Report on Past EventsFor a brief report on these book signings, please click on the highlighted event or scroll down. Please send us your own report of any Wind Anthology event you hold or attend so that we may post it. We may need to edit for length. See the separate articles for reports and photos of the publication celebrations for Crazy Woman Creek, Woven on the Wind and Leaning into the Wind. (Coming soon on the Articles Page.) May 2004 Booksigning, Wheatland WY A funny report by Nancy Curtis May 2004 Booksigning, Cheyenne WY A report by Linda M. Hasselstrom with some good advice about grabbing customers June 2004 Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver CO A report by contributor Sarah Byrn Rickman June 2004 Maria's Bookstore, Durango CO A note from the bookstore manager June 2004 Public Library Benefit Booksigning Freeman, South Dakota July 2004 High Plains Book Festival Billings, Montana Reported by Linda M. Hasselstrom July 2004 booksigning at The Book Shop Sheridan, Wyoming August 2004 Prince and Pauper Village Bookshop Rapid City, South Dakota August 2004 Second Annual SD Festival of Books Sioux Falls, South Dakota September 2004 Mountains and Plains Museums Association meeting Casper, Wyoming September 2004 Reading and Booksigning at Isabel's Polson, Montana September 2004 Jackson Hole, Wyoming Reading and signing at The Black Box. Booksigning only at Valley Books. October 2004 Salt Lake City, Utah The Kings English Bookshop and more... Kayne Pyatt and the gang blanketed the west with book signings! October 1 & 2, 2004 The Montana Festival of the Book Missoula, Montana October 20, 2004 The Center for Great Plains Studies Lincoln, Nebraska Crazy Woman Creek reading November 2004 Longmont Central Presbyterian Church Longmont, Colorado A story by Sue Hartman January 2005 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Elko, Nevada Nancy Curtis and Linda M. Hasselstrom with a variety of community-related events April 2005 Spearfish, South Dakota ASLE Conference & Booksigning June 2005 in Eugene, Oregon Bette-B Bauer presents a paper and signs books. Equality State Book Festival October 2006, Casper, Wyoming back to top Equality State Book Festival October 2006, Casper, Wyoming Editors Nancy Curtis and Linda M. Hasselstrom attended the Book Fest along with some Wind Books contributors. Linda M. Hasselstrom was the keynote speaker at the Gala Banquet on Friday evening, presenting a talk entitled "The Commonplace I sing," recalling Walt Whitman's lines "The commonplace I sing. . . The open air I sing, freedom, toleration. . . The common day and night-- the common earth and waters." Nancy Curtis attended the Book Festival as the owner of and publisher for High Plains Press, with a booth at the Book Fair held Saturday at the Nicolaysen Art Museum. On Saturday authors read from their work at the First United Methodist Church. So many signed up to read that each was allowed only 15 minutes. Some of the Wind Books related authors who read included Linda M. Hasselstrom, B.J. Buckley, Charlotte Babcock, members of the Bearlodge Writers Group, Pat Frolander, and Kayne Pyatt. The three WindBooks anthologies were given their own 30 minute time slot. And Linda participated on the panel entitled "Cowboy Myths/ The 2007 Book Fest is already being pulled together. For more information: www.EqualityStateBookFest.com back to top Readings in July ASLE Conference Booksigning June 23, 2005 in Eugene, Oregon Bette-B Bauer (Crazy Woman Creek: "Quilting a Dissertation") was a participant in the International ASLE Conference (Association for the Study of Literature & Environment) in Eugene, Oregon in June, 2005. Bauer, of the College of Saint Mary, Nebraska, presented a paper entitled, "Inner Dwellings: A Meditation upon Perception of Place." She then attended the author booksiging event sponsored by the University of Oregon Bookstore, which ordered copies of Crazy Woman Creek for her to sign and sell. back to top Book Signing and Author Reception for Gaydell Collier and Jamie Lee. Saturday, April 16, 2005. Matthews Opera House, Spearfish SD Spearfish Writers and Bearlodge Writers from Sundance honored two of their