I spent a very pleasant afternoon on Saturday at Borders Books in the Glasgow Fort retail park, just outside of Glasgow city centre.  I had been invited to sign copies of Silly Beggar for customers and to talk to them about the book.

I was very well looked after by the friendly staff and given a good position at the front of the store to catch customers as soon as they walked in.  They had also put up a nice big display of the book, with posters, elsewhere in the store, advertising my appearance.

Several customers had heard of our book thanks to the publicity it received last month in the national papers, the Chris Evans show and one customer commented that she had thorougly enjoyed my Richard and Judy interview! 

All in all, a great event in a great store.  It looked like the staff enjoyed their work and the store really does have a fantastic atmosphere.  I was invited back in the run up to Christmas and I plan on taking them up on the offer. 

On Saturday, the good folks of Waterstone’s in Kirkcaldy invited me to a book signing. They had set up a table at the front of the store and had handed out lots of flyers to promote the event.

The local paper, the Fife Free Press, had also advertised the event with a brief description of the book and played upon the ‘local’ angle by revealing my birthroots in Kirkcaldy!

The day was a lot of fun and I enjoyed speaking to readers, customers and staff throughout the signing.

Thanks to the power of the press coverage, a few browsing customers remembered hearing about (or reading about) the book and even some of the extracts printed in the Daily Mirror and Daily Record.

The signing tour continued on Saturday, 30th of May, with a visit to Waterstone’s in my home town of Dunfermline, Scotland.

This event was a lot of fun as many of my friends and family turned up, including some friends I hadn’t seen in years!  In addition to people I knew, I got the chance to talk to a lot of new faces about the book and my experiences since its release.

Waterstone’s did a great job promoting the event, having set up a table at the very front of the store.  In other words, nobody could browse their extensive range of books without getting past me first!  One staff member had even put their artistic skills to use, having drawn a really snazzy penguin on their promotional whiteboard to bring in passers-by and penguin-watchers!

No penguins were harmed during the event, but a small town in Fife will never be quite the same again.

It really was a fantastic event and I enjoyed catching up with old friends and sharing the book with new ones.

Missed the gig?  The video below captures some of the highlights:

My first ever book signing took place on Saturday, in Borders Books, Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh.

Borders had set up a display at the front of the store with loads of copies of the book. They had blown up one of the letters featured in the book to A3 size because, funnily enough, it was addressed to them!  Yes, some time ago I had written to Borders, Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh requesting freebies!  So it seems appropriate that their store should be the first on my signing tour.

They had promoted the event well with posters advertising my appearance, and throughout the session, they put announcements out that I was in store signing copies of the book.

It was great to meet so many people interested in the book and the concept behind it.  One person in particular amused me - no matter what I said, he simply repeated the words “yes, yes - silly mental crazy”.  I’m not sure why.  It’s possible they were the only English words he knew!

I received a lot of very positive feedback from customers who loved the idea of the book.  Although most requested that the book was signed to them, many asked me to sign it to their friends, describing it as a perfect gift.  Who am I to argue?!  By the end of the session, my table was almost sold out and the staff invited me back to sign again around Christmas time.  I will most definitely be there.