Author Event: Announcement and Questions

by

Scott D Parker

I have my first author event later tonight. I have to admit: it’s pretty darn exciting.

My wife, Vanessa, is a jewelry artist who does business under the name of Betoj Designs. She is a member of the Sugar Land Arts Center andGallery in Sugar land, Texas, just south of Houston. Earlier this year, I began to display my novels in the gift shop. As nice as it is to hold physical copies of my books, it is also nice to see them on sale somewhere other than my house. As a gallery member, my wife has the opportunity to be a featured artist of the month. For the month of November, it’s a tag team effort with Vanessa and JZ Selewach, an artist who uses the encaustic technique. The two of them talked and they invited me to be the third member of the November team. It’s pretty good timing because ULTERIOR OBJECTIVES: A Lillian Saxton Thriller was published on 1 November at Amazon. 

And tomorrow is the opening reception. This being an art gallery, the opening reception usually focuses on the featured artist, and their work is displayed in a more prominent location throughout gallery. With me however, I’ll actually be doing an author talk and signing autographs for anyone who buys one of my books.

Which brings me to the questions I’d like to ask all of y’all. 

• How long do y’all typically do a reading from your book? I’ve been to many book signings and it seems five minutes is about the extent. Is that about right?
• How long to talk craft? I’ll also give a short speech about the writing life, how I decided to become a writer, and the craft of writing. I’m thinking another five minutes or so. Do you think that’s about right? I can always fill up more time with some audience questions.
• Overall, I imagine 15-20 minutes of me talking before people start to tune out. Sound good?

Anyway, these are some of the ideas that I’m wondering about. If you’re reading this and are in the area, here is the flyer with all the pertinent information.

And I’ll be sure to take some pictures and post them either here or on my Facebook page.

An honest to goodness author event. How cool is that!