Just have to share this story about my father...
He's one of those guys who isn't given to compliments. Or praise. When I was in high school, I was thrilled to bring home a report card with 4 As and 1 B+. What did Dad say after looking at it? Yup: Why didn't you get 5 As?
As you can imagine, I sure wasn't holding my breath waiting for compliments after he read my mystery, Second Time Around. In fact, I figured the only way he'd read it was to give him a free copy--which I did, after securing the promise that he'd pass out 25 marketing postcards in return.
Not only did he tell me he enjoyed the book (his exact words were: It's good. I was pleasantly surprised.), he went nuts passing out those marketing post cards. He brought some with him to the casino where he meets his buddies once a week and passed them out to strangers, wait staff, and lots of other people. But only those who were really interested, he shared with me later. He didn't want to "waste" them on people who weren't serious readers.
My sister shared these two stories about Dad and his super marketing efforts: (1) One of the strangers at the casino went up to him and thanked him for referring "that mystery." The man claimed he bought it, read it, and liked it. He asked my dad for other recommendations--so now Dad has the reputation for personally knowing terrific writers. (2) He actually passed the postcards out at a wake! True, it was to long-time friends of my late mother, whom he hadn't seen in a while (probably not since the last wake of a mutual friend). And it was as everyone was leaving the funeral home. But still...
My Dad has had his moments. The older he gets, the nicer they are.
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