Please excuse my infrequent updates and Twitter presence– I’ve been unusually tired, nay, exhausted by my various goings-on lately and I have some exciting news that I hope to tell you sometime, hopefully soon!
Anyway, onto real talk.
It pains me a little that publishers are leaning towards group signings and events because I enjoy events that are dedicated only to one author but it’s understandable since if you don’t like one of the authors at an event, you’ll be able to find another one that you do like, especially since tour fees are increasing these days.
I still remember the first book event I went to– I was in middle school, which even for me was a while ago, and I was beyond excited to attend this author’s signing. Over the years, I’ve been to other author signings and events and with each event, I have a different opinion towards signings and events.
For most of the successive events afterwards, I’ve dutifully toted my DSLR along with a mini notebook to catalogue and record events for blogging purposes and later my school paper. I haven’t had a problem for the most part, until the day I got a stink eye.
I’ve been the receiving end and giving end of stink eyes– as a typical angst-filled teenager but oh, this stink eye topped all the stink eyes I’ve ever seen. I was wielding the school paper’s Canon DSLR, fitted with pricey lens (all in the name of journalism, I tell you) and I was trying to get a usable shot of the venue while taking down notes. Some of the photos were duds since I wasn’t exactly used to the camera (I use a Nikon) and the woman three empty seats over leans, makes a face and says, “Stop.” Full stop. She leans back and sits like it never happened.
To be fair, I should’ve asked about press badges so it would’ve been more obvious what I was doing because I don’t look that old and I was wearing my school clothes since I was busy at school until I had to leave for the event.
Mistakes and lessons learned. But for the most part, going to signings and author events have been fun and I’ve never really ran into trouble. A lot of events have bloggers present anyway so a lot of people are used to it. I’ve also met some cool people at events so you should definitely go if you get the chance!
What are your experiences at events? Do you go to events?