members. Gaydell Collier, of course, is a co-editor of Crazy Woman Creek, called “a beautiful anthology of women writing the west” in the press release sent out by the writers’ groups. Jamie Lee is the author of Re-Visioning Adolescence and The Rite of Passage, a book celebrating youth. Gaydell hoped that contributors to the anthologies would attend. All three Wind Books were available for purchase. Gaydell and Jamie read from their works, refreshments were served, and fellowship was enjoyed. back to top Cowboy Poetry Gathering January 2005 Editors Nancy Curtis and Linda M. Hasselstrom were at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada in January, 2005, for a variety of events, most of which have to do with Crazy Woman Creek and the changing western community. Besides the usual autograph sessions and some readings by Linda of her own work (the Western Folklife website called her a "community activist"!), the events included: Up Crazy Woman Creek Without a Paddle: Saving Our Sanity through Communities Nancy Curtis and Linda Hasselstrom plus Gail Rappa, Susan Church, Beverly deGero Women were invited to this roundtable to discuss their roles in changing Western communities and to share information about problems and solutions in a non-intimidating environment. Participants drew topics from true personal accounts by Western women in the book Crazy Woman Creek, looking at how communities succeed or fail. By building communities, women and others can find the support they need to survive, to make the West a better place, and to enhance their lives. The Rural-Urban Divide: Building Bridges in the New West Patricka Limerick, Charles Scoggin, Tamar Scoggin, Daniel Kemmis, Ed Marston, Teresa Jordan, Linda M. Hasselstrom, Rick Knight The American West is divided along a rural-urban rift. Importantly, this divide crosses a variety of conservation and environmental issues. This half-day workshop, using humor and wit, contributed to the emerging efforts across our region that emphasize cooperation rather than conflict. The people on the panel are some of the West’s most articulate and gifted participants in a new West. Up Crazy Woman Creek Hosts: Nancy Curtis and Linda M. Hasselstrom Gwen Petersen, Katie McCall-Owen, Deanna McCall, Jane Morton and others. Co-editors Nancy and Linda directed a reading and used gathering participants to perform work from Crazy Woman Creek. This was a fun event! back to top A Wind Books reading to “church ladies” November 7, 2004 in Longmont, Colorado by Sue Hartman My neighbor Jane Rundle had been hinting around for almost a year that she wanted a favor from me. Turns out, she wanted me to speak to her women's mission group at the Longmont Central Presbyterian Church for a fund-raiser for women's projects. The topic she wanted me to discuss was the Wind Books. I was delighted to be asked. She told me not to expect much, that last year's event had only drawn 12 women, so I didn't even get stage-fright. They decided on a western theme and were asked to dress up as the women of Crazy Woman Creek. On the day of the event, she invited me and Paul [Sue's husband-- web-editor] to dinner first. It turned out to be a pie social and the social hall was already decorated with antiques. I donated a copy of CWC for the raffle. When I got there, there were not twelve, but fifty-five women. To prepare, I had gone back through all three volumes, picking one or two readings from each. What an incredible, touching journey that was! I also talked about "Thunder and Mud" a little, and three women joined a discussion about it, having already read and loved it. Naturally, I ended my part of the program (which also included a trio singing two western songs and a hymn, being a church) with Ann Clements' "Too Busy To Be Church Ladies." It was a hugely energetic and enthusiastic audience. If I'd known the scope of it, I'd have asked other contributors to join me. Still, I felt wonderful about the event and the books and the audience. back to top October 20, 2004 The Center for Great Plains Studies Lincoln, Nebraska The Center for Great Plains Studies in Lincoln, Nebraska sponsored a Crazy Woman Creek reading as