Being an author can’t be easy. It’s a solitary existence where you sit in a room and write and then years later you have a book that sometimes doesn’t even seem to make a dent in the cultural zeitgeist. Recently, an author shared a tough experience at a signing and Stephen King responded with a troubling story of his own – involving Nazis.
Chelsea Banning, who recently released a book called Of Crowns and Legends, said she recently had a fairly terrible experience while trying to promote her book.
“Only 2 people came to my author signing yesterday, so I was pretty bummed about it. Especially as 37 people responded “going” to the event. Kind of upset, honestly, and a little embarrassed.”
This prompted crime novelist Linwood Barclay to share a disparaging author signing story of his own:
“Once sat out front of mall bookshop for a signing. No one stopped, until the very end, when an old guy paused, looked at me, looked at the books, looked at me, approached and asked, ‘Do they sell flags here?'”
Maybe it was the flags that sparked something but King had a juicy anecdote as well.
To be fair, Salem’s Lot was released in 1975, when antisemitism wasn’t the topic of the day the way it is in the Ye era. Many of the replies to the thread were informative and complimentary, but Banning chose to retweet one sentiment in particular.
“So what have I learned from all of the replies? Clearly, never give up, and trust in yourself. But also, arrange your book signing on a rainy day.” Also, avoid Nazis.
Of Crowns and Legends is available now at bookstores everywhere.
Published: Dec 5, 2022 05:58 pm