London Day 5: Charing Cross
In many respects, London feels much like New York or DC. Many of the neighborhoods have a similar feel, like how Camden Town feels like Greenwich Village, and Piccadilly Circus is a little like Times Square. But there’s a section of London that doesn’t have an equivalent I know of anywhere else. It’s a walkable area between the Leicester Square and Tottenham Road tube stops, mostly along Charing Cross Road. In that square mile or so are dozens of bookshops, ranging from small genre and antique bookstores to massive chain flagship stores. For someone like me, it’s akin to a pilgrimage to Mecca.
My agent Joshua is a human computer equipped with google maps and a bookstore overlay. Before I left for
It was there we set out for on Tuesday, armed only with a London A-Z map and a handful of pens, for me to try and sign as many books as possible while in town. As a new and unknown author, I need to do whatever I can to encourage people to take a chance and buy my book, and signing shelf-stock in bookstores is a proven way to do that. People often like the idea of having a signed first edition of a book, and that extra special bit can turn a casual curiosity into a sale.
Plus, let’s face it. I was totally stoked to see my book in stores, and would have happily gone to every bookstore in London if I’d had time.
Things were a little slow at first. First up was Waterstones on
I then took a moment to ruminate in the safety of the lion’s paws. It was a beautiful day to reflect on my life’s course, and all the great fortune that had brought me to this place.
From there we hiked back up the hill to Blackwells, which seemed to specialize in more erudite publishing, but turned out to have a very nice SF section. Salesman Glenn had a dozen copies of The Painted Man laid out on the floor, ready to be stocked on the shelves. He was happy to clear a desk for me to sign them before resuming his efforts.
We then went to Foyles, a mammoth bookstore with an excellent SF section managed by the lovely Laura. She already had their nine copies of The Painted Man on display, but was happy to take them down for an impromptu signing.
But a touch of fortunate happenstance came with the Foyles visit, as well. Laura and her co-workers had just that day put up a brand-new stretched canvas on the wall for authors to sign. By virtue of being in the right place at the right time, I got the first crack at signing it:
We then went on to the Borders UK flagship store across the street from Foyles, where The Painted Man was on display at the very front in the “New For Autumn” wall, as well as on the shelves in the SF section AND in a big “Essential Science Fiction” display, where as you can see, I ranked #4 ahead of some pretty heavy hitters!
To be fair, I haven’t the slightest idea what the criteria for the ranking was. I can only imagine someone in that shop read an advance copy and was a fan. The SF manager wasn’t in, but floor manager Mike & cashier Kenneth were happy to collect the store’s dozen copies for me to sign and chat with us. Kenneth even bought a copy for himself!
After the store hunt, we made it back to home base and rested our weary feet whilst buying tickets for the Eurostar to
Blog entry on Paris tomorrow!
Excellent write up of book store trek. I really liked the part when you signed the big author board first. Very cool. It’s good to have you back sir, but it’s great to hear about your travels.
Peter V. Brett – Lord of Autumn. Well, 4th out of the Council of 10 Lords, anyway.