My favorite restaurant is named for a famous Beatles landmark. I go there at least once a week to eat and write. The waitstaff put my order in when I walk through the door.
Recently, a new waitress was being trained. We were being friendly, chatting about various things, when the senior waitress said--"Elizabeth is an author." The new waitress smiled and nodded and went away to check on my order.
When she returned, we had this conversation.
HER: are you Julia Day?
ME: yes, that's one of my pen names.
HER: you're my niece's favorite author.
ME: Wow, that's great.
HER: I took her to B&N and told her to pick out any book she wanted. So she got yours because she loved the cover. She took it home and read it and now she loves your books.
ME: Do you know which book? One came out just a few days ago.
HER: she's read both. She had her mother order the next one immediately.
I'm sharing this story for two reasons.
One, because that's just frickin' cool. Talk about a small world! I'm not that well-known. My author career has had only modest success (extremely modest.) Knowing that someone reads and loves your books is fuel to write more.
Two, it reminds me to encourage readers to speak up. Whenever you meet your favorite authors, tell us you enjoy our books. Send us an email; we all have contact forms on our websites. Leave us reviews (like
Amazon), especially for the modestly successful authors. Let us know that you're enjoying what we write!
