The Little Red Fergie Launched… Right Out of the Ballpark

Last weekend was the official release of the children’s book, “The Little Red Fergie” by author Gary R. Motte. As the illustrator (and publisher), I’ve been tracking pre-sales and was able to attend and help facilitate Fergie’s book launch party. And let me tell you, I was outrageously impressed. Today, I wanted to share with you some insights that I took away from this whole experience, watching this children’s book flourish even before its release. 

The author has built himself an incredibly supportive and enthusiastic community. As authors, that’s really what we need. Writing is often a very solitary experience, so having a community - especially to celebrate the momentous accomplishment of releasing your books - is so crucial. Motte has spent years building his community, and when he finally published his first book, the community rallied.

I had to drive from Sandy, UT to Price, UT after finishing my own book signing event earlier that afternoon. For those of you who are not in Utah, this is about a two hour drive. Because of this long drive, I ended up getting to Fergie’s event right at 5:00, when the event was supposed to begin. I was blown away by the amount of people who were already there, ready and waiting to purchase their own copies (yes, I did say copies) of this book. Before I could even get the books on the table or plug in my card reader into my phone, I had people swarming the table asking for books. 

And we completely sold out of books in the first hour and a half. After we sold out, we still had people stopping at the table to order books. 

I have never seen this happen before - especially not for a debut book. The general number of sales that an author can safely expect to make at any given event is five books. While I’ve been fortunate to consistently sell between eight and thirty books at my book signing events, I have never heard of a first time author completely selling out of their stock. On release day (just at this event, not including any pre-sales or sales made after release), we sold 70 books!

This author has been daring and driven, and he’s gone the extra mile to ask local businesses if they would allow him to advertise his book with them. He was met with an astonishing amount of yesses, reminding me that it’s so important to reach out. The very worst thing that can happen is they say no, and then you’ve lost nothing, but you’ve still made the effort to put yourself and your work out there. 

Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for today. I am so proud of this author for his hard work and bravery in putting himself out there. It’s really paying off, and he’s off to an amazing start. 

If you would like to purchase this book for yourself, you can do so by clicking any of the following buttons, or finding it elsewhere online. NOTE: As illustrator and publisher, I will receive some compensation for book sales. 

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