selling without selling

	I went to a fun book signing over the weekend with 5 authors Kimberly Frost, Lizzie T Leaf, Melissa Mayhue, Nicole Peeler, and Jeanne Stein at a local independent bookstore Broadway Book Mall. They were there for the weekend for RomCon in Denver.
	The ladies answered lots of questions and were generally charming and interesting. For example, they all said they do some combo of social media, like twitter, facebook, and/or blogging for their writing careers. They talked about what surprised them about publishing and discussed some bad experiences they'd had. All in all, it was very informative--especially for an aspiring writer.
	I ended up buying a lot of books! It prompted me to think about book signings. Of course they are part of a long bookselling tradition. (I wonder what will happen to them in the electronic book age?) The idea behind them is indirect selling. The authors have to sell their books without ever actually saying "Buy my book."
	They sell without selling by being charming and interesting.It's curious because public speaking, being charming and interesting, is a totally different skill set than writing. More power to authors who do it successfully. You go, girls! Keep up the good work.
	If you are a reader (and aren't we all?) go to book signings and support authors! If you're a writer, do you have any tips for "selling without selling"? :)