How to do a Drive-By Signing

Tip of the Day: Always carry a signing pen with you. You never know when you'll be asked to sign a book and the average ballpoint just doesn't cut it.

Drive-by signings. You either know exactly what I'm talking about or you're scratching your head. This post is directed to all the head scratchers.

Once you're a published author you can stop by bookstores wherever (in your town, somewhere you're vacationing, at that store around the corner from your office etc.) your book is carried and ask to sign it. This sounds a little bizarre at first and I was really hesitant to do it until I went with Aprilynne Pike on a drive-by signing while she was in town for a signing. She, Kristin Walker, and I were walking to get a drink and were about to pass by a B&N. She said let's do a drive-by. I said what?! Are things that hard right now? Ok, we didn't say that stuff. :-) But she did suggest stopping to do a quick stock signing. After I witnessed her doing one it gave me the courage to do it myself. See, at first I thought maybe the stores wouldn't want me coming in and mucking up their merchandise. But then I was reminded that I wasn't mucking up their stuff but adding value to it by signing it. Oh yeah. :-) Someone else told me that a signed book is a sold book. I'm not sure who originally said that or if it's true but it sounds good. Anyway, on to how to do a drive-by signing.

1) Stroll into a bookstore.

2) Locate all of your books on a shelf (in my case it's only like 3 to 5 at a store).

3) Carry all of your books up to the information desk.

4) Say to the person working there, hello, I am the author of this book and I'd like to sign it. Do you have any signed by author stickers?

At this point they'll give you a huge smile, whip out a strip of the stickers, and say fabulous! Or some such scenario like that. This actually happens often for them.

5) Sign each book.

6) Sticker the book (or the employee might sticker the book for you).

7) Ask the employee, would you like me to re-stock the book?

And they'll (hopefully) say no, no, I'm going to put them on display up here at the desk.

And that's all there is to it! Bonus tip: you can go online to bn.com or Borders.com and type in your zip code to see if the stores near you have your book in stock. Might save a trip!

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut