On August 5, 2022, I attended a unique authors’ event in Sharon, Connecticut. It was their local Hotchkiss Library’s 24th Annual Summer Book Signing. The event is a unique type of fundraiser that shines a light on local authors while raising money for the library.
I was invited to the event, not because I am a local author (I live about two hours away, in Western Massachusetts), but because I did a well received book talk for the Hotchkiss Library on zoom in January, 2022. The response to my online event was so positive that they asked me to attend this event in person,. I gladly accepted.
The library is undergoing renovations, and this literary cocktail party was to help raise money for this work. The way it worked is that the library bought all the books at wholesale price, and the authors were there to greet the public and sign the books.
When I arrived there was a huge tent set up with tables all around the perimeter for about thirty authors. There were authors from different genres present; children’s, young adult, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. My table mate was a woman who had written a book about female cartoonists of The New Yorker.
I was there with boxes of The Copenhagen Trilogy (biography) and The Trouble with Happiness (short stories). There was a bartender serving drinks at the center of the tent, and students from the local junior high walked around with trays of hors d’oeuvres. There was an admission charge, and all authors and guests had to have been vaccinated for Covid.
Inside the tent, the attendees visitors circulated from table to table, chatting with authors and picking the books they wanted. The authors did not take payment or handle money. When a guest was ready to leave, they took their books indoors to the library and paid there.
I estimate about 30 copies of my books were sold that night, and many people came up to me to tell me they had read them already and had loved them. Some people asked me to inscribe the book as a gift to a particular person, while others were happy with a signature.
Following the event, several authors were dinner guests at a few nearby residents’ homes. The public could buy seats at these dinners as an added element to the literary fundraiser evening.
All in all this, was a fun and welcoming event. It was a pleasure to see my books being sold for a good cause, supporting this library.