Wednesday, September 15, 2010

In Which I Receive 1,500 Copies of My Book! (Pictures)

Since my last post, I've been a busy beaver.I mounted my $150 canopy on my $1,500 pickup and drove to Spokane, WA to pickup 1,500 long overdue books. (Due to an overrun, I actually picked up 1,594, but saying that would ruin the number scheme.) (That's my dad making a cameo appearance in the picture above, helping me mount the canopy.)I signed books, crisscrossed the county delivering books, packaged books, shipped books, and dreamed of books. If you entered in the HUGE ONLINE PARTY and/or ordered a book from me, expect to receive a package in the mail very soon. And if you don't, let me know.

This morning I walked into the post office to ship out 149 packages.

"Hi! I have roughly 149 packages to ship!"
"...Come again?"

And each and every one had to go through the system. All told it took about an hour. And when it was done, I received what the ladies told me was the longest receipt they'd ever had.

That's right.
I own the record for longest receipt at the post office in my county. I'd like to thank everyone who ordered and the post office ladies for making this dream possible. I couldn't have done it without you. There is no 'i' in 'team.' But there are sure a lot of 'i's on that receipt.

The Nez Perce County Fair starts a week from tomorrow. I am excited about this because it's a much larger fair than my first one. I sent out press releases to all media in the area, and a reporter from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News replied that they'd do a story if I toured nearby Moscow, Idaho. I immediately called the Hastings at the Palouse Mall in Moscow.

And lo and behold, despite the fact that booking anything up to this point has been a real chore involving multiple phone calls, (seriously, the other night I was overjoyed to receive a real-life returned call. Then I woke up) they were happy to book a signing with me literally FOUR DAYS from the date I called.

FOUR DAYS!

My previous bookings have been 1.5 months+ in advance. So I am really excited to sign books this Saturday at the Moscow Hastings, my first official book signing, the day after the story mentioning the event is supposed to release to a metro area of 50,000+.

From there I will continue south to the Nez Perce County Fair. No word yet on if any media will pick up the story there. But stay tuned.

In my next post I want to show you a picture of the seven foot tall banner I ordered, and the hilarious (read: embarrassing) story behind it. Or maybe I'll just take a picture of my setup at the Hastings signing, and you can see it then.

Books Sold to Date? Ummm... 300... or so. (Not counting online or physical bookstore sales.)
Miles Traveled? I really need to be keeping track of this stuff...
Events Total? Does that Post Office record count as an event? Because that was pretty cool.
Jacob's IQ? Hahaha! Wait, what?
Marriage Proposal Success Rate? You know, I think it's time to wrap this post up. ::Clicks "Publish Post" repeatedly::

22 comments:

Bleah Briann//Lovely said...

haha thats awesome. :) REALLY excited about your book.

With Love and Blessings,
Bleah Briann

Melissa Rose said...

Wow that is a long receipt! I really hope you didn't have to hand-write 149 addresses. I imagine that would make giving out autographs afterward a little less enjoyable.

Have fun at the signings!

Jacob R Parker said...

Thanks Bleah!

Melissa, actually, my mom wrote most of the addresses while I was delivering. You'll be able to tell if she did it or if I did by the handwriting... There will be no doubt.

Prescott said...

AWESOME!!! I can't wait! Thanks a lot for going through all this trouble to get us your book! I am sure it will be worth the wait!!

Katie said...

Oh yay! I can't wait to get my copy! And congrats on your newest title! Very big acomplishment, I'm sure! :P

God bless!

~Katie G.

Galadriel said...

Where on earth did that last item come from?

Unknown said...

Haha, wow that's really exciting. Congratulations on your new record: longest receipt at the post office!

I'm really looking forward to reading your book - it sounds awesome!

Jake said...

THAT IS HILARIOUS! I literally laughed aloud when I read that last paragraph. :D I'm planning to scrunch up cash to buy KMS soon--hang in there. :)

Star-Dreamer said...

I SOOOO want this book!!!!! Money, why can't you be more kind to me?! Why?!

Jacob, this is all so awesome for you! Congrats!

Unknown said...

Haha... "Marriage Proposal Success Rate?" I'm taking that the proposal didn't go very well. Sorry man, she was a nice gal too. Big JK. But yeah, huge receipt lol.

R.P.H said...

Lol... you have the best humor Jacob!
That's is awesome that your fam is helping you. Wow...that is one crazy long receipt! I can not wait to receive my package :-)

God's care,
~Ryan

Jacob R Parker said...

Thanks for the comments, everyone. And I was pretty close in my estimate. I've sold 325 copies so far.

Rachel Kimberly said...

Wow! That's one monster of a receipt. Lol!

Yay! Books! It's almost as good as Christmas! I just remembered... I still haven't ordered the book... *goes to order book*

Brock Eastman said...

Very exciting! I'm going to share this post with my friends and fans.

Star-Dreamer said...

I feel so sheepish now... I had to send off a marketing strategy the other day, and I think I made my goal WAY too high for possible pre-orders... *blushes* Ah well... live and learn.

I WANT THIS BOOK!!! :D :D :D

Anonymous said...

*laughing!* lol when you told me that is was a long receipt I didn't think it was that LONG! I can't believe they didn't run out of paper in the printer!

Goldarrow
http://heedtheprophecies.com/theunderground/

Anonymous said...

Sir Dwarf,

Should I be concerned that I haven't yet received KMS? All around me bloggers are posting reviews and singing its praises, but I have yet to see hide nor spine of the illustrious novel. Perhaps shipping takes longer than I thought, but just in case my order was somehow misplaced, I thought I would check it with you....

Thanks,
-whisper

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Leighton Hajicek said...

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Spam comment up there. :P Nice post, Jacob.

"Jacob's IQ? Hahaha! Wait, what?"

ROFL

whisper said...

Never mind; I now (huzzah!!!) have KMS! Just got it a few minutes ago; found myself grinning broadly while perusing it and I was gaping in delight when I saw the bookmarks. :) Can't wait to read it!

-whisper

Jacob R Parker said...

Star-Dreamer, I overestimate EVERYTHING! I took 700 books down to the Nez Perce County Fair, and sold 131. :P

Glad to hear you got the book, whisper!

Goldarrow, running out of paper mid-receipt was definitely a concern of theirs.

"And this is where we hope the receipt doesn't run out of paper."

::Long silence as all eyes in the building watch the machine churn out an endless receipt::

Melisondre said...

I loved the book! And 131 is pretty good for Nez Perce County. There really aren't a lot of people who read for fun there. Trust me on this.