What to Do at Author Talks

 What to Do at Author Talks

Now that society, post-Covid, has decided to be more social, we may all need a brush-up on our social skills.  With the 2020 Indie Author Award for my latest book, Adventures of a Thought Thief, Part 1, Heredity and Hierarchy (shameless plug notwithstanding), I've been invited to a few Author Talks.

Author Talks are a great way to reacquaint ourselves with our communities, and with the written words that we quite possibly haven't looked at in a while.

Here are some of the things I found at one of those talks-in no particular order:

There was but one display table left when another author and I walked in at the exact same time. He raced me for it, except I wasn't running.  I politely asked him if we could share the table, and he politely looked straight at me and frowned.

Another author, seeing the above exchange, told me that I could share with her, and slid her books down to give me some room.  I thanked her no less than twenty times.

Fifteen minutes later, the event began even though there weren't any readers present, only authors.

There was an emcee, who was also an author, who announced each of us as we took to the podium and read from our books.

A friend of mine accompanied me and when it was my turn to stand and read, she took a cell phone video of my performance.

When I got home and viewed the video all I saw was the back of another author's head in the foreground.  He was talking to the emcee throughout my reading and checking things on his cell phone.

Two hours later, the emcee concluded the Author's Talk and told us that we need to leave in fifteen minutes because the library is about to close.

My two cents on these types of events - All is not lost if books aren't being sold and our readership hasn't been expanded.  For starters, be gracious and kind to fellow authors.  You never know who you're rubbing shoulders with, plus friendly people make friends.  Also, these events are great opportunities to practice your skills.  When I finished my reading, people asked me if I was a professional reader.  Gush.  Gush.  No, I'm not but I use these events to hone my craft.  If you can get a good video out of it, it can become a great post or an addition to your website.  Talk to people and find out something new.  Talk to people and offer something you've learned on your journey.  In other words - share.