The following post is excerpted from a post by R. Michael Johnson at his blog:
Another example is an author I know who lives in Florida. He went in to his local mall’s Borders bookstore every day for a month trying to convince them to allow him to hold an event there. (I wouldn’t recommend nagging a manager that much, by the way.) After rejection upon rejection upon rejection, the author finally decided to take the matter into his own hands.
He contacted the mall itself and rented a small kiosk for a day (you know the kind—you can buy two pairs of sunglasses for $10 or very cheap-looking jewelry from these wheeled carts). Upon securing the kiosk—for about a hundred bucks—the author set up (you guessed it) directly across from the Borders store in the mall. Aside from the obvious joy it must have done his heart, this author also proved a very big point and struck a giant blow for the viability of all self-published books.
Upon seeing a crowd gather outside his store, the store manager asked the author what he was doing. “Holding a book signing,” came the response. To which the manager turned and walked back into his store.
After the second hour of a steady stream of people walking past his store to get to the kiosk, the manager invited the author inside for his book signing. He has since held a number of additional signings at the store—all with great success.
Once again, a little patience, perseverance, and some thinking outside the box led to great success.
