Innocent conversations and book sales

Just to illustrate how an author can turn a relatively innocuous social contact into a marketing opportunity, witness my recent experience at COSTCO.

When shopping at places like COSTCO or Sam's Club, I always take notice of the book displays, perusing the best sellers and, if appropriate, striking up conversations with book browsers. Not all are interested in talking, of course, so this can be an iffy situation. You certainly don't want to give anyone a negative impression of you, or your work, so you have to tread carefully. I have occasionally used these contacts to pass out business cards.

I also like to sample food from the many stands that are positioned around the store. I always take care to note the person's name tag and thank him or her by name. It's always heartening to bring a smile to the face of the stand's operator who is largely performing a thankless (and low paying) job. They inevitably look up and smile, especially since most people just grab the snack and walk away.

At one stand I encountered a pleasant middle-aged lady who was dutifully spreading various prepared concoctions on crackers. I stopped to sample a salmon spread and engaged the woman by thanking her for the offering.

Looking over the array of readymade salads and sandwich wraps I said, "Boy, pretty soon no one will even know how to cook. Everything is readymade."

"Isn't that the truth," she responded. "But I'm old school because I like to cook."

That was my opening. "Me too," I cheerfully replied and went into a monologue about how kids can't do basic arithmetic because of calculators, and how society is changing because of advances in technology.

"They can't even spell without spell-check on word processors," she responded.

"Pretty soon no one will be able to read maps because of GPS," I added. "And isn't a shame how many people don't even read books anymore."

"I won't read books on those fancy readers," my new friend opined. "I'm old school. I've got to have the book in my hand."

"I don't either," I said, "I haven't even put my books on Kindle or eBooks, even though the resident wisdom is that I must do that."

"Oh, are you a writer?"

I confessed that I was and the lady wanted to know what I wrote. I thereupon handed her my card. The woman was so excited to meet an author, especially one who didn't treat her as a piece of furniture, that she ordered my book.

So, as you can see, an innocent encounter turned into a book sale. She may even tell her friends about it. And what did it cost me? A little kindness can go along way.