Benefit No. 2 of Giving Away a Book You've Written

This past fall, I participated in three author fairs and WriteOn Joliet's anthology release party.

At each, I set out a vampire mug to hold raffle tickets. I gave away baskets of BryonySeries products and a number of copies of the 2012 holiday edition of Visage, the second book in the series.

I finished calling the last of the winners on Sunday afternoon, and all had one trait in common.

They were surprised and thrilled to have won.

Now, yes, I know authors give books away as a form of marketing, but the response from the giveaways this fall went beyond that. Let me also add I gave away my proof copies of Cornell Dyer and the Missing Tombstone (while supplies lasted) to any child who wandered past my table, and the reactions from those children were the same.

Joy.

Joy at being chosen; joy at unexpectedly receiving something unbidden. And joy on my part for having prompted it.

It's out of my control whether anyone will read those words (words that took many happy, laborious hours stringing together), and it's out of my control whether anyone will enjoy, much less savor, those words

But the way the children's faces lit up when I said, "Would you like a book?" Or the excitement in people's voices when I said, "You've won a book (or raffle basket)."

Priceless, priceless.