Etiquette Tip 3 for Newly Published First Time Authors

Tip Three

When you see a random stranger reading your book - in a library/mall/church/prison/bus - dont accost them, introduce yourself, offer to sign their copy and gush your love for their impeccable taste in literature. Don't invite yourself to sit with them so you can give them the page by page account of how you wrote the book, the universe-imploding reasons why you placed that semi-colon just so on pg 13 or why your heroine was drinking Cherry Coke instead of Diet in that chmistry laden restaurant scene. Don't share with them the agonizing journey you undertook to get that book published. The agents you badgered, the times you considered setting your manuscript on fire, the query letters you sweat blood to compose, the curses you screamed every time you got a rejection email ( followed by the weeping and gnashing of teeth.Oh, and the salubrious amounts of Doritos and ice cream you consumed to suffocate your sorrows with.)
No. When you see a random stranger reading your book, just walk on by. Because once they get to know you ( and your personality) they just might change their minds about wanting to buy your next book.