Okay, stop laughing. I know I have more than one bad habit. Right now I want to talk about the one.

I have this habit of warning people they might not like my book.

Which is stupid, I know. I should talk UP the book, and if they happen on something they don’t like, they can decide that for themselves. Still, it’s an incredibly hard habit to break. I only did it once yesterday at the signing[1], but that was enough to catch myself and shut my mouth for the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately, I also did with Jim Butcher at his signing.

I know where this comes from. I hate the idea of doing something that might make someone else uncomfortable or unhappy, and if I think my book might do that[2], my first instinct is to warn them off. It’s a habit I have to break, though.

[1] BTW, signing results: B&N set up 10 copies of Child of Fire and after three hours they were all sold. However, most of them sold to the other authors who were there or to people they knew. I only managed to sell two or three copies to random customers[3]. The bookstore staff, though, were wonderful. Some pix of the event: One. Two. I’m the bald guy.

[2] Attn potential Game of Cages readers! You might be put off by the plot if you are a [deleted] or [deleted] [deleted].

[3] It’s amazing how little time it takes to realize that J. Random Customer is never going to buy a book, no matter how much of your attention he demands.