Sooner or later it happens to every popular author. Someone shows up with a mountain of books to sign, all in one sitting.
For New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box of Saratoga, Wyoming, his moment came at his latest stop in Cheyenne, where the Laramie County Library’s large event room was standing room only.
In fact, fans were spilling out the doors into the hallway, many waiting nearly three hours in all to make their way through the line with copies of his newly released Joe Pickett novel, “The Crossroads."
Finally, there was just one person left, a woman from Nebraska named Dianne Stoutenburg.
That’s when it got a bit Western.
“I’ve got a lot of books,” she told Box as she stepped up to the signing table.
Box’s superfan then put down a bulging grocery bag and backpack, both stuffed plumb full of books.
Box, for just a moment, had a cowboy on a bucking bull look as Stoutenburg began unloading the books. Tiny towers of five to six Joe Pickett paperbacks soon covered his signing table, stacking up to 30 books in all.
Box chuckled a little bit, shook his head, and got to work with his trusty Uniball 207 pen.
Box would look up between signing books now and then, shake his head again, and go back to signing yet more books.
Only Doing What Box Told Her To Do
Stoutenburg kept talking while she laid out her books, explaining that she was only doing exactly what Box had told her to do.
Back in 2022 at a Rawlins book signing event — the first Stoutenburg had attended — she’d brought just one paperback for the author to sign, not wanting to be greedy.
Box noticed it wasn’t the first or last in his Joe Pickett collection, prompting him to ask if that was her only book.
When she admitted there were plenty more at home, Box shrugged and told her to bring them all next time.
So, that is exactly what she did for the event in Cheyenne. She brought all 30 of her C.J. Box books for him to sign.
One by one by one, Box signed them all with his Uniball 207, which had just enough ink to complete the job.
Box later told Cowboy State Daily that’s the most books he’s signed for one fan in a single sitting.
A Lincoln Lawyer Connection
The pen Box uses is a special brand that he’s been using since about two books into his now 25-year writing career.
“Lincoln Lawyer” creator Michael Connelly had come to Cheyenne for a book-signing, and so Box asked him what kind of pen he was using.
“I have used that ever since,” Box said. “I met up with Michael Connelly a few weeks ago in Florida and we had dinner. He’s still using that same pen, so I chose wisely.”
The big, bold lines are what Box likes about the pen, which he feels helps his signature stand out. His signature is a little like his brand, and he wants that brand to be legible and stand out for fans in every book he signs.
Box went through three of his favored pens in two days signing books this time — something of a record for him. On a normal book signing tour, Box brings around 20 pens and usually has five or six left. This time, he had just one pen left from all 20.
“This has been the biggest book tour I’ve ever had, overall, around the country,” he said. “I signed, like, 660 books in Phoenix and I think 400 in Denver, and most of those are personalized.”
Sixth NY Times Bestseller In A Row
The showing in Cheyenne took Box somewhat by surprise.
“I think Barnes and Noble had 300 books, and they sold them out,” he said. “The last people in line were saying they couldn’t get books. So that was about as big an event as I think we’ve ever had in Cheyenne, and I don’t think we expected it. I didn’t.
"The room is always filled up, but we’ve not had people standing everywhere and in the hallway before.”
The size of the book tour this time is a reflection of how well his latest release is doing so far, Box believes.
“The Crossroads” has not only debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list — Box’s sixth in a row — but it’s also topped reading lists for both Apple and The Associated Press.
“It’s across the board,” Box said. “It’s debuted at No. 1, which is really great.”
One reason the book might be doing so well this time is the stakes for this book, which have never been higher for Joe Picket.
The book opens on a scene where Pickett has been shot in the head, and there’s uncertainty about whether he’ll survive and whether he’ll be the same man if he does.
That’s a place Pickett has never gone before, and fans clearly can’t wait to see what their favorite author does with this new material.
Preference For Paperbacks
“The Crossroads," however, was the one book Stoutenburg didn’t have Box sign.
That’s because she prefers paperbacks to hardbacks, which typically don’t come out for several months after the initial hardback release.
“I just like that size because it’s convenient to carry,” she said. “And they fit better on my bookshelf.”
Her preference for paperbacks goes back to when she first discovered Box when she was a nurse for a children’s hospital in the Denver area.
“It was an hour drive back and forth on the city busses and I was bored,” she said. “So, one of the girls I sat next to most of the time, she was an avid reader.”
Stoutenburg likes speculative fiction, which includes books about vampires as well as novels like Star Trek, but decided one day to ask the girl if she had any suggestions for books to read.
“Well, this is not your genre,” she recalls the girl saying to her. “But it’s really gripping from beginning to end.”
The girl brought her a copy of a Box book the next day to try out.
“I’ve been reading his books ever since,” Stoutenburg said. “I just got hooked. Now, every year they come out, I try to track it down, and I’ve ended up with the whole collection.”
Audio Books, Too
Stoutenburg will even listen to Box’s audio books sometimes when she’s doing housework or other projects, like chopping tomatoes from the garden to make spaghetti sauce.
That’s how big a fan Stoutenburg is. She not only reads all of Box’s books, but sometimes she listens to them, too.
Box, meanwhile, is grateful to have so many fans, no matter which type of book they prefer.
Of problems an author can have, he considers lots of fans who want all of their Joe Pickett and Cassie Dewell books signed a great one to have.
“It really does feel good, and makes it all worthwhile,” he said. “The travel sometimes gets a little old when I’m on a plane a day, or sometimes two events in one day in different states, which I did on this one. That gets pretty wearing. But the events themselves are always great. I get charged up.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
