Book Signing Takeaways

Creative souls possessing passion for ideas and the writing craft energize and inspire me to keep writing. I was privileged to participate in the Beach Pulp launch party and book signing at the Newark Delaware Arts Alliance on April 6^th.  Wedged between writers D.M. Domosea and Dennis Lawson at the writers’ table, I learned quite a bit about their short stories.  Domosea’s “A Million Tiny Bites” will certainly be on my mind the next time I’m at the beach and the ocean starts to lull me to sleep.  Lawson’s hit man working Dewey Beach’s sandy streets will make anyone wonder about their fellow vacationers’ motivations.  Speaking with the writers at the signing encouraged me to keep building my content and to keep working and reworking the manuscripts living in the distant corners of my hard drive.  Anyone with even a passing interest in writing should make every effort to attend a book signing.

Staying in my seat at the signing table posed a bit of a challenge, since I wanted to talk

with as many writers and artists as I could.  My wanderings provided a wealth of ideas about the signing process.  Opposite me, fellow Lancaster, PA resident Joe Palumbo whom created a spectacular cover capturing Beach Pulp’s retro-speculative-fiction theme– Godzilla as a crab, anyone– signed small posters for book buyers. I found a bit of irony in this given a history lesson I had taught recently about the Gold Rush Era involving a collection of handbills.  While watching Palumbo, I remembered telling students handbills had fallen out of use, yet when I made my way to the reception table to get one of Palumbo’s handbills, I scooped up the last of the printing.  This observation found its way into my marketing strategies notes.

“Sam Shade, Private Eye” writer Jackson Coppley scribbled his name into copy after copy of Beach Pulp.  He placed a bookmark in each book before returning it to its owner.  Why bring business cards to a signing when bookmarks can hold the same marketing information and serve a long-term purpose expressly for readers?  I’m sure more of his bookmarks have been looked at since April 6th than my three by two inch ubiquitous bits of card stock.  During a lull, I spoke with Coppley about his newest novel, The Code Hunters, and he shared with me his pitch statement, the one-liner all writers must craft when venturing to bring their manuscripts to market.  I remember saying to him I found trying to encapsulate a novel into a snappy, one-line description very difficult, an art in and of itself.  Coppley explained to me using sparing references to popular works could bring much to a pitch, and he allayed my fear an agent would suspect the proposed novel would be nothing more than unauthorized fan fiction.  Pages worth of character and plot development can be delivered with the mention of a few names and/or titles.  As long as the balance within the pitch leaned heavily toward the novel’s unique angle, perspective, or twist, references to popular works can bring valuable depths of understanding to another’s ears.

Despite the diversity of stories, ideas, and styles making up the Beach Pulp anthology, all are connected by more than just the retro-speculative-fiction theme.  Beach Pulpis a collection of stories embodying the hard work, creativity, and passion of their writers. I’d like to thank all of Beach Pulp’s writers, artists and Nancy Sakaduski of Cat and Mouse Press for the opportunity to appear in this collection and for the opportunity to learn from so many talented people.  The Beach Pulp anthology can be found in many independent booksellers in the Delmarva and New Jersey regions.  Copies can also be ordered directly from the publisher’s website: http://catandmousepress.com/beach-pulp/.