quail

Posted by admin | January 26, 2021

I want to begin this blog by relating my struggles with quail hunting. Every time I’ve been out, I’ve either missed my shots entirely or knocked them down only to not find them. Thus, I was adamant that I wouldn’t shoot at a quail should one get up where I had a chance so someone else could shoot. In fact, right before getting out of my dad’s truck a couple of weekends ago, I told my dad that I wouldn’t shoot any quail and only shoot pheasants.

Then my brother got up a quail and he shot at it three times, missing each one. My cousin, walking next to me, laughed. Then my brother got up another quail and missed this one. It was rare to see my brother miss, let alone miss two birds in a row. My cousin also made note of this.

A quail flew up in front of me. I didn’t hesitate and brought my shotgun up and fired. Miss. I fired again and this time the bird fell. I noted the spot so I could find it and lowered my gun. Another quail, kind enough to let me finish shooting at the first one before flying, got up. I brought the gun back up and barely aimed when I fired again. Two hits in a row! My cousin yelled, "At least one Olson knows how to shoot quail!" Dogs came over to assist with the retrievals and both birds were found! My streak of non-retrievals was over!

Every book I release, is another item I have to offer. The more that is out there, the more chances I have of becoming successful. In other words, I’ve noticed that people are more likely to buy if you have more things for them to choose from.

Another thing I see is that I have people looking me up to get another book after they’ve read something of mine. The first time was someone who bought Shorts came back the very next day of a two day event to get Dark Matter. Then, the same guy found me that fall and bought Twisted. Another person bought all three collections of short stories at one event and then found me a couple of months later to buy a couple of novels (I can’t remember which novels).

Last month was another experience entirely. I had a guy come up, look over my titles, listen to my pitches, and then he ended up getting all 7 books (this was before Whispers Within was available). I was blown away. It made my day, not only to see someone so enthused about my stuff, but also financially. I wouldn’t have made my expenses for this show without this sale.

I’m ready to get out there and hit the trails again. Quails and sales are within my grasp!