part of the Center's Olson Seminar series. The Center invited 17 local contributors and welcomed any others from farther away. Events Coordinator Kim C. Weide worked with Twyla Hansen (Leaning: “Planting Trees” & “Instinct” & “Wind” & “Snow Crazy” and Woven: “At the Prairie, the Day Before” and Crazy Woman Creek: “At the Greasy Spoon”), LoRee Peery (Crazy Woman Creek: “Ongoing Sustenance”), and Mary K. Stillwell (Leaning: “Winter Song” & “January 4, 1991" and Crazy Woman Creek: “The Circle Dance”) to set up the reading. back to top October 1, 2004 Salt Lake City, Utah The Kings English Bookshop And many other events While most of us have been happy to attend one or two readings, Kayne Pyatt and the gang have been “just swamped” with book signings in 2004. Besides the one in Jackson (see separate article), they also went to Pinedale library, Farson school, Kemmerer, and Book and Bean book store in Green River. They were in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 1st at The King’s English Bookshop and planned signings in Evanston and in Rock Springs at the college. Kayne reports they have had warm welcomes and sold lots of books at all of the signings. back to top October 1 & 2, 2004 The Montana Festival of the Book Missoula, Montana Contributor Geraldine Connolly (CWC: “Electric Avenue Books”) worked on putting together a panel for Crazy Woman Creek contributors during the Fifth Annual Montana Festival of the Book which was held in downtown Missoula in October. back to top Saturday, September 11, 2004 Jackson Hole, Wyoming Reading and signing at The Black Box. Booksigning only at Valley Books. Contributors Kayne Pyatt (CWC: “The Drumbeat Continues”), Barbara Smith (LITW: “Transplant” & “It’s Good to Have” and WOW: “Ladies Aid” and CWC: “Boomtown, Babies, and Strawberry Pie”), Liesel Shineberg (CWC: “Liesel, You’re a Good Christian”), Marcia Hensley (CWC: “I Like It That Way”) and Sophie Dominik Echeverria (WOW: “My Mother’s Moccasins” and CWC: “The Far Side of Maple Street”) joined for a reading and book signing at the Black Box (upstairs), across from the Wort Hotel and the Pink Garter Theater, from 3 to 4 pm. Booksignings, but no readings, took place at Valley Books, north and across the street from the Cowboy Bar, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm, that same afternoon. According to a note from Kayne, they read to a very receptive crowd and sold 22 books in one hour, a record for the book store. Total sales were 55 plus they left ten autographed copies at the store. Thank you to Valley Books and Oona Dohertry of the Teton Library! back to top September 8, 2004 Reading and Booksigning at Isabel's Polson, Montana Crazy Woman Creek contributors Geraldine Connolly (Crazy Woman Creek: “Electric Avenue Books”), BJ Buckley (Leaning: “Mad Alyce as St. Therese” & “Mending Fence” Woven: “A Man’s Work” & “The Woman Listening on the Party Line” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Superior Laundry, Sheridan, Wyoming” & “Funeral Meats”), Phyllis Walker (Crazy Woman Creek: “Plant Sale Grows Roots”), and Jennifer Graf Groneberg (Woven: “Handwork” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Tupperware Therapy”) read their selections from Crazy Woman Creek and autographed copies of the book in the evening. Does anyone know if Jo-Ann Swanson (Woven: “The Oddest Daughter” & “Alva in the Fields” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Our Ladies of the Farm”) was able to participate? Books (all three in the series) were provided by Polson's new bookstore, Page By Page Books. back to top September 7-10, 2004 Mountains and Plains Museums Association meeting Casper, Wyoming Nancy Curtis exhibited books, including the three Wind Anthologies, at the Mountains and Plains Museums Association meeting in Casper, Wyoming. We hope you told your local museum people to watch for her. back to top 2nd Annual South Dakota Festival of Books August 27-29, 2004 -- Sioux Falls, SD The South Dakota Center for the Book, a program of the SD Humanities Council, presented the Second Annual Festival of Books in downtown Sioux Falls. Co-editors Linda M. Hasselstrom, Nancy Curtis and Gaydell Collier