She recounted her sadness because no one went to the presentation of her book and she is moved by those who consoled her

When first-time writer Chelsea Banning tweeted that no one showed up for her book signing, she didn’t expect it the most famous authors in the worldincluding Stephen King, Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaimangive him encouragement.

Famous writers responded with stories of their nightmares. To prove that this can happen to anyone. And if they say so.

“In my first signing of The Salem lotI had a client. A fat boy who said, “Hey man, Do you know where there are some Nazi books?‘” wrote King.

“Terry Pratchett and I did a Manhattan signing for Good Omens that nobody showed up. So you are two above us”, Gaiman wrote for his part.

“Join the club,” wrote Atwood. “I made a signing that no one came to, except a guy who I wanted to buy some duct tape and thought I was the help,” added the Harry Potter author.

Banning had arrived at Pretty Good Books in Ashtabula, Ohio over the weekend for the launch event for her first novel, Of Crowns and Legends. She expected most of the 37 RSVPs to turn up, but only two people showed up. Both were friends with him.

“Kind of annoying, honestly”, she later tweeted, “and a little embarrassed”.

Talking with Keeper Banning said: “Honestly, I was pretty depressed. I was pleased to see the two do it, as they are my friends, and we enjoyed chatting for a while, but it was daunting after a while and realizing that no one else was coming.”

But within hours of posting his tweet, best-selling authors they lined up to share similar stories.

“I’ve sat alone at the autograph table many times just to get someone to come…e I asked where is the toilet“, he wrote Jodi Picult.

“Once I sat in front of the bookstore in the mall for an autograph,” wrote the author of crime novels linwood barclay. “nobody stoppeduntil the end, when an old man stopped, looked at me, looked at the books, looked at me, came up and asked: ‘Do they sell flags here?’”.

“I read a book where only my husband’s cousin appeared. A person. I will never forget that reading,” wrote the author of Pachinko min jin lee.

“Ooh boy, too many to share. The one where the library staff kindly they pretended to be customers so as not to feel so badthat stays with me,” wrote the author of One Day, David Nicholls.

“I must also add: do not be discouraged, It’s kind of a rite of passage it happens to everyone, and congrats on the book!” added Nicholls.

Perhaps the funniest anecdote was that of Jonathan Coe: “Once I was invited to a mystery writers’ festival. Colin Dexter was at the same time. Only one person showed up for me. We chatted for a while and I told him how happy I was that he came. He said, ‘Actually, I’m Ian Rankin and I should have introduced you.’”

And the messages of encouragement just kept piling up: “This is the beginning,” the actor wrote Henry Winkler. “Then word gets out and they’re coming!” “ME,” wrote the rapper Flav flavor. “Here to promote your next company!”

The warm and energetic reaction moved Banning to tears and lifted his spirits. “i feel euphoric!”. “And excited and definitely calm. I’m not even mad because no one came, I’ve heard from a lot of them and they or their families ended up getting sick.”

And besides, the whole thing helped him sell books. Since then, he has received nearly 500 orders for digital copies of his bookand climbed the Amazon charts.

Source: The Guardian