FLASHREADS!

My first whack at the 8FCS flashread book marketing campaign went down on July 21 at Papa Joe's Barbershop. My eight year-old daughter Sophia handled the videography.  It seems little Sophia was the ony family member who wasn't too embarrassed for me to take part. The two of us blasted into the shop like the Lone Ranger and Tonto.  I asked if anyone had a problem with a two minute flashread. If any of the fifteen or so customers had any reservations they were too stunned to make them. I introduced myself and the book, reassured the small crowd I'd be out of their hair in less than two minutes, and read a ninety second blurb from the book. Upon finishing, I thanked the mystified listeners and got the heck out of there.

As far as I know, the flashread is my own invention. There will be more flashreads. I'll keep you posted.

The Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son is available at the following locations:
Papa Joe's Barbershop - Chandler, Arizona
Chandler Auto and Tire - Chandler, Arizona
Changing Hands Book Store - Tempe, Arizona
Zia Records - 8 locations in Arizona and Nevada

The Book Frog - Rolling Hills, California
http://thebookfrog.blogspot.com/2012/07/shop-online-and-support-indies.html

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/The-Eight-Fingered-Criminals-William-Snyder/dp/1468142585/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334182364&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Barnes and Nobel - BN.com
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/The-eight-fingered-criminal-s-son?keyword=The+eight-fingered+criminal%27s+son&store=allproducts
_____________________________________________________________________________

Rick Moranis is still following me on twitter.

I'll be doing a second reading at THE BOOK FROG in October.

An Arizona creative writing teacher ordered a set of The Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son for her writing classes.

I'll be releasing a novel in 2013.

RICK MORANIS AND THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON BOOK SIGNING EVENT AT THE BOOK FROG - BRIAN FRANK'S PHOTOS - PART 2

June 30th, 2012

PeteLedesma, co owner of the Book Frog, and I costarred in Andy Peterson's 1980 college film Coffee Tea or Murder. I think we're ready to do the sequel.

Pictured here with yours truly are Cathy Finn, Mark Zembruski, Jimmy Ireland, Therese Fry, and Patrick Rodriguez. They attended Saint Joseph's Catholic School with me. The all agreed that Danny Gilroy's Pencil is a heckuva lot more true than mostly true.

Your loss, Rick Moranis.

PICK UP YOUR COPY OF THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON AT ZIA RECORDS

You can pick up a copy of THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON at any of the eight ZIA RECORDS locations in Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler, Tucson, and Las Vegas.


PHOENIX LOCATIONS:
Indian School & 19th Ave.

1940 W. Indian School, Phoenix AZ 85015

Phone - 602-241-0313
Monday through Saturday 10 AM – 11 PM
Sunday 10 AM – 10 PM

Dobson Rd. & Chandler Blvd.

1940 W. Chandler Blvd, Chandler 85224

Phone - 480-857-4942
Sunday through Thursday 10 AM – 10 PM
Friday & Saturday 10 AM – 11 PM

Thunderbird & 25th Ave.

2510 W. Thunderbird Road, Phoenix 85023

Phone - 602-866-7867
Monday through Sunday 10 AM – MIDNIGHT

University & Maple

105 W. University, Tempe AZ 85281

Phone - 480-829-1967
Monday through Sunday 10 AM – MIDNIGHT


TUCSON LOCATIONS:

Speedway

3370 E. Speedway Blvd, Tucson AZ 85716

Phone - 520-327-3340
Sunday through Thursday 10 AM-10 PM
Friday & Saturday 10 AM - MIDNIGHT

Oracle & Prince

3655 N. Oracle Road, Tucson AZ 85705

Phone - 520-887-6898
Monday through Sunday 10 AM – 10 PM


LAS VEGAS LOCATIONS:

Sahara & Decatur

4503 W. Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas NV 89102

Phone - 702-233-4942
Monday through Sunday 10 AM – MIDNIGHT

Eastern & Flamingo

4225 S. Eastern Avenue, Las Vegas NV 89119

Phone - 702-735-4942
Monday through Sunday 10 AM – MIDNIGHT

http://ziarecords.com/Home

You can also pick up a copy at the following venues:

Papa Joe's Barbershop - Chandler, Arizona
Chandler Auto and Tire - Chandler, Arizona
Changin Hands Book Store - Tempe, Arizona
The Book Frog - Rolling Hills, California

RICK MORANIS AND THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON BOOK SIGNING AND DISCUSSION AT THE BOOK FROG - Bryan Frank's Photographs - Part 1

 Was it Tom Petty who said the waiting is the hardest part?

It was 2:00 sharp and just two guests were on hand. But they were pretty cool guests, my old Saint Joe's Catholic School pal Mark Zembruski and the L.A. Groundling and TV commercial actress formerly known as Kerri Anderson.

Here is superstar L.A. photographer Bryan C. Frank with his beautiful daughter Camia. Bryan took all of the photos on this post.