hosted a panel discussion entitled "Community in the Changing West" featuring contributors to the newest western women's anthology, Crazy Woman Creek. Some of the contributors who agreed to participate include: Mary Alice Haug (CWC: “Tapestry Woven of Stories”), Ruth Harper (CWC: “Vagina Dialogues on the Road Trip”), Jennifer Kayl Soule (CWC: “Banana Bread And Coffee”), Bernie Koller (LEANING: “Mulberries” and WOVEN: “Lessons Learned by Hand” and CWC: “Concerning My Hutterite Cousins”), Marian D. Peters (LEANING: “Circa 1992, New Salem, North Dakota” and CWC: “At the Line Dance Café”), Ruby R. Wilson (WOVEN: “Mother Love” and CWC: “Room For a Small House”), Patty Zeigler (LEANING: “Gifts from the Sky” and CWC: “Bound”), Edith Rylander (CWC: “Ghost Dance II”), Yvonne Hollenbeck (CWC: “Rejuvenating the Clearfield Hall and Me”), Betty Downs (WOVEN: “Learning How to be Lonely” and CWC: “Tuesday Tea”), Maureen Helms Blake (WOVEN: “To Breathe on my Own” and CWC: “A Light Shawl on a Cool Night”), Tracy Wang (CWC: "From Canton to Spearfish"), Nancy Kile (CWC: “Grab Your Shawls, Girls!”), and (if possible) Danny Bergin (CWC: "Celebrating Mass in a Nightgown"). Once the panel discussion was over, editors and contributors were on hand for another hour or so, for more personal conversations and to autograph books. Linda M. Hasselstrom also participated in the Book Festival poetry track on a panel entitled "Women of Poetry" with Lydia Whirlwind Soldier. Back to top Thursday, August 26, 2004 Prince and Pauper Village Bookshop Rapid City, South Dakota All contributors to Leaning into the Wind, Woven on the Wind, and Crazy Woman Creek were invited to join the editors, Gaydell Collier, Nancy Curtis, and Linda Hasselstrom at a signing of all three Wind Books at the Prince and Pauper Bookstore in Rapid City from 4 to 6pm. back to top July 16, 2004 Booksigning at The Book Shop Sheridan, Wyoming A booksigning was held at the Book Shop (117 North Main Street) in Sheridan, Wyoming on July 16th at 5:30pm, in conjunction with the 74th Annual Sheridan Rodeo. It was hoped that with a rodeo weekend as an attraction more readers and contributors would attend. Local contributors who participated were Christine Valentine (Crazy Woman Creek: "Down Gravel Roads"), Pearle Henriksen Schultz (Woven: “Barbed Wire and Robert Frost” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Sonnet for My Grandchild”), Darcy Lipp-Acord (Woven: “Dear Ann” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Path to a Small World”) and Jane Wells (Woven: “My Heart Still Grins” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Comments From the Crow’s-Nest”). Sheridan was filled with rodeo events that July weekend. On the Friday of the booksigning, for instance, Main Street saw some action running right by the Book Shop. At 8am a "Sneaker and Spur Rodeo Run" foot race was held, at 9am the "Kiwanis Beds Along the Big Horns" race whizzed by, and at 10am the rodeo parade packed the street. We hope all those race goers and parade watchers saw the Crazy Woman Creek posters in the Book Shop window and came back for the booksigning later in the afternoon. back to top July 9-11, 2004 High Plains Book Fest, Billings MT. Co-editors Nancy Curtis and Linda M. Hasselstrom attended the High Plains Bookfest in Billings, Montana on July 9 and 10. The panel discussion entitled "Crazy Woman Creek: 153 Ways to Create or Destroy Community" was scheduled for 1 p.m. July 10 at the Moss Mansion, an elegant red sandstone treasure near downtown. Participating contributors to the anthology included Wanda Rosseland (Woven: “Because Men Rule” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Straightforward and Unafraid”) Cheryl Anderson Wright (Woven: “Homemade Noodles” and Crazy Woman Creek: “The Brown Sofa”) Geraldine Connolly (Crazy Woman Creek: "Electric Avenue Books") Chris Valentine (Crazy Woman Creek: "Down Gravel Roads") Helen Wayman Crazy Woman Creek: “Hallelujah! Faith Circle!” and Bette-B Bauer (Crazy Woman Creek: "Quilting a Dissertation") who displayed the quilt she wrote about. Mary Lode (Crazy Woman Creek: "Alone, Not Lonely") had been scheduled to attend, but had e-mailed that