Newsletter – November 13, 2026
PHOTO CREDIT: Debra Margerum
I enjoyed my first book signing for Verses Versus Curses which took place at Fresh Thyme Market. Their employees are so friendly and welcoming that I always feel awash with goodwill when I shop there. They’re equally welcoming to a local author with a children’s book to sell.
Fresh Thyme has such a good handle on how to make visitors feel at home that even the people who only came to see me probably walked away with the desire to come back soon. That’s a valuable quality that no amount of advertising can buy.
That’s the first thing I thought of when I gave this newsletter the title “What Your Audience Teaches You.”
When I say audience, I’m delving into my theatre experience where time and again the play is fully understood once you hear audience reactions. The atmosphere of the venue is definitely a part of that experience, but there are many individual moments at a book signing that are also informative.
For example, one man in his 40’s peered at the book poster and asked, “Bible verses?”
“No,” I answered cheerfully, “they’re—”
He put up his hand with a stop-right-there gesture and walked away.
I was surprised by his abruptness and a woman who was flipping through the pages of the book must have seen my reaction because she quietly told me that she had thought the same thing at first glance.
Lesson learned: some people only associate the word “verses” with the Bible. As a student of Shakespeare my idea of verses covers more ground, but now I know and I’ll be ready for a similar reaction at future signings.
When I told my wife that story, she said, “To be fair, there’s nothing on that book cover that suggests the Bible.” She’s right, there’s even a witch flying past the moon!
Another lesson I learned was when a 9-year-old, who looked like she might be ten or eleven, picked up the book and read almost every poem in the book while standing there. She was very engaged. When people have asked me the target age range of the book I’ve often said “late elementary school” or “six to eleven.” She slotted right into that range and it helped me see I had made the right call.
Several parents and grandparents were who were buying the book told me that their 5-year-old was a good reader and they would just love this book. Others were looking forward to reading it with the kids. I love that image!
Another lesson: I brought leftover Halloween candy for anyone who wanted some, but one father summed up the situation with, “We have plenty to Halloween candy at home, boys.” Many parents had similar things to say. By the time I get rid of that pile of treats it’ll be the Christmas season.
I’m subbing at the Jr/Sr High School soon. Maybe I’ll offer up the treats there.
Another lesson I learned is to keep writing. I was told years ago to write a series because the new books generate sales of the previous ones. And even though the children’s poetry wasn’t connected to The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles about a third of my sales were of MAMLA.
I told one woman that I was about half way done with the sequel called The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago, and she bought a copy of MAMLA for her son. As she walked away I heard her say, “I think you’ll enjoy this. Especially if there’s going to be a sequel.”
Just the nudge I needed!
The last lesson I learned is how difficult it is to explain the rhymes and idioms of English to someone who didn’t grow up with it. An Asian woman going through the book as her very Americanized daughter started coloring. That girl was very vocal and clearly understood every piece of wordplay completely. Her mother, though, was trying to wrap her head around some parts of the book.
She looked at the poem called “The Poet’s Dilemma” which opines that nothing rhymes with orange. She asked me if that was really true. I told her it was and she asked about the word “strange.” It looks like it should rhyme with orange but it really doesn’t. How do you explain that? I tried my best but she looked pretty skeptical about my answer.
Part of the joy of English is that it’s a mash-up of so many other languages and we have a wide range of possible ways to describe things. Part of the challenge is for the same reason. I have a poem about that, too, it’s called “Tough, Through, and Dough Don’t Rhyme.”
TTFN
* * * * *
Stephan Pastis, cartoonist of “Pearls Before Swine” is going to be doing book signings around the country soon and he made me laugh when one of his characters asked him about it.
* * * * *
My book of children’s poetry, Verses Versus Curses, is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/verses-versus-curses
My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles
