In my paper yesterday there was piece about three British women who have rowed 2,800 nautical miles from California to Hawaii. It took 38 days, 1 hour and 34 minutes, thus knocking 25 hours off a previous record set by men. The journey was perilous. Waves hit their boat at 90 degrees to their direction of travel, and they capsized three times. They suffered from sleep deprivation and blistered hands.
At the end of the piece it says, ‘The women have so far raised £6,000 for Cancer Research UK.’
Contrast this with my latest venture. I walked 100 yards and set up a stall in the main shopping street in Windsor. The table, decorated with a blue cloth and various CRUK banners, was provided by, Joanne, my Cancer Research UK support manager, who’d volunteer to come and get me started. Stacks of my short story paperbacks, my booklet of verses and a collecting tin and we were ready to be, well, mobbed.
We sat down, me feeling self-conscious, and waited to see what would happen.
The answer was nothing. Most people hurried by, averting their gaze.
I don’t much like being ignored so, after a while, I decided I needed to be more proactive and started to approach people, showing them a book, asking if they enjoyed reading short stories and explaining that I was selling them to raise money for Cancer Research. Slowly this attracted some buyers. I offered to sign books (feeling like a real author!). People paid, either by putting money in the CRUK collecting tin, or by tapping on the card reader I’d been provided with.
Joanne and I kept this up for a couple of hours, until the sun threatened to invade our shady corner.
People who declined to stop and look at the books, either said nothing or simply, ‘No thanks.’ Sometimes people gave a reason (my perception was that they were not reasons, but excuses!) for not pausing to at least look at the books. Examples were:
‘I already donate to Cancer Research.’ (my reply, ‘Thanks so much, then you deserve a book.’)
‘I don’t live here.’ (‘The books aren’t heavy, they’ll travel.’)
‘I haven’t any room for more books.’ (‘Simple, buy one of these and ditch some others.’)
‘I’m too busy just now.’ (‘It won’t take you a moment to buy one of my books.’)
‘I’ll be back soon and I’ll buy a book then.’ (‘Great, see you then.’) They never reappeared, of course, no doubt taking an inconveniently circuitous route to avoid us.
‘I’ve got two books on the go already.’ (‘Well, mine can wait patiently in an orderly queue.’)
I had no idea how many books we’d sell (if any!) so I find it hard to judge whether we did well or badly. We sold 19 books in two hours with approximately £200 raised for a good cause.
I’m encouraged. I shall definitely give it another go.
PS The total raised so far from book sales and donations is £2,175. Surely not bad for an unknown short story writer, and so much easier than rowing 2,800 nautical miles!
PPS If you want to place and order for my short story books, and/or the verses booklet, please send me an email: peterhoney1@btinternet.com. If you would like to donate to my Cancer Research giving page here’s the link: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/peters-giving-page-1080
