The Event Horizon

In case you haven't noticed yet, we have set up a Facebook Event Page for the Adriana Trigiani book signing on Sunday, July 30, from 3:00 pm to at least 5:00 pm.  Since this is the first event that we are promoting on social media extensively, we are still having a few difficulties, beyond the normal one in planning such an event.  In fact, we have only issued a preview press release instead of an official one in the local newspapers.  We would mention them, but the program is messing up a little this morning and not all of the functions are working correctly.  Preparations are still going on, though.  This coming Tuesday, we will be placing the first orders for the event.  We have to reserve our copies of her latest novel early to make sure we have them on hand.  Future orders will be place for the rest of her backlist that will be available.  Stay tuned here, the rest of our website, our Facebook page, and the new Event page for future announcements.  Hopefully, everything will be working again next week so we can talk about this more.  Maybe a different subject, as you might get tired of non-stop signing news.  See you next week.

I Have Seen the Signing

It takes a lot of time and effort to plan a book signing, like the one with Adriana Trigiani this coming Sunday, July 30.  While we have had dozens of events over the years, as seen on the author signing sub-page, it doesn't ever get any easier.  Even with the two month notice, there will still be a lot of things to do.  Most importantly, we have to determine how many books to order and of which ones.  The last time she came here, we sold out fairly quickly of all or her books and had to re-order dozens more for her to sign book plates for later on.  Then we have to plan the advertising.  This is putting our current media schedule on hold until closer to the actual event.  Press releases are starting to be send out.  For her last event, we had people come as far away as Richmond, KY to Richmond, VA.  This time, with Booknotes being her only scheduled stop in Kentucky, we might have customers from even further away.  Still, the overwhelming majority were local last time.  We also have to re-arrange the store for traffic flow as well as any refreshments we will provide.  Not all of our signings are this elaborate, though.  It is just that with Adriana, we expect another huge crowd.  The line actually went out the door last time.  Running late today, so we will have to continue next time.  See you next week.

Adriana Is Returning to Booknotes

As revealed on our home page and News/Events page, bestselling author Adriana Trigiani is returning to Booknotes for a book signing on Sunday, July 30 in support of her new novel Kiss Carlo coming out in June.  Some details are still be hammered out, so we hope you keep checking back to the website or our Facebook page for more information.  As of right now, the event will start at 3:00 pm or so, but that time might change due to factors involving the other tenants at the center.   We will be taking down names for anyone who wants to pre-order her new book, as well as anyone who wants to order any of her older titles.  Many of her older titles will be available along with her new one on the day of the signing, but ordering beforehand will be the only way to guarantee getting a particular one.  The last time she was here in 2006, we sold out long before the event was over; we had to order more and have Adrianna sign book plates for them.  We might offer some online ordering as well of her newest title and a few of her older ones.  The software for this only allows ten products if we go this route, but if we do, it will allow our customers to order their books early and have us deliver them after the signing.  This would be very useful for those who wouldn't be able to attend the actual event for a number of reasons.  In response to this, we have finally gotten a new credit card processor and are now taking credit cards again.  We also have a few more surprises that might be lining up for the event, but we are too early in the planning stages to reveal anything.  As a hint, if your remember her last appearance here, then you might know what to expect this time around.  See you next week.

Comics Are Books Too

Today is Free Comic Book Day and many local comic book stores around the country are participating.  While we are not part of this event, we would like to mention our support of such stores.  Recently, there were events celebrating independent record and book stores.  We were unable to show our support for the former in time and we were unable to participate in the  latter because we are not part of a retailer association.  However, it would be a shame if we didn't promote one of the earliest such events and the local store involved.  Pikeville's comic book store is Page 3 Game Zone , which we have had a long standing relationship with.  We have frequently sent customers over to them when they needed products and services that they were more suited to and we couldn't really provide.  [Author's aside:  I have been reading comic books since I was four years old, and I am fortunate enough to still have at least parts of some of them even after forty years and two floods.  I mostly started our on Disney reprints of Carl Barks duck stories which were still fairly recent at the time.  I didn't transition to super-heroes until I was seven or eight.  I still get five to seven most weeks.]  Since not everyone can be here, I suggest you check out your own local stores.  There are a wide selection of titles available, and many are acceptable to all age groups.  Many stores will allow to get more than one of these special issues, and some will even have older comics for free that are not part of this promotion.  We cannot stress enough how special this event can be.  Just make sure to look over some of the comics if you have very young readers as some of the titles involved are definitely not for children.

Unannounced Outages

Not much going on, so let's just go over a few things instead.  First, the internet was down this weekend, so we were unable to update the website and blog until today.  It was not due to the rally in downtown Pikevile this weekend.  We were far enough away not to be affected and were open normal hours.  Second, we cannot apologize enough for not announcing online that we would be closed last Tuesday.  We did put notices up in store and will do better the next time this happens.  Third, we might be planning a book signing in the next month or so featuring at least one local author.  On a side note, we have been asked to mention that M. H.  Wilson still has copies of both of his Galactic Seven novels available.  Next, there have been at least two wild turkey sightings at the shopping center lately.  While we have seen turkeys before, flying from the cliff behind the center to the hillside across the road and back, this has been the first time that the birds have actually been seen in the parking lot.  We will try to post pictures of this if it happens again.  Finally, this Saturday, May 6, is Free Comic Book Day, so everyone please go out and support your local comic book store.  We will mention more about this event in the next post, as long as we have the internet connection to do so.