A Destructive Mindset (9/26/14)
I almost find it depressing that I would have to travel 2,000 miles for my first book signing, and I would need a valid passport just to get there on top of it.
Up until this point I had put off contacting bookstores because of the experience I had with the five I had previously dealt with. I really don’t have a problem with rejection, I have experienced more than my fair share in life. What I can’t take is the inconsideration and what appears to be complete professional apathy.
I contacted a handful of bookstores ranging from indie stores to mega chains with similar results. I contact the store, find the person I needed to talk to, leave a message, and then follow up. In one instance it was three phone calls and two emails. For all five bookstores it was the exact same result, me sitting in front of the computer with my phone in hand waiting for a return call that never came and crickets chirping in the background.
Professional apathy is the mentality of just doing the bare minimum. It’s an attitude of just walking through the motions looking busy without ever being productive. Is that what happened when I contacted these specific bookstores? Possibly, but it also could have been a business decision. The person in charge could have very well said, “Author signings by nobodies like you aren’t very successful for us; so we aren’t interested.” Personally, I don’t see how holding an author signing negatively impacts a bookstore. I can’t rationalize how the decision to decline having an author do a book signing makes sense, but if it’s a business decision I respect it. However, if it was a business decision then someone should have had the common courtesy to say no thanks we aren’t interested, and there’s my gripe.
No one could even bother to say we aren’t interested. No one could take five minutes out of their day to compose a ten word email or leave a quick voice mail to say no thanks.
This is a much bigger issue than an author trying to set up a book signing at a bookstore. Professional apathy and a basic lack of common courtesy have infested our day to day lives. It happens when you pick up your to-go order at a restaurant, and you’re served up a helping of “yeah whatever” when you try to get a problem fixed. It happens when the kids leave a sink full of dirty dishes, a trail of muddy shoe prints, and an I’ll get to it later because I’m watching TV attitude in their wake.
It’s a problem because this attitude has gradually eroded some basic core values that are essential to be successful. Is it really a question of inequality in society, or is it possible that a mindset of mediocrity in the masses has let a minority of the population stand heads and shoulders above the rest? I think it’s the latter, and I think we need to invest the time and energy to eliminate this destructive mindset.