she might not make it if they were haying, so Linda read her piece. Nancy read the contribution by Anonymous (Crazy Woman Creek: "What I Hate Most About You"), which was well-received by the audience, and said that we've gotten more response to that than from any other piece so far. The editors also very firmly quashed the rumors that maybe Linda had written it; she did not. Cheryl had memorized her poem, "The Brown Sofa," and was also promoting two of her books, High Country Tomato Handbook and High Country Herbs; we don't know how her sales were overall, but she sold some copies to Linda and Nancy. The entire program was taped for rebroadcast by Yellowstone Public Radio, and one of the highlights was seeing the public radio man bending double with laughter as Nancy read her piece, "Checkup, Checkout." Linda also participated in other panels: "Home on the Range--Ranch Life" with Gwen Peterson (Leaning: “The Legacy” and Woven: “The Shell Game”) among others, and "High Plains Buffalo," as well as being one of the readers on Saturday night's program, with Mary Clearman Blew and Rick Bass. Billings' downtown merchants sponsored the bookfest, so the venues for programs were somewhat scattered. Geri Connolly and Linda got better acquainted as they explored the Mansfield Center on Saturday looking for the place they were supposed to meet Nancy and their friend Kathy Mosdal O'Brien for lunch before the panel. Geri and Linda learned that on Saturday in that hospital, some offices are closed-- so they could go up in elevators, but not down, and one way through doorways, but not back. As in a roach motel, they checked in but very nearly didn’t check out. Still, they eventually rendezvoused, had lunch, and made the panel on time. Back to top Saturday, June 26 Booksigning at Freeman, SD In conjunction with the 125th Anniversary of the City of Freeman, South Dakota, the Freeman Public Library Board, with help from anthology contributor Bernie Koller (Leaning: “Mulberries” and Woven: “Lessons Learned by Hand” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Concerning My Hutterite Cousins”), sponsored a book signing and sale of Crazy Woman Creek with profits going to the new library expansion project. The booksigning was held in Lion's Park during the "Antiques and Art in the Park" event. Contributor Ruby Wilson (Woven: “Mother Love” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Room For a Small House”) also attended. Freeman, South Dakota is home of the Schmeckfest, an annual weekend celebration of ethnic foods, crafts and traditions of the Germans-from-Russia Mennonites who settled the area in the 1870s. The next Schmeckfest is scheduled for April, 2005, so be sure to find your way back for great food, entertainment, shopping and an education in Mennonite history. back to top Thursday, June 17, 2004 Booksigning and reading, 6 pm Maria's Bookstore, Durango, Colorado A report by Cassandra of Maria's Bookstore Our Crazy Woman Creek event was terrific! Lively turn-out, readings, dialogue, and sales. What more could you ask for? We had Caroline Arlen (Crazy Woman Creek: “Posse to the Rescue”), Beth Paulson (Crazy Woman Creek: "A Square of Winter Light"), and Mary Sojourner (Crazy Woman Creek: "Slot Mamas"). Anita Tanner (Leaning: “Ancestry of Cows” & “Butchered: A Cattle Song” and Crazy Woman Creek: “Run Toward Suffering”) had to cancel as she was in the midst of moving to Idaho from Cortez. Mary had done an event two days earlier for her book Solace, but the audience was even larger for the Crazy Woman Creek reading. Thank you (editors and contributors) for helping to make it happen. We've sold 25 copies of the book to date, great sales! Maria’s Bookshop A Store with Book Sense 960 Main Avenue, Durango, CO 81301 www.mariasbookshop.com 970.247.1438 - 970.247.5916(fax) Open Daily 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. back to top Saturday, June 12 4pm Tattered Cover Book Store Cherry Creek, Denver Co On Saturday, June 12, Denver’s legendary independent bookstore, The Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek Store, hosted contributors and editors of Crazy Woman Creek for a program of readings and a