Handselling Joe

I was standing in line at my local Barnes & Noble when I witnessed an amazing thing: A woman was buying several mysteries, and as the salesguy was ringing her up, he asked: "Have you read J.A. Konrath?"

She said no, she’d never heard of him, and that’s when the salesguy pointed to a stack of Konrath books right there on the counter.

"This writer is amazing," The salesguy said. "I sent him an email and told him so…and look what he did." The sales guy picked up a book and pointed proudly to a blurb on the back.

"That’s me!" the guy said.

"Wow," the woman said. And bought the book.

The saleguy did it with the next customer, too. And sold another one of Joe’s books.

I was stunned. It was hand-selling in action…and positive proof that Joe’s unique approach to promoting himself and his books works. I told the guy that I knew Joe and that I’d let him know about the salesguy’s hard work.

"Great," the saleguy said. "Would you like to buy a copy?"

Now I’m wondering if Joe is also paying a commission…