Pretty cool to see a whole mess of my books on display at the finest indy bookstore in SoCal.

Adam Rodriguez was kind enough to help me clear the jitters with a solid smack to the side of of the face. It helped.

The book store  owner, stand-up comic and writer formerly known as Pete the Pelvis Ledesma provided a smooth introduction.

I got out there and started talking. And then I started reading.

My old educational tv colleagues Val and Kerri were kind enough to laugh at the parts that were supposed to be funny.

Dellis and Camia were nice enough to act interested.

This is Pete's right hand Book Frog man Jackie.

"Who's the wise guy that just asked me to read from 50Shades of Gray?"

Now that's what I call an audience!

Here are Lynell Resnick, Kieth Boyd and my wife Gail.  I hadn't seen Lynell for 25 years. We were ushers at the Fabulous Forum during the Show Time Laker days.

 Kieth is a stand-up comic turned rocket scientist. No kidding. My old comedy pal is a proud member of the Space X team that recently docked the Dragon rocket ship with the space station. I had lunch Kieth at Space X headquarters across the street from my boyhood home in Hawthorne. I had the opportunity to meet Space X owner Elon Musk and sign a copy of my book for him. To my knowledge Elon is the only billionaire who owns a copy of THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON. Maybe I can get the space X guys to send a copy of the book into space or something.

That's my gorgeous wife Gail to Kieth's right. I prompted Kieth to ask what my wife thought of the book during the question and answer session. It was a heckuva a lot of fun to watch her him and haw for an answer when I directed Kieth to ask her himself. You see my wife hasn't read my book...

Scout

Below is Clif the Lawyer of Cactus Surf Books. Clif inspired me to move forward with The Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son 18 months ago. He was involved with every aspect of the making of this book.

Notice the guy to the right peeking from behind the book shelf. That's Jay Resnick. We were Forum ushers together about 100 years ago. I was reading from the book when he walked in wearing his old Forum usher uniform, causing me to stop reading and laugh my tail off. When I asked Jay how he got to keep his uniform he said when they finally fired him, he just walked out to the parking lot leaving his street clothes in his locker. Jay was part of the Santa Monica/Venice Skateboarding scene and can be seen in the film "The Lords of Dogtown."

THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON SIGNING AND DISCUSSION AT THE BOOK FROG



It was exciting to return to my old stomping grounds and see this ad in The South Bay Daily Breeze.  I threw papers for the Breeze about a hundred years ago and there is a story in the book called The South Bay Daily Breeze.



NEXT STOP: THE BOOK FROG



The Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son Book

Signing and Discussion Event at The Book

Frog

Saturday, June 30th, 2012

2pm

550 Deep Valley Drive
Rolling Hills Estates CA 90274

http://thebookfrog.com/

Rick  Moranis could be there...



BOOK MARKETING COOL

Book marketing is cool. Who'd of thunk it?

I picked up a new quirky cool vendor yesterday, American Auto and Import Repair in Gilbert, Arizona. The boss is Gerard. He's from Brooklyn. His wife and dog work at the shop too. Fellow teacher Mike Carlin hooked me up with Gerard and company. I can't express how cool it was to hear Gerard say in his perfect Brooklyn accent, "Mike and  the guys said you're book is funny." It's meeting folks like Gerard that makes this whole book marketing gig so much fun.

In addition to American Auto and Import Repair, you can find THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON at  Chandler Auto and Tire, Papa Joe's Barbershop, Changing Hands Book Store, and The Book Frog.

Colleagues at the high school so askmetimes why I'm selling my book at garages and barbershops.

"Because it's funny," I tell them.

"Selling books in barbershops and garages is funny?" they ask.

"Of course it's funny," Itell them.
Next up is  The Book Frog Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son signing and discussion on June 30th at 2 pm.

Rick Moranis has been invited. You might wonder why I've invited Rick Moranis. It's becuse he's following me on twitter. I don't know why Rick Moranis is following me, but he is. So invited him.

THE BOOK FROG
http://thebookfrog.com/

American Auto and Import Repair
http://www.autorepairandlube.com/

Chandler Auto and Tire Repair
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Chandler.Auto.And.Tire.480-442-8861--

Papa Joe's Barbershop
http://papajoesbarbershop.com/

RICK MORANIS AND BILL THE ENTERTAINER AT PAPA JOE'S JUNE 16 EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON AND A HAIRCUT EVENT

The Saturday book signing event at Papa Joe's was heckuva a lot of fun for everyone involved.

Did you hear that, Rick Moranis?

Rick Moranis is my most famous twitter follower.