booksigning. As you may know, the dream of many an author is to sign books at the Tattered Cover. The store is fantastic, and they are known for treating authors like royalty. We couldn’t have been more excited about this opportunity to introduce the book to Denver readers. Contributors from as far away as Texas and Oregon flew in for this event. The following is a report by contributor Sarah Byrn Rickman (Crazy Woman Creek: “Fifty Years of Potluck”) who attended both the May publication celebration in Chadron and the June booksigning at the Tattered Cover in Denver. Crazy Woman Creek Contributors Toast Mari By Sarah Byrn Rickman Forty western women writers officially launched the anthology Crazy Woman Creek at the Mari Sandoz Heritage Center in Chadron, Nebraska, May 14 and 15. Why Chadron? May 15 would have been renowned western writer Mari’s 108th birthday. We sang Happy Birthday in her memory and enjoyed the birthday cake dedicated to her. Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the American West is a new collection of writings by western women. Editors of this exciting new anthology are Women Writing the West (WWW) members Linda Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier and Nancy Curtis. Stories told by 13 WWW members are included in the volume! A month later, June 12, twenty more contributors gathered at Denver’s Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek for a second launch at one of the west’s biggest bookstores. The women gathered in Chadron and Denver to celebrate, to read their pieces publicly, sign each others’ Presentation copies, swap writerly stories, and enjoy the fellowship of like-minded others — good ol’ Western style. “These are my people,” WWW member Sureva Towler — one of the 153 contributors — writes of the women portrayed in the stories and poems that make up the anthology. “They are rugged, resourceful and compassionate. They have lived long, worked hard and buried parents, husbands, children and dreams. They can change diapers and mill levies with equal aplomb. They can cope with the baler and the bond issue. They can run parts or the city council. They have lost homes to lightning, lost friends to cancer, lost cattle to downed fences, lost jobs to technology. They have weathered marriage, children, careers, housework, church and volunteer responsibilities and they translate those experiences into smashing poetry and prose. “Some are professional writers, many are teachers, a handful still work the land. All have taken time to share ‘the rhythms of our female lives.’” Sureva’s article appeared in The Denver Post, Sunday June 27. She was one of the Denver readers. I, too, had the privilege of reading in Denver. My piece — “Fifty Years of Potluck” — was about my high school friends. We were gathered that very weekend in Denver for our 50th reunion and several of “the girls” came to the Tattered Cover to listen to me read and shed a couple of “happy” tears over our enduring friendships — the subject matter of the essay. Editors Hasselstrom, Curtis and Collier already are well known to the American literary world for their first and second anthologies of western women’s writings: Leaning Into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West (1997) and Woven on the Wind: Women Write About Friendship in the Sagebrush West (2001), both from Houghton Mifflin. Crazy Woman Creek, a Houghton Mifflin Mariner Books trade paperback original, ISBN 0-618-24933-8, now joins the others. It is priced at $14 and will be available for purchase at the WWW conference. Sarah Byrn Rickman is one of the 13 WWW members whose work is included in the anthology. She is also the editor of the Women Writing the West newsletter, where this article first appeared in the Summer 2004 issue, Volume XI, Issue 2. Used with permission. back to top Crazy Woman Creek Writers Autograph Party: May 8, 2004 -- City News, Cheyenne, WY Noon to 4 pm A report by Linda M. Hasselstrom Contributors attending: Bess Arnold and Pat Ogle (co-authors of the piece in Crazy Woman Creek: "The Brotherhood of Railroad Women"), Susan Vittitow (Woven: "Jean"), Linda M. Hasselstrom (Leaning: "Introduction: Grass