Strategic Freebies

So on Saturday I appeared alongside Saladin Ahmed, Laura Anne Gilman, and Blake Charlton at Borders bookstore in New York. This was a very last-minute thing, and details were being worked out right down to the wire. Initially Blake had asked if I’d be interested in joining him at the end for a group signing. I said I’d be happy to, though it seemed to me pretty unlikely that anyone would actually have something they’d want me to sign. It occurred to me that maybe I should just bring a few books that I’m in and give them away, since then there’d be at least that many people with something for me to sign. Then it occurred to me that The Living Dead 2 is coming out next month, and that if I gave away copies of The Living Dead, that would not only give me something to sign, but it would also give me a chance to promote The Living Dead 2, and maybe some of the people who got a free copy of The Living Dead would be motivated to purchase the sequel. Even though The Living Dead is a massive tome, copies of it are relatively cheap on Amazon ($11), so I ordered half a dozen. My first thought was to just give one to the first six people who came up and talked to me at the signing, but then it occurred to me that probably the first people to approach me would be my friends and acquaintances, and it seemed a little pointless to be giving away free books to people who already know me pretty well. So then I hit on the idea of offering the free books only to people I don’t already know. At the close of my reading (it ended up that I did a short reading in addition to the signing), I explained that I had six books I was willing to give away to people that I didn’t already know, and did anyone matching that description want one? I counted off the first six people who raised their hands, and encouraged them to approach me afterward for their free signed book. That worked out really well. I got to meet a number of new people I wouldn’t otherwise have talked to (including a successful author and a book editor’s assistant), I got a copy of one of my stories into the hands of six new readers, and they all got a free book that includes not just me but lots of big-name authors as well. And sure it cost me money, but when you compare the cost to say, buying a round or two of drinks, it seems pretty reasonable, especially considering how infrequently I do signings.