Remembering the importance of never showing up empty handed to a Saturday barbershop book signing, I brought a box of fresh donuts. It was a busy Saturday. Scott Martin, the marketing teacher who got Papa Joe and me together,  partook in the book and a haircut offer. Brett White of Chandler Auto and Tire, my other quirky cool Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son venue, came by for a haircut and a shave. Mike the cop, Papa Joe's version of Andy Taylor, took part in the shindig too. Bill the Entertainer ran the karaoke action. I took my shot at Under the Boardwalk and was quite terrible. I swear I sound fantastic in the shower. I don't understand why everything invariably goes to pot when I get a live mike in front of me.

Thanks to Papa Joe, Joe Junior, the Papa Joe's crew, marketing man Scott Martin, my family and  rest of the colorful cast of characters who came down to make the Papa Joe's Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son Event a smashing triumph!

Next up is the June 3oth book signing and discussion at THE BOOK FROG in Rolling Hills  at 2pm.

You're invited too, Rick Moranis.

Ty Lusk Plays the Papa Papa Joe's Barbershop Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son Event

The first Papa Joe's Eight-Fingered  Criminal's Son Event took place Friday, June 15. Realtor/guitar man Ty Lusk took a seat in a barbershop chair where he strummed, sang, told stories and generally provided a healthy helping of entertainment for Papa Joe and his crew, the customers and yours truly. My favorite song was Ty's cover of Pink Floyd's Wish You Here. Papa Joe was partial to Ty's Johnny Cash covers. Papa Joe's son Joe, aka Little Joe, a barber as well, snapped pictures with his I pad and kept the wise cracks coming.

Papa Joe even picked up Ty's guitar and strummed a few bars. Papa Joe said he played the guitar as younger man in Italy, pointing out that he was disappointed when they wouldn't let him play guitar in town marching band.

One of the highlights of the afternoon came when the brother of my former student Drew Vigil stopped by to pick a copy of the book. Drew is a corpsman attached to a Marine division in Afghanistan. One of the guys waiting for a haircut was a Marine between tours of Afghanistan. He explained how much he appreciated the work the corpsmen do for the Marines. I made it a point to thank the Marine for his service.

I thoroughly enjoyed signing books and shooting the bull with the colorful collection of characters who made their way through Papa Joe's on that lazy Friday afternoon. I kind of felt like one of the guys on The Andy Griffith Show. And no, I did not feel like Goober.

http://tylusk.com/

http://www.papajoesbarbershop.com/index.html

http://www.williamsnyder.biz/

THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON Book and a Haircut Event at PAPA JOE'S BARBERSHOP

The two day Papa Joe's Book and a Haircut Event was unquestionably a success. The extavaganza began to materialize as I sat chomping down on my Grand Slam breakfast across the table from my friend and colleague Scott Martin. Scott's a marketing teacher. When I asked him for advice on marketing The Eight-Fingered Criminal's Son he told me I needed to meet Papa Joe the Barber. No stranger to strange and quirky ideas, I followed Martin to the barbershop.

Originally from Italy, Papa Joe has a thick accent, a twinkle in his eye and a whole lot of charisma. The walls of his barbershop are plastered with pictures of national and local celebrities who've frequented he shop an promotional events like the Christmas tree haircut deal  in the photo. The place is a legitimate, old school barbershop, absolutely overflowing with atmosphere.

Papa Joe welcomed me into his shop and immediately proposed a Friday and Saturday book and a haircut event. The first 20 customers each day would receive a free book with their haircuts. I would be on had to sign books. Papa Joe called his buddy Bill the Entertainer for Saturday.

I told Papa Joe I would find entertainment for Friday. Dickey "Tom Jones" Imburgia from the first tire shop book signing couldn't make it but The Semester Review from the second tire shop book signing agreed to play. Papa Joe alerted the media and baby, we were good to go.

On Thursday afternoon The Semester Review cancelled. No sweat, things happen. The boys took care of me at the tire shop and I appreciated them,  but I had less than 24 hours to find entertainment for the Friday book signing.

I put out a face book request, inviting anyone who could sing, dance, do impressions, card tricks, or otherwise entertain people at a book and a haircut event. My son-in-law offered to play air guitar.

Flipping through the business cards in my wallet, I noticed the realtor Ty Lusk's card had two sides. The back side promoted Lusk's talent for singing and playing guitar. Although we'd only met once, I gave him a call.

I left a message that went something like this: This is probably going to be one of the strangest voice mails you've had in a while. My name's Bill Snyder. We met a couple of weeks ago.  I'm a writer and I'm promoting new book with a book and a haircut event at Papa Joe's Barber shop in Chandler. I was wondering if you'd be interested in performing - for free. We may have tv news coverage. All I can promise is that this will be a seriously unique experience.


Son of a gun if Ty didn't call me back and agree to perform.  He said he had a cancelation and the whole thing sound like fun.

What are the odds?

I told my son-in-law he could play air guitar at the next event.

http://www.papajoesbarbershop.com/prices.html

http://www.reverbnation.com/thesemesterreview

http://www.tylusk.com/

http://www.williamsnyder.biz/