Next book out soon

My dragon book is coming out soon.

Just finished the corrections and sent it back. Not as many as I thought there would be. I'm terrible at punctuation. And if autocorrect is on wrong words show up.

I'm still working on my sci-fi book. Just a bit more then editing.

So everything is coming along nicely.

I organized my books in folders. I had them all in one big folder haphazard. So I've been organizing. Ones I was working on were in current folder but now I got two big folders with little folders inside.

And I stopped putting in my old stories. Most are in a tote right now and I really don't have room to spread out to transcribe them into the computer. Besides I have enough already on computer to work on for quite a while.  Though Dad wants me to get rid of all that paper. 

My old stories are all on paper you see. Paper of different size and shape. Most are just one or two chapters. I wrote a lot during my teenage years and during my early twenties.  After that I mainly just wrote the idea down with a few scribbles of the story.

I'm going to concentrate on the stories I already have in the computer.

Unless one of the paper ones suddenly attacks me. Those plot bunnies can be real aggressive.

Book signing ideas

One of the articles I read said that a symbol or drawing might be added to personalize the book. I'm thinking claw marks for the dragon book maybe.

And this symbol for the sci-fi. It's a alien language symbol for a dream I had long ago.

Still working on phrases.

Book signing phrase thoughts

I'm thinking about what to write when I do a signing. I usually just say " Happy Reading" and sign. But I want something more personal seeming.

I want something different for my Dragon book. And different one for the Sci-fi. They are after all a departure from my other books.

For the dragon book I thought maybe "Hope you find your dragon" or "may you find your dragon". Then my signature and date. The sci-fi I'm still thinking about.

I googled book signings and most have this same problem: what to write to personalize the book.  There were a lot of articles but not a lot of help in them. Most said their minds went blank when asked to personalize the book besides the stock phrases of "best wishes" or "thanks for reading" and the like.

There was a suggestion that maybe a phrase which referenced something in the book. Thus my phrase above.

I don't know what to do. I don't want to just use my stock phrase of "Happy Reading" but I can't think of anything else really to write. The phrases above are after an hour's deciding. And I don't have anything for the sci-fi.

My books won't come out probably until end of May or early June. And I don't know if I'll have a book signing right away. But it's never too  early to think about book signings and what you want to write on the book.

I got a signed book that only has the signature. It's a first Ed. so that's good but I'm a little disappointed that there was not personalization. Not necessarily the recipient's name but a phrase or a few words.  Otherwise you could just get a stamp and stamp the name in the book.  Impersonal.

Book signings are personal events. You talk to/ with readers face to face personally. Not to just stamp a book and move on.

What do you put in your books? Personalized or stock?

 Do you meet the reader's eyes and talk or do you just smile vaguely and sign?

I hope you think about what you write and greet every reader like a new friend.