Marley and Me
Friday, July 08, 2005
Crazy for Librarians
Librarians have to be some of the coolest people on earth. I was on a panel of new authors speaking a couple weekends ago in Chicago at the American Library Assocation convention. My talk was sponsored by Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (Click here to see the lineup of authors: http://www.folusa.org/html/June05firstauthor.html) We were in a meeting room at the Sheraton off Michigan Avenue, and I feared there might be, like six people in the room. After all, we were all first-time authors. There were 101 competing events at the same time. But every seat was soon taken, and by the time the event began at 1 p.m., people were standing along the walls, sitting on the floors, blocking the door. Like I said, librarians are great. They treat authors, even unknowns like myself, like rock stars. The program went on for two hours. Not a single person walked out. After we were done talking, we signed our books. Every last one went.
And then the publicist assigned to get me places whipped me across town to McCormick Place, where the sprawling ALA trade show was taking place. I was scheduled for a one-hour signing in the HarperCollins booth. I was kind of dreading it because my first experience doing a book signing had been just a few weeks earlier at the Book Expo of America in New York -- and it was humbling. I was stationed beside a veteran author whose seventh book had just came out (sorry, I didn't catch his name). And he had, literally, 300 people lined up for his autograph. My line: 27. I took my time, chatting with each one, stalling, doing everything in my power to not have the humiliation of sitting there alone looking forlornly at the crowd, pleading with my eyes, "Will anyone please let me sign a book for them?" More people dribbled in; a trickle. By the time my 30 minutes were up, I'd signed about 75 books. Not bad for a first-time author whose book wouldn't be out for five months and whom no one had heard of. Not great. My editor gave me a sympathetic smile and, nodding to Mr. Bigshot next to me, said, "Next year, that will be you." He was just trying to make me feel better, but I could have kissed him just the same.
But Chicago with the librarians was different. When I got to my signing station at 4 p.m., several dozen people -- librarians all -- were already lined up. They continued to come, and I continued to sign non-stop for my entire hour. One after another, no time for small talk. It was the end of the day, and the lights began to flick on and off, a signal that it was time to leave. But still the librarians swooped in for signed books. Some had heard me talk earlier that afternoon; many just were hungry to check out a new author. (Many were holding glasses of beer, handed out by the Harry Potter folks the next aisle over, and that very well may have had something to do with it. When librarians party, look out!)
They were book lovers all. And they made this new author feel welcome and wanted. Oh yeah! Thank you, librarians. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
posted by John Grogan at 2:00 PM
 
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