at a signing yesterday with my husband for his book The Crown Conspiracy at a Borders about 30 minutes drive from our house. We had a signing with them in October that went well enough that they rescheduled a second one. I was in the area between the outside doors and the store's true entrance (where shelves of "discounted books are") and passing out bookmarks to people as they came in letting them know my husband was in the store signing his book. The books were moving slowly but the traffic in the store was brisk so I was happy just making sure that a number of people now knew it existed.As one shopper was leaving they stopped by to chat with me. This is essentially what she said..."What a nice guy the author is...I was here awhile ago, but didn't buy a book. I was clothes shopping with my daughter and I found the bookmark you gave me and after reading a description of the book I thought - man this looks great! We came back and bought the book and when we saw he was coming back to the store again we just had to come down and tell him how much we (my daughter and I both read it) enjoyed the book. "

Ah...music to my ears. You see it really does make a difference. It makes the hours standing in that unheated alcove passing out those bookmarks seem worthwhile. So thank you...whoever you anonymous reader you certainly "made" both mine and my husband's day today.