I'm a flailing mess when it comes to marketing. One day, I'm sending emails to outlets while worrying that I'm not doing enough on the social networking front (something I'm decidedly not built for, but that I lamely try, anyway). The next day, I'm looking for reviewers while stressing about the press releases I'm not writing or the brilliant publicity ideas I'm not having (and have never had to this day). For at least two weeks, I'd had a short stack of sell sheets and a small The Age of the Child stack sitting on the dining room table. The plan: visit every independent bookstore (within reason) in New England and do my best to sell them on at least reading/considering my book. (Which, if you're a bookstore owner reading this, is returnable. That's a plus point, right?) 
I did this many years ago with Pretty Much True (Homefront at the time). I only tried one store, the now-closed Davis-Kidd Bookstore near Nashville, Tenn. The buyer accepted a copy to read, and I waited. A few weeks later, I received a letter - on paper, in an envelope - saying they'd like to carry it. I'd made it into a bookstore! All by myself! I cannot describe the feeling. (I also can't remember it. It was a really long time ago. I'm sure it was great.) I don't know why I didn't visit more bookstores after that. I might have already spent too much time marketing and was feeling wiped out and DONE. I distinctly remember being sick of my own name, sick of saying and writing the title, and sick of talking about why I thought the story was so important to share. But that was years ago. I'm more then re-energized. Why, I'm months and months from wanting to duct-tape my mouth over The Age of the Child, so right now is the perfect time to approach stores and talk about why I think the story is so important to share. Which is why the sell sheets and books were sitting on the dining room table, both of which went ignored (procrastination + fear) until one day last week when I saw them sitting there and told myself, "Just GO." I got online and found the first store I would drive to. It was close, it had wonderful online reviews, and I'd never been there, all of which was appealing. I packed the book, a sell sheet, and, for some reason, a business card, and got in the car. [Note: the following store is not the first store I've approached about The Age of the Child. That store, who has AOC under consideration, is located in Long Island, NY. Because it's so far away, I haven't physically visited, yet.]
STORE VISIT 1--TRUE BOOKS. 3155 Main Street. Hartford, CT.
Inside the "Yes, we're open" door, a vestibule offers two possibilities: a door to the left, and a door to the right. The door to the left made more sense, so I went that way. But I didn't immediately see any books when I stepped inside and I was nervous and had no idea what to say to the person I was supposed to talk to once I found them and I looked stupid so I left. I tried the other door, but that wasn't it, either. "I'm looking for Tru Books?" I said to the woman behind the counter. She pointed. I went back to the other door and opened it, stepped inside. The books hadn't been immediately visible because the main space is used to sell natural juices, black soaps, and exotic incense. (Which was why I'd thought I was in the wrong store. The signs clearly stating that these things were sold in the same store had apparently not done the job for me.) The books were off to the left in their own cozy, sun-filled nook. 
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