We’ve been there! Top writers console snubbed novelist after just TWO people turn up for her book-signing

• Chelsea Banning said she was ’embarrassed’ by the poor turnout for the signing
• The debut author was distraught after only two people showed up to the event
• She received support from authors such as Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood 

It is the stuff of nightmares for any author.

But when one debut novelist was left distraught after only two people turned up to her book signing she at least had one consolation – the kind words of a slew of famous writers including Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood.

US writer Chelsea Banning said felt ‘embarrassed’ by the poor turnout for a signing of her first book, Of Crowns and Legends.

She tweeted about the event, saying her feelings were even more bruised because an online advert found ‘37 people responded “going” to the event. Kind of upset, honestly, and a little embarrassed’.

US writer Chelsea Banning said felt ‘embarrassed’ by the poor turnout for a signing of her first book, Of Crowns and Legends

She tweeted about the event, saying her feelings were even more bruised because an online advert found ‘37 people responded “going” to the event. Kind of upset, honestly, and a little embarrassed’

But she was to be comforted by bestselling authors who shared tales of their own poorly attended signings.

Gaiman, who wrote The Sandman, tweeted: ‘Terry Pratchett and I did a signing in Manhattan for Good Omens that nobody came to at all.

‘So you are two up on us.’ And The Handmaid’s Tale creator Miss Atwood wrote: ‘Join the club. I did a signing to which nobody came, except a guy who wanted to buy some Scotch tape and thought I was the help.’

Noughts and Crosses author Malorie Blackman posted: ‘We’ve all been there. I once did a talk at a library and five people turned up, including a mum who planted her two infant school children in front of me and then strategically “withdrew” to get some peace for a while.’

Ms Banning, pictured, is currently 3,218th on the Amazon best seller list for her novel Of Crowns and Legends

She shared a video of her experience on TikTok where it was shared widely across the internet

She wrote on Twitter of her embarrassment and her upset at the poor turnout 

#fyp #authortok #indieauthor #author #authorsigning #writertok

One Day author David Nicholls said ‘bookshop staff kindly pretended to be customers’ at one of his poorly attended signings, while ‘an old man who had come in out of the rain’ was the only attendee at a signing for Joanne Harris’s book, Chocolat, at an event in Glasgow.

Of Crowns and Legends, which is currently 3,218th on Amazon’s bestsellers list, follows the lives of Anwil and Ariadne Pendragon, the fictional twins of King Arthur.

It took Miss Banning, who was left disappointed at the event in Ohio on Saturday, 15 years to write and is the first in a trilogy.

It comes as it was reported the future of writing as a main profession is under threat in the UK following a drop in earnings in the past 16 years, according to research.

Adjusted for inflation. earnings for self-employed writers who spend more than 50 per cent of their working time writing have fallen from £17,608 in 2006 to £7,000 in 2022, the study found.

In the same survey in 2006, 40 per cent of authors earned all of their income from writing, compared with 19 per cent in 2022.

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