There is always some nerves involved in a new endeavor. Even the most consummate professional has that feeling when going into a new situation.
Such was the case when I appeared for the Walk with Warriors book launch, held in downtown Oklahoma City at Rose State College’s Innovation Station.
It’s a very neat spot, with MakerBot supplies and equipment, lots of Lego’s, and a massive electronics charging bay that surpasses any of the charging stations you see at the airport.
I’m not sure what goes on there day to day, but what I do know is that it was an incredibly vibrant spot for a book launch. We made a success of it, with 12 of the 22 authors making appearances.
Oklahoma City is a college football town, in particular, the epicenter for Sooners fans. This town lights up on fall Saturdays, and though we were a week away from the official start of fall, it was week two of the season, and the Sooners were on the road in Ohio.
Here’s what many people don’t understand about college football towns that don’t have a professional football following; college football is life. People, even when the team is on the road, tailgate at the home venue, they bring out large televisions to watch the game in the parking lot, they barbecue (more on that another time), and they eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, until the game, which was a night game, is over.
The Sooners play in a town a few miles south of downtown Oklahoma City named Norman. And so, that wreaked a little havoc on our launch. The crowds that might typically form on a Saturday downtown didn’t materialize. But like the true soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen that we are, we handled the situation the best we could, by applying a full-on blitzkrieg to anyone who was within sprinting distance of the venue, and telling them our story.
I have to admit, it’s not the tactics that I would have associated with a book launch, it had its advantages. Because, it’s something we’ve all trained for and carried out, in one way or another.
And in terms of sales, the results were in: we sold dozens of copies, all with signatures from the whole lot of us.
Oklahoma City was wonderful to Walk With Warriors, and we couldn’t have been more appreciative. Maybe on the second go around we won’t try to overtake college football Saturday. Oh, did I mention we’ll be putting together a second installment?
See you then!
Matthew Ballantyne 