Every Monday I venture to Park Slope, which many believe is the most literate neighborhood in Brooklyn. I dub it Hipsterville. I see a lot of tattoos and piercings and, lately, a lot of pregnancies. I usually set up the floating book shop on 9th Street just below 7th Avenue. I didn't dare go there today, as there isn't a speck of shade and the temperature was expected to exceed 90. My plan was to stand under a tree somewhere along 7th. The hardest part of working that area is finding a parking spot, which has become even more difficult due to the repaving of streets ravaged by snowplows during this past winter. I found one on 11th Street just below Prospect Park West. It was a long two blocks to 7th, fortunately down the gradient. Once I got there I found a vacant storefront right on the corner -- in the shade. All I had to worry about was being chased by the police. Strangely, I did not see one cop car in the three hours I was there. Business was slow. A lot of people smiled but very few stopped to check out my wares. A woman bought a non-fiction, the title of which escapes me presently, about an anglo woman who lived in the Middle East and was friends with Lawrence of Arabia. An older gentleman stopped and asked for details about the web presence of my work. I printed my name on a piece of paper he supplied. He looked it over and wrote it in his own hand, telling me his handwriting was once so bad a high school teacher encouraged him to learn to type. Unfortunately, he was on his way to do chores and didn't want to carry anything. A while later a middle aged man approached and questioned me. He bought T. C. Boyle's East Is East but did not want to take it with him, as he too was headed away from home. He handed me a card and said to email him with details, claiming he would buy all five of my books. Well, I just tried to find his web site and the first character of the url is a fancy amalgam I wasn't able to decipher. I googled his name, Bennett Webster, and found it at a site titled dripbook.com, which specializes in creating portfolios for various types of artists. Since the site was under another man's name, I decided not to use the email address. If Mr. Webster is at Facebook, he is under a different name.
Anyway. It looked like a dud day in terms of sales, but I wasn't bummed because I'd promoted my work to two people. I don't know that anyone has followed up with a sale after such a street discussion, but the main goal of the floating book shop is to promote or sell my own books, so at least the trip and the hauling of the crates had been worth it to a degree. It was about five-to-two when Amy, mid 20's, showed, smoking a cigarette. She smiled and turned on to 11th. A minute later she returned and we struck up a conversation. Her boyfriend is a writer who success immediately out of college, selling a screenplay that was never produced -- but he got paid. She worked in the commodities business, out of her home, on call 24/7 to her clients, found it too stressful, and quit. She asked about Exchanges and bought it and Killing. I asked her to take six books as a thank you. When she hesitated I said she be doing me a big favor, as I wanted to lighten the return load. She chose four. To my delight, she took two huge Diana Gabaldon epics, Ian McEwan's Atonement, and Huck Finn. I regret not asking her boyfriend's name. I would have liked to run a search on it. Thank you, Amy, and also to the others.
I hadn't noticed that I'd parked under a tree, so I was delighted when I reached the car and the steering wheel wasn't fiery. A woman in an SUV pulled beside me, asked if I was leaving, and was thrilled to find I was. Sometimes the timing is perfect. I even found a decent spot when I pulled onto East 13th, which sets up the rest of the week.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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