Wanda B. Is Comin' to Town. . .

It's sales conference time at Barbour when the road reps come in for training on the new list of books. It is the editorial team's job to make the presentation of product interesting to the sales staff. This time -- with just over a week's notice -- our CEO challenged us to do our presentation in video format. So we chose to do a news report from various locations (mainly in our office building). We also threw in a few "commercial" breaks. It was a challenge, but it ended up being rather fun and was very well received by the sales staff. Much better than us just standing in front of them reading highlights about a book. Wish you could have seen it.

It is rather a long shot, but if I can figure out how, perhaps I can get a clip posted here for you to view.

Along with this sales event we are sometimes able to have authors come in and talk to the staff. This time we were blessed to have Wanda Brunstetter come and visit with us. She is also doing some booksignings around our Ohio Amish community while she is here.

Sales conference makes for busy days away from my desk, but it is also a rewarding change of pace. I do enjoy hearing feedback direct from those who go into the stores. It helps us editors know how to meet the needs of the stores and the end customers. So when we tell our authors that stores and customers want X, you know that it doesn't come out of thin air guesses but real feedback.

Here's hoping that your days are going well and that you are getting a lot of writing done so you can take a long deserved break over Christmas.

Becky (aka Becky Booker, reporter for BNN's "Story Shorts")