Captain Jeanne Bell’s Ecotour Boat, the Naiad

I’m wondering how many of you have had an opportunity (or created one) to meet and greet with local readers in your own cities and communities? I confess, I hadn’t given this much thought until recently, and what brought it all to my attention was what happened when I gave my friend, Captain Jeanne Bell, a signed copy of Swamp Ghosts.

Now Captain Jeanne is the reason I wrote Swamp Ghosts. She runs the Naiad, an eco-tour boat on the St. Johns River, along with her husband, wildlife photographer Doug Little. I’ve been on this tour many times, and it was always a relaxing and beautiful way to spend an afternoon. Once, after coming home from an especially interesting trip, filled with sightings of birds, manatees, alligators, and all-around scenic beauty, I got the idea that an eco-tour boat operator would make a great heroine for a romantic suspense novel, and Swamp Ghosts was born. When Jeanne read the finished book, she loved it, and I got a message from her that she had been promoting the book to various local visitor centers and small attractions. Lo and behold, three of them immediately wanted to carry my book in their gift shops, and two have already asked me to do presentations for them. (Jeanne and Doug have a few more places in mind, too, so who knows what might happen?) They have also mentioned the possibility of doing a Meet The Author event aboard the Naiad. How much fun would that be?

I don’t know about you guys, but this seems to me to be a very good thing. The first place I’ll be visiting is a nature preserve adjacent to the DeBary Library, and I can give my talk and have a book signing, plus they are likely to stock my book. The second is at an historic home near Lake Monroe, where they have a fantastic guided tour, a gift shop, and a fun theater (complete with revolving seats) that gives an overview of the history of the home and the paddlewheel boats that plied the river in the 1800’s. I’ve also been invited to take part in an Author Symposium & Book Signing  in St. Cloud in January. Not sure exactly how big this will be, but I’m excited to attend my first one of this type.

Many of you have probably done tons of bigger signings at prestigious book stores and so forth, but I’m wondering if any of you have also tried working the local shops, libraries, and the like. Since Swamp Ghosts is set in a small, fictional town that I squeezed in between two real central Florida towns, and since it features many scenes on the St. Johns River, there are a lot of things local readers will recognize in the book (which is going to be a series), so I’m thinking building a local readership could really be a good thing.

I plan to post here about each event, as they take place, and let you know how it went, and what I learned along the way, and I’d love to hear if any of you have tried something of this nature, and if so, how it has worked for you?

Purple Gallinule
One example of the kinds of birds seen while cruising on the Naiad.