SIBA

If you don't know what that means, you're not alone. It stands for Southern Independent Booksellers Association and I'm going to Greenville on Saturday for their big conference. Apparently I'm set to participate in a sort of speed dating situation where authors sit at tables and every two minutes a new bookstore owner sits down in front of you and you've got 120 seconds to describe your book. These are the people who aren't Borders or Barnes and Nobles...the smaller bookstores who, if they like you, might hand sell you book or recommend you to a book club or even invite you in for a signing.

So it matters and it's a little fraught.

I'm excited about it. Slightly nervous, true, but mostly excited. My publishers think I'm a raving extrovert and in comparison to most writers, this is probably true enough. But my extroversion comes at a cost...in other words, I'll be exhausted at the end of it, drained in that sort of soul-level way that only reading or talking about your work can cause.

This is sort of the equivalent of an early political primary for me....a chance to work a few of the kinks out of my pitch, a chance for me to see how well I hold up in this sort of sales environment, a chance to see how people respond to the concept of the book. Keep all fingers and toes crossed, please. I'll post Monday and let you know how it went!