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The Book Tour: visiting as many bookstores as your publisher can afford to send you to, or that you have the stamina to visit, and therein, at an appointed time, reading from your book and talking about it. Answering questions, should there be any, from your audience should there be any! This is part of the process here in the US, part of what authors of a new book are expected to do. You knew this, and now I do too, though it was new to me when my first novel was published here in 2008. Not that its unknown in Australia, but its certainly not as widespread. We do the Writers Festival thing (see blog #3) more.
The purpose of a bookstore reading? Twofold, I gather: first, that the audience will fall in love with your book and buy a copy, and then tell all their friends how fabulous it is and lots more people will buy copies and so Word of Mouth will work its magic and your book will become an adored bestseller. Second, that the staff of the bookstore will become more aware of your offering, among the torrent of books pouring weekly on to their shelves, and (pretty much as above) fall in love and hand sell it to lots of their loyal customers.
Fact is, there are such an enormous number of these readings going on at stores all around the country that people are spoilt for choice. And we all lead busy lives: finding time to go out in the evening to listen to a little-known or unknown author read is probably not very high on most peoples priority lists. Only the very well-known or the very well-connected draw big crowds, or indeed any crowd at all. Really, there's tremendous pressure on the author herself to harass friends, relatives, friends of friends and chance-met acquaintances to come to their readings. Even for someone like me, who's not in the least shy, this is a hard thing to do, especially since Australians frown on people who put themselves forward.
But I do my best, and I have to say I love it! I really enjoy reading from my novels, and I love answering questions from curious readers. My first reading, at Book Passage in Corte Madera, was great fun, the more so because of my enthusiastic host Dana Kelly (see us in the photo). And I'm really looking forward to my next readings, at Great Good Place for Books in Berkeley, Elliott Bay Books in Seattle, and finally, at Booksmith on Haight St in San Francisco. Details on this page of my website Come along, we'll have a ball!
