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Seeing a reader with your book.

happy_authorhappy_author
edited May 2015 in Writing
I was very pleasantly surprised to see a couple sitting having a coffee reading my book. I could not resist asking them where they purchased it and what they thought of it; to my surprise they purchased in a W.H.Smiths book shop in their town. They said they normally buy a known travel guide but seeing my on the shelf, it appealed to them. Has anyone else had similar an experience?

Comments

  • CarolCarol
    Congratulations.
  • doradora
    Hmm. Can't say I've ever noticed anyone reading your book, so the answer has to be no.
  • ana sana s
    I like your understated 'pleasantly surprised'. I'd be circling their table making silent movie hand-over-mouth gestures.
  • LizyLizy
    Did you actually say "I wrote that?" or were you modest? :P
  • JediyaJediya
    Reminds of the Q&A with Martina Cole that I went to in March.
    She told a story about how she saw a woman reading one of her books on the tube and she leant over and said "I wrote that." The woman's response was: "pft, yeah right" and got off the next stop.
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    I was so excited, I did tell them I was the author, I then gave them a card that gives my website. As my book is not a best selling novel, I did think the odds of seeing someone with my book were the same odd as winning the lottery. I did hold back with some modesty Liz, as I did not offer to sign it for them, but then neither was I asked.
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    edited May 2015
    Hmm. Can't say I've ever noticed anyone reading your book, so the answer has to be no.
    :-?
  • Lou TreleavenLou Treleaven
    How exciting! I would have been thrilled to bits.
  • datco2014datco2014
    Closest I ever got was my brother spotting someone reading a copy of my book on a beach in Menorca, he took a discreet picture on his phone and texted it to me - brightened my day!!
  • caseycasey
    I have a picture of someone reading my book on a beach in Malta. She is a friend. Does that count?
    (HA - I saw your book on show at LBS on the AM stand - congratulations it looks as though it's packed full of information - Well done!)
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    datco2014, that it so great and the great thing is it brightened up your day. When I get your book and a chance to be in Menorca I will shout it from the roof tops.
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    Hi Casey, seeing a friend with your book! of course it counts. Long as you did not pay her to read it 8-| So proud you had it in circulation for a friend to read, hope they gave you a good review.
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    I've seen people reading mine, but they've been people I knew, deliberately reading it where I'd see them, so that's not quite the same thing.

    Of course anyone I see reading on a kindle could be reading one of mine and I'd never know.
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    I can honestly say, I do not see that many people around reading from a kindle. I have many friends who like to have a real book in their hands, they say you can't beat the feel of a real book. I wonder if the kindle is here to stay or will it become a thing of the past?
  • boredrobotsboredrobots
    I was in WHSmith a few months ago and a gent was thumbing his way through WM. The nearer he got to my article to more interested I got...then he flicked two pages over and missed it! Bah!
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    I was in WHSmith a few months ago and a gent was thumbing his way through WM. The nearer he got to my article to more interested I got...then he flicked two pages over and missed it! Bah!
    Did he buy it though? As he would have perhaps read it at home never knowing he stood next to the author of that article.

  • boredrobotsboredrobots
    *shrug* I left before that bit :P
  • happy_authorhappy_author
    *shrug* I left before that bit :P
    I would have been tempted to say 'I buy that magazine as well have some great articles in it' ;)
  • Lou TreleavenLou Treleaven
    I see loads of people with Kindles or ereaders whenever I'm on a train.
  • LizLiz
    I have been in a bookshop when someone I don't know has bought my book. And on Saturday I did a show with 11 other poets, and two little girls separately came up to ask me if my poems were in a book. One wanted to be an animal researcher and writer, so my book was a perfect fit! What's more her mum said she loved the cover as soon as she came into the shop, which is good because it was done as an adult cover for crossover sales.
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