I've just attended my first book signing event, in Hamilton New Zealand. It was called 'Ages of Pages' and there were between 70-80 authors there from New Zealand and Australia. What an eye-opener (in a good way).
We started off on Friday night at the Roaming Giant restaurant across the road. The food was delish, the wine from our private bar was flowing, and it was good to meet other authors on a social basis.
On the Saturday we manned our book stations from 9-4, but still had a chance to wander around and peruse other authors' displays. Some were very impressive, especially the Romance writers' full size banners of scantily-clad heroes/heroines. Unfortunately my characters don't lend themselves to that! But despite having a comparatively low-key display, I sold six books, including one to the reference section of the Hamilton Library. That's probably the one I'm most excited about.
So now it's back to reality, Chapter 35 almost done and dusted. Maybe 15 or so to go.
The other exciting news is that I'm getting a half page feature in the Australian mid-north coast based Brilliant-Online Magazine. It has a large subscriber base, so hopefully that will generate some interest in Oz.
Still waiting for the final touches to be made on the audio book. Shouldn't be long now!
On the 17th I'm going to Awhitu, where Miriama is buried, to oil her headstone and drop off 3 more copies of the book to the Pollok Gallery, which has sold the others I left there. Then from the 18th I have 2 nights at the Auckland Writers Festival, attending talks by Trent Dalton, Sam Neill, Robyn Malcolm and Jane Campion. Looking forward to those.
Finally, on the 28th I fly back to Brisbane for 4 months. No time to get bored in retirement.
