Juneteenth, that celebration of freedom and family was a great success! Some of the music was incredible, as were the speakers, and the weather while hot, had a nice breeze throughout the day. Props to the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions for this 15th Annual Juneteenth Celebration.
Regarding book sales, I have some good news and some better news. First, check out the display Ellen and I put together.
What you can’t see very easily are copies of both books standing up and the special prices for Juneteenth. On the table are summaries of some of the reviews the books have received as well. The display was effective, and thanks to our friends Jason and Julie Hammond for the use of their canopy. So there was some good news and some better news. The good news is that I sold ten books at Juneteenth, matching last year’s total. (For those who really want to know, that was seven copies of Take Hart and three of Twin Worlds). So, no increase in income from last year. The better news is that of those sales only two were to people who had any knowledge of me at all: the rest were people who came by, saw the books, chatted, and decided to buy. Last year, everyone who bought a copy of Twin Worlds was a personal friend or professional colleague. I see this as a victory. And one of the people who bought a book is a member of a book club, and they’re looking for books to feature for discussion, and authors to invite to meet with them. Of course, I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask her for her contact information, so that was one more thing I learned from Saturday. Here’s hoping she follows through with me though!
Participating in Juneteenth this year was clearly worth it and a great deal of fun. Thanks to all who participated in the celebration and those who bought copies of my books!
