Last weekend I did my first book signing. I had the pleasure of Writing Book #2 in the Harlequin Blaze "Million Dollar Secrets" continuity series, and by a fluke of fate, the writer who wrote Book #3, Shannon Hollis, happened to be a chapter mate of mine. Though series authors don't seem to do the kind of public appearing single title authors do, we felt the opportunity to sit together and promote our books and the series was too perfect to pass up. So, off we went to the Emeryville Borders to wow the customers with our presence and hopefully sell some books.
Though I'd been nervous going in, I ended up having a wonderful time despite the fact that only two customers bought our romance novels, and of those two, one didn't even read romance herself. She bought the book for a friend.And therein lies the epitome of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Even though the Bay Area is home to a number of best-selling romance authors, when it comes to readers, it's not exactly the hub of romance central. In fact, in my personal life, I can count on one hand the number of people I know who read romance regularly, and if I came right down to it, it would only take the other hand to count the number of people I know who read popular fiction of any sort at all. Sure, most of my friends work full-time, are raising families, and haven't a lot of spare time to pour through books. But it was a topic we'd touched on while sitting at Emeryville Borders, and I'm curious to know what other people think.
A bulk of the Bay Area prides itself in its literary sophistication. I'm sure if we'd been peddling a release about the current state of the Bush administration or how big box stores were pushing the extinction of small business, we'd been mobbed. But further than that, I just don't think Californians in general are the readers you see in other parts of the country. I think when you've got 350 days of sunshine every year and all the activity this state offers, people don't spend their time sitting around reading. In fact, my husband, a native Californian, considers reading "sitting around doing nothing". In his mind, you might as well be watching cartoons for all a book is worth. On the other hand, I grew up in Oregon where it rains nine months out of the year. If you didn't read, you were doing a lot of bowling.
So let me ask you to participate in a personal survey:
Where are you from, and what do you think about the current state of fiction in your area?
Do a lot of your friends read, or are you one in a group of few like me?
And as an added bonus, those who participate by commenting on the blog will be entered to win an autographed copy of my latest release, "Underneath It All", which is the Book #2 in the "Million Dollar Secrets" continuity I mentioned at the top of this post.
Lori
