And Another Thing...
This post is going to be a little rant-centric. So I was supposed to go to the Eoin Colfer talk in Downer's Grove yesterday...was being the key word there. The event was apparently plagued and beleaguered by indecision and lack of interest, none of which I might add had to do with the bookshop. Originally it was to be an epic event at the Tivoli Theater, with a talk and a signing and then a showing of the movie. Well, first the signing was out, only "presigned" books would be available. Then due to lack of interest the movie was out. Then as of Monday it looked like Eoin Colfer wouldn't come at all because the event was now "too small." Finally as of late yesterday the plan was to have a small talk and then people could purchase presigned books. There would be no inscriptions, no interaction with the author, he would be there only 20 to 40 minutes tops. WTF people! I wasn't going to drive 3 hours for that, it was the whole event I was looking forward too, even cracking open Artemis Fowl to get in the mood.
The crux of the problem is this: fans don't like that Eoin Colfer has written another Hitchhiker's book and he apparently doesn't want to convert the masses. This dislike is why the event wasn't selling...but a showing of the movie would never appeal to die-hard fans anyway, seeing as they did not like it, which personally, I don't get. But what I feel more strongly is that with Colfer's waffling, coupled with his not doing a real signing, even before the event was downsized, he doomed it. This shows that he's not taking the time to convince people that he was the man to take over the series. From a few reviews I have read, the consensus is the book is actually half way decent (I don't have a copy yet because I was going to get one yesterday) but he has a lot of prejudice and hesitancy on the part of the fans he has to face. Since he was willing to write the book he has to be willing to fight the fight. Tell me why I should read this. Convince me! Sell it to me! At least be willing to come to a book store for more than I wave at the crowd like a freakin' whistle stop train tour by some President at the turn of the century. Hell why even bother getting off the train then? The bookshop is right next to the tracks to downtown Chicago, just wave from the window and we'll call it a day?
Even if, in the long run, it was all agents and publicists and middlemen that messed this up, one thing will stick with me, it's the author who dictates if there is a signing line or not, and he dictated no. This attitude in an author who is writing his first adult book and has to sell to a whole new audience makes him seem haughty. Maybe this was the only event he dictated this to, but then why is Downer's Grove different than anywhere else? If one person showed up he should be there to sign. In the end I didn't go to the event because I had the feeling that he viewed me as a reader as beneath him. And NO author can afford to cause that kind of sentiment.
I agree - If there's a lack of interest then that means an author needs to start hustling and courting fans not pissing off the ones he already has.
Anonymous said... October 22, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Wow that was all rather insulting to potential fans. I have just bought this book, my other half is currently reading it, a man of few words his response to date is; 'it's okay I guess, no where near as good as the original', he is hard to impress.
Anonymous said... October 27, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Yeah, slap in the face is right! I'm going to withhold judgment till I read it though...perhaps it will surprise me.
Miss Eliza said... October 27, 2009 at 7:47 PM
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