Conversations, coffee and crime

Over the last couple of weeks, I was lucky enough to do some book events in Scotland, where my latest mystery thriller, Seven Bodies, is set.

Here I am, absolutely buzzing whilst chatting to the most wonderful local readers!

I had never done an author event before and the nerves were tremendous: would anyone actually turn up? What if lots of people turned up and declared that a) they had already read my book and b) they hated it? What if I discovered that I was, actually, very boring and ruined everyone's evening?

Happily, none of the above fears came to pass (if I did ruin anybody's evening, I am, so far, unaware but also sorry). What did occur were some wonderful conversations with some even more wonderful readers. We got to share favourite crime books and authors, chat about why Scotland is excellent for (fictional) murders and generally just celebrate the joy of books.

And this is what books are all about, really! They bring people together in conversation and opinion. They provide an friendly icebreakers and easily accessible insights. I truly had the time of my life.

Seven Bodies, a locked-room mystery thriller at the idyllic and cosy Beinn Books, Cullen.

The book events made me think how much of modern authoring is done in cyber-space, behind a screen, tapping away mechanically. Yes, this is important, because social media has such free and wide reach, but it doesn't replace these in-person human connections.

Arguably, vis-a-vis events carry more value than BookTok and Bookstagram. As a result of my Cullen book signing, the Royal Oak Book Club at Cullen chose Seven Bodies as this month's read, resulting in the title selling out! This has never happened over the internet for any of my books.

Richard Osman came under fire from the author community recently for saying that social media is overrated for novelists, and that in-person events were a much more effective means to sell books. The criticism was largely centred around how this is only true of very successful authors and figures like him. However, I feel like my lovely little events actually prove him right.

Anyway, my message is that, if you can, book events and signings are lovely. I do have a practical tip, though::

Practise your author signature BEFORE the event. I didn't do this, and I thought the very first book signing had gone very well until the nice lady looked up at me in silent horror at the indiscriminate squiggle with which I'd just defaced her recent purchase.

Seven Bodies, a mystery locked-room thriller is out now and out in audio next month.