Just had my first author signing a couple of weeks ago for The Kingdom According to Jesus. I shared the CrossBooks booth at the Southern Baptist Convention with other first-time authors and enjoyed their company. Not so much the deafening silence resulting from a lack of customer traffic. In 45 minutes, I witnessed one guy and his son double team to steal a display copy from the booth (hey, at least they chose my book for the five-finger discount), and one kindly gentleman mercifully stopped by to ask for an autograph and directions to the cash register. So I guess the day was a wash: one sale and one write-off for shrinkage. Wish I had video or a photo of the experience to share with you … but maybe this sound bite will give you a sense of what it’s like to lead the charmed life of a published author.