Funny Things I Learned at my First Book Signing

Jun 7, 2025

I had my first book signing for King of the Forgotten Darkness this past Saturday, at the Barnes and Noble in Billings, MT! It was a blast and got to meet a ton of great fantasy fans who were really excited to get a signed copy. I feel super privileged to be able to take part of sharing my story and and my love for fantasy fiction! And meeting so many interesting people from all walks of life was just plain FUN.

Some Interesting Observations...

I was at the store for hours, just vibing and signing, but since I am a practicing psychiatrist, I can't turn off my training--lol! I don't mean I was diagnosing anybody, although one great fan actually decided to share her life story and her diagnosis with me as part of her journey. But for the most part, I have been trained to take note of the way people carry themselves, dress, and in general behave, because it might be helpful to truly understanding their life experience.

And yet, I was not there to be a shrink or psychoanalyze anybody. I was there to have fun and meet some great new fantasy fans. And I did...but I couldn't help noticing some things about people. During the course of the day, I started trying to figure out if the next person who walked in the door might be interested in my novel, or if they might not be. I wanted to greet and talk to folks who might be interested, and let other people shop in peace, after all. Whenever I go to a store where people chase you down and ask you a bunch of questions, I get really uncomfortable, and so I was never going to do that.

Rather, I tried to gauge whether or not someone might be a YA or NA fantasy fan, and whether or not they might like to see what my novel was about! As such, I came up with some interesting observations!

Could I use my Psych-training to predict who might like my novel?

The short answer to this was "probably not" LOL! After all, in science we often talk about "anecdotal evidence". That just means, an off-hand observation one might notice. It's a problem if you take it too seriously.

That said, here's what I noticed, tabulated in a percentage format, as judged by a bunch of numbers I made up off the top of my head and in no particular order:

The majority of fiction buyers were women. But what about women interested in fantasy? Well, if they had pink hair, my chance went up by 35%. Nose rings? +15%. Lots of tattoos? +10% per tattoo. Torn up clothing? +22%. Dressed up in "goth"-style aesthetics? +44%!

But that was the younger crowd. School teachers were a big plus, definitely +23%. Grandmothers looking for something fun for their teenage grandkids gave me a +31% buff.

All that said, of course this is pure made up BS. Because against this "evidence", I also signed quite a few copies to women who didn't prefer any of these things! Usually, these women were just reading lovers. So...so much for that prediction lol!

What about the dudes? Well, dudes were easier. Ball cap? -45%. Sunglasses? -15%. Ball cap with sunglasses on top it? -100%. All black clothing was +25% though, but a sports jersey cost me -50%, and that was men and women both! But if the dude had bangs in his eyes, that gave me a +60% bonus. Collared shirts was -30%, and tucked in shirts was -40%. Tucked in, collared shirt, and I had no chance! If the dude was super-jacked, that cost me -25%. Those guys were probably after military history, fitness, or memoirs, I bet! Nothing wrong with that, but probably fantasy wasn't their cup of tea haha.

For guys especially (but not always), any kind of graphics on a t-shirt usually helped, especially if it was anime, Pirates of the Carribbean, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (obviously!), or stuff like that. Definitely +50% for fantasy graphics on the t-shirt!

For everybody regardless of gender, if they had some manga tucked under their arm, I was IN! Manga lovers love fantasy, after all!

I think the reason for a lot of these so-called observations was just that fantasy fans like colorful, imaginative stuff of all kinds, and so many of these folks love to wear it loud and proud! I get it, after all, I have tattoos and I've watched Demonslayer, and I have lots of nerdy t-shirts and all that. As an aside, I DO like military history--so clearly all of this is just me making a bunch of silly anectodal "observations", and all of this is in good fun.

Next up!

Honestly, I can't wait for my next book signing. I'm sure I'll be completely DISPROVEN by the next one, and I really look forward to it. People are such wildly diverse creatures, and I'm right there in the mix. My next signing will be on July 12th, 2025 in Louisville, KY at the Hurstbourne Barnes and Noble, from 12pm to 4pm! I really hope to see you there :)

And just for fun, make sure you wear something outrageous to it! The wilder the better!!

Never stop dreaming,

EG