An Audience of One

Last Friday I appeared at the beautiful Barnes & Noble bookstore in Santa Monica, California for a People Tools book signing.  The sidewalk was slippery, so I held on to Daveen who was carrying an extra box of books, just in case the bookstore ran out of copies.

Frank, the event manager, walked us upstairs to the auditorium which was filled with chairs.  My assistant, Lauren, and her fiancé were seated to the right.  My dad, who will be 100 years old in July, took a chair halfway back.  Two friends were seated on the left.

Front row center sat a friendly woman, Saudy.  I smiled at her, and said “hello.”  We had a brief chat, as I thought, “Only one member of the public here?  If she leaves I’ll really be preaching to the converted.”

“I’ll make another announcement in the store,” said Frank, hurrying off.  Later he told me that in his former B&N location in Manhattan Beach rain would drive patrons into the store.  “As soon as I arrived at the Santa Monica store, however,” he said, “I was told that rain here kills business.  And today is the first big rain of the season.” The rain might have been great for the California drought, but it was not helping to draw a large audience into the store for a book signing.

I was reminded of my story-telling days years ago.  Sometimes the audience was 30 or more people, but sometimes it was only three or four.  Back then I took it personally when the audience was small, although with time I learned that there were advantages — notably greater rapport and intimacy.

After waiting fifteen minutes, with no more chairs taken except by four additional friends willing to defy the downpour, I began.  Instead of standing behind the podium, I pulled over a chair and sat five feet in front of Saudy. Daveen was sitting next to her, perhaps to support the only member of the public who had braved the rain to hear me.

I’ve been building my commercial real estate company for more than 40 years and now I’m at the top of the heap.  With my first book published five weeks ago, I’m starting at the bottom.  I’ll accept radio interviews at 5:00 am, and book signings at small or large bookstores.  A friend of mine who has been successfully selling a children’s book for eighteen years told me this evening, as we watched the Academy Awards together, “Today you’ve got to sell books one at a time.”

An audience of one.  Isn’t that always the most important audience you can have?  Daveen was my audience of one at lunch more than thirty five years ago.  Less than a week ago at a well attended book signing event in Denver, an older man asked me to sign his copy of People Tools.  He said, “I think I’m going to have a very bad diagnosis soon.  I hope your book will help.”  We talked for a minute or two and I told him that my mother survived a “you have three months to live” cancer diagnosis for ten years by using positive visualization.  The man before me was an audience of one. Earlier today I received an e-mail from another man who wrote, “Your 80% solution has saved my marriage.” He is also an audience of one.

You are important, very important, my audience of one.  And I am your audience of one as well.

Alan

P.S.  At the end of the reading Saudy asked my son Craig to take her photo with me.  A few minutes later she she posted it on Facebook along with the suggestion, “You must read this book.”  And Frank said he will keep all of the extra copies of People Tools in his store until they sell.  So the audience turned out to be far more than just one.

Book signings coming up are listed below.  Hopefully, there will be no rain.  I will also be at the L.A. Festival of Books at the U.S.C. campus on April 12 and 13. Come by booth #101 for a complimentary People Tools bag.

March 14, 2014 7:00PM
Vroman’s- Pasadena, CA

March 22, 2014 1:00PM
Bank of Books- Ventura, CA

March 29, 2014 1:00PM
Barnes & Noble- Orange, CA