Widows and Wrinklebelly Women"; Woven: "Six Artists at a Country Retreat"; Crazy Woman Creek: “Introduction: Beyond Crazy Woman Creek"), Donna Williams Dereemer (Leaning: "The Day the Uncles Bought the New Truck"), and Rhae Foster (Leaning: "Curley" & "The Hometown"). We sold 30 copies of the book, and signed the rest of the stock; had good visits with many people who were shopping the downtown merchants' "Spring Fling." Mike Shay, Literature Director of the Wyoming Arts Council, dropped by with his wife Chris and daughter and a friend (no, don't know daughter's name); Mike had a flag painted on his face from another downtown celebration. One enthusiastic buyer, a native of Cheyenne whose wife is from Michigan, bought Crazy Woman Creek as part of his ongoing (40+ years) effort to convince his wife that she doesn't want to move back to Michigan. He'd bought her the first two books as gifts as well, and insisted that we sign with his pen, which was "the best," because the books are "the best" at showing what life in the West, specifically Cheyenne, is like. We enjoyed a good conversation with a Cheyenne fireman who brought his daughter to buy a book for his wife. Between customers, we enjoyed visiting with each other about writing in Wyoming, and two of the group may have formed a writing group to work together. We took turns grabbing a handful of postcards and touring the coffee shop, giving 2 each to patrons to tell them about the book for sale around the corner in the bookstore. This did work in some instances: when they came by, we were able to engage them in conversation, because we knew which ones had cards; some bought and some didn't. The bookstore provided cookies and coffee, and when I noted two teenage girls gobbling cookies, I engaged them in conversation, attracting the attention of their mothers, who eventually bought books. We used any excuse to make conversation-- at least one of us was always out in front of the table, able to --how shall I put this? --keep the customer from walking straight past by making a comment to him or her. Sometimes this didn't work: the customer veered around us and kept going-- but they had the card, and may eventually buy. And a young man turned the tables on us by handing US his flyers about his new deli in Cheyenne-- but he left with several cards to take to the deli for HIS customers to see, so that may not have been wasted time either. My rule is to ALWAYS attempt to engage the customer in conversation– even if you have to do something silly like read their T-shirt, or say, "You look like a man who appreciates a good book!" Many customers stride past with a sidelong look-- they are embarrassed to stop and look at the book if they may not buy. So if you break their stride, you have a chance of a sale-- and it need not be this time. Try to get some piece of information into the hands of each customer-- postcard about the books, or your business card. Back to top Wheatland, Wyoming. May 6, 2004. Editor Nancy Curtis and two contributors signed copies of Crazy Woman Creek at Interstate Gas in Wheatland, Wyoming in the morning. (Don't you love it. A service station! But it is the only bookstore in town.) We hoped readers would stop in, fill up, and get an autographed copy of the book. In the afternoon they signed books in a more traditional setting, the local library. A report by Nancy Curtis: "Barbara Engle, a contributor, and Gertrud Goetz, who drew the map in the book, joined me at a signing at Interstate Gas and the Platte County Public Library on Thursday, May 6, for Crazy Woman Creek. "We signed books at Interstate Gas in the morning and if things got slow, Blinky, the proprietor, dashed outside and snatched patrons away from gas pumps to come in and buy books. So we sold four to a jerky salesman, signed to his ex-wives and girlfriends, and also sold to ranchers, travelers, and people stopping for coffee. "The Library Foundation took us to lunch and then we went to the library where they had flowers, punch, and cookies and more eager customers. It was a warm and welcome launch of the book in Platte County." Back to top |
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