Let's Change the Book Tour
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Article
May 28, 2008
I don't mind book tours—I actually love standing in front of a crowd and talking about writing. But I hate driving to the book store worrying whether or not I'll have a crowd. And I hate it when the crowd never shows.
I know—I'm lucky enough to get my books published and to have my publishers send me on book tour. But as I learned on my first tour, four years ago, the book tour ain't easy. For my novel, On A Night Like This, I could fill the hometown bookstore (Kepler's in Menlo Park, California) but when I ventured as far away as Pacific Grove, California, I faced two women in a sea of empty seats.
Last year, I spent a couple of weeks on book tour for my anthology, Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave. Something new and different happened this time: I took my posse of bad girls with me on tour. We drew crowds—each writer attracted her own fan base. We shared the stage, filling the hour with our stories and energy. And we got to know each other along the way, so that the tour itself became a kind of writers' community in action.
In a couple of weeks, I go on tour again. This time, I've got 94 contributors to invite on tour with me. My new book, Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex, has short essays, stories, and poems by many of our country's leading writers. And, to my delight, they're hitting the bookstores with me. At a couple of my readings, in New York and in Boston, I'll have twenty writers joining me at the podium!
This is great for readers—what an opportunity to meet so many writers at once. And, of course, it's great for book sales—a fan might come to hear Steve Almond and discover Elissa Schappell. Writers might actually leave bookstores with armloads of books. For us writers? Well, it's a party. We get to celebrate writing together.
A couple of months ago a writer I didn't even know emailed me and asked me to join her on book tour. She had a book coming out and wanted a few other writers to share the stage with her. I was sorry to say no—her dates conflicted with my own tour. But I hope that more writers do this. Instead of worrying about writerly competition, we can build bigger audiences and create real energy about reading and writing. Everyone wins. And the lonely book tour transforms itself into a literary feast.
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Shana McLean Moore says:
What a great idea!
It takes the panel discussion a step further because you actually get to pick the people you share the stage with. It is a guaranteed energy that would be hard to offer as a one-person show. The authors win, the audience wins. You are one clever girl, Ellen!
Debbie Lee Wesselmann says:
I love it!
Imagine if a publisher sent out a posse of its writers on tour instead of sending out one at a time. At the very least, the writers could have a get-together after the readings, thus removing some of the grueling solitude of it all.
Dennis Shay says:
Ellen,"I pitied myself for
Ellen,
"I pitied myself for having no shoes till I met a man with no feet."
A book-signing where even a few people attended would sure be delightful from my perspective. Count your blessings. I'm self-published and became teary after reading your blog.
Lauren John says:
Does the posse do libraries?
"God created man because he loves stories" --Eli Weisel
Ellen: It is always wonderful to see and meet an author panel at a bookstore.
But please consider public libraries, too.
Readers there would love to meet a group of authors up close and personal.
I don't know if publishers consider libraries when they send authors out on tour--but if you have a group that travels together--please find a way to let the librarians in the areas that you are visiting know about it.
Regards
Lauren John
Librarian and book group leader
Louise Marley says:
This is a terrific approach,
This is a terrific approach, Ellen. In my genre (fantasy and science fiction) we've learned our book events are better shared. We've done "Women in Science Fiction" and "Women in Fantasy" and so forth. Two authors is good, three is better. Better for us, and better for the bookstores, which means better sales, obviously.
Brenda Webster says:
Reading with other writers
Ellen, your idea is something like what I have been trying to do with PEN for years. PEN members in the Bay area come 7 or 8 times a year to hear each other read. I try to have two at once so more people can get exposure. Harriet Chessman and Kate Brady were two you know but there have been many others and they never had to face an empty room and some like Ericka Lutz came away with an agent.
all best Brenda Webster, President PEN West
Alex MacLennan says:
absolutely
I completely agree with this assessment and proposal. Although I managed to pull a few successful signings on my self-planned and -funded tour for The Zookeeper, there were also those scary, empty stands of folded chairs. In South Beach, the store