An Unexpectedly Overpriced Book Signing

Last night, I met Erika at Books-A-Million on North Parkway for a book signing. The author was Christy Jordan and she has a lovely web site called Southern Plate. Like The Pioneer Woman, Christy rose to fame with her delicious recipes and now has her very own cookbook. About a year ago, my friend Janet told Erika and me about Southern Plate and we have been readers of her site ever since. Christy is originally from Huntsville and went to elementary school at Lincoln. She now lives in Madison and there was recently an article in The Huntsville Times about her.

I went to the gym after work and then headed over to the Books-A-Million on North Parkway to meet Erika. My class gets out at 6:30 and the signing started at 7:00 so I figured I would have enough time to purchase the books I wanted and get in line. Erika got there a little bit before me and went ahead and secured our spot in line. Thanks, Erika!

I went and grabbed four books to purchase. I had looked online and the price was listed as $14.49. I had planned to get one for myself and three as Christmas presents. So, imagine my surprise when I arrived at the store only to discover the price was not as advertised on the internet, but rather the full price of $27.50. I am a Millionaire’s Club member, and was able to purchase the book for $24.75, which was still a far cry from the $14.49 I was prepared to pay. I was so shocked at the price that instead of purchasing four books, I was only able to purchase three, and did so reluctantly. If it had not been for the book signing, I wouldn’t have paid that price. So, a few words to the wise, if you are planning to purchase this book, purchase it online so that you won’t be duped by your local mega bookstore! (I’m still steaming over this – it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning.)

I got in line with Erika and we caught up on our chatting. We don’t see each other as often now that Erika has a man. You women know how high maintenance taking care of a man can be.

Christy arrived at the store about 10 minutes before 7:00 and was so kind and gracious to everyone. She took the time to have her picture made with folks and she was friendly and talkative to everyone. She was an absolute delight. Her husband was there too and he was kind enough to take some photos with my camera.

She was impressed that I had the names of the people I wanted her to sign the book for on post-it notes. What can I say, folks, I’m organized.

Here I am with the author, Christy Jordan. She even hugged us before we left - she was so nice!

Me, Christy and Erika

Needless to say there weren’t thousands of people there like when I went to Nashville for The Pioneer Woman book signing, but there were still a good amount of people there and I’m sure everyone was appreciative of the few minutes Christy took to speak to them. She was just precious, ya’ll! I’m so glad I took the time to go out and support her and I hope the recipients of these cookbooks will love them as much as I do.

Despite being deceived by Books-A-Million on the price of the book and the fact that the cashier was rude, I still had a good time. I love hanging with Erika; we always find something to laugh about, and it was great to meet Christy as well. If you have a chance check out her web site and if you want, order her book from Amazon – that is unless you usually get a Christmas present from me, then you may want to wait and see if there’s one under the tree!