Friday, October 7, 2011

AHH, THAT AIN’T WORKIN’…

Darrell James

Even the weather was perfect when I rolled into Bowling Green, Ohio, Wednesday—79 and sunny. I started by checking into the hotel and running through some notes I had made for the night’s event. See, I was scheduled to speak to a group at the Wood County Library at 7:00 pm, just one stop on the three month book tour I have planned.

The event was arranged and hosted by Mary Boone. Mary is a Sisters in Crime National Board member and Library Liaison for SinC. She’s also the librarian at the Wood County Library, a stunning facility that was recently remodeled to include a naturally lighted atrium reading area, that I found myself wishing I could make my permanent writing retreat.



Mary picked me up at the hotel, making me feel like a visiting head of state. I first got the walking tour of downtown Bowling Green. It’s quaint and traditional. The farmers market was alive with early evening shoppers, the booths filled with baskets of late corn, apples, and pumpkins. We had diner at Easy Street, a charming little eatery along the main drag. (For those who don’t know Mary, she’s charming, gracious, and fun. Everything you would hope for in your favorite librarian.)

At seven, we returned to the library where I had the opportunity to address a group gathered patiently to hear about my debut novel, Nazareth Child. To my delight a number of the attendees had already purchased and read the book, and were quick to add supportive comments. (It seems they loved it. And loved Del Shannon as well.)

Readers are the best. They’re knowledgeable of the genre and know what they like and dislike. Their questions are insightful, and they seem to have as much interest in how an author and a book came into being as in the book itself.

It was a great stop on my continuing book tour that started on September 9th in Pasadena, and will end roughly on November 19th back in California, at the Men of Mystery event in Irvine.

On Thursday, I met Craig, the Assistant Manager, at the Maumee, OH, Barnes & Noble. Nice guy! He immediately ordered in copies of Nazareth Child to be featured in their “new release” mystery section. (BTW: he would have been a nice guy even if he hadn’t ordered my books.)

As I write this post, I’m at the B & N coffee shop, drinking a root beer, and anticipating the signing I have later tonight, at Barnes & Noble Franklin Park, Toledo. The weekend will find me at B & N in Dayton, next week at Foul Play Books in Columbus, then Youngstown to speak to a writers group, and then to Cincinnati for a huge Midwest launch party with high school friends and family.

Many authors lament the trials of book promotion. I have to say, “If this is workin’, I’ll take it any day of the week.”
Now… on with the show.


Nazareth Child- A Del Shannon Novel has just been released from Midnight Ink, Llewellyn Worldwide. It is available through booksellers and online retailers and for download to all popular electronic readers.

Says The Mystery Reader: “The characters make this first mystery a stand out.”











7 comments:

Robin Allen said...

Sounds like a great first book tour, Darrell. Congrats on all of this success!

Darrell James said...

Thanks, Robin! As a footnote to last night, the B&N staff in Toledo were great! Sold out by 8:30pm.

Beth Groundwater said...

Good luck with your tour, Darrell. You're off to an excellent start!

Shannon Baker said...

I exchanged a few emails with Deborah at Desert Sleuths and she said she really enjoyed meeting you in Phx. Sorry to have missed you when you were that close but it's still a slog from Flag to Phx. Good luck on the rest of the tour.

Kathleen Ernst said...

Sounds like a grand time! It's not a small thing to set up a tour like this. So glad you're meeting lots of receptive readers. Enjoy, enjoy.

Alan Orloff said...

Have fun on your tour, Darrell! (It sounds like you're doing just that.) But not too much--you need to get back to writing sometime!

Deborah Sharp said...

wow ... three months of touring! You're a machine, my man.
Sounds like you're having fun, though, and that's what it's all about. Isn't Mary Boone the best? She's one of the first folks I met through SistersinCrime and Malice Domestic. Great gal, great supporter of books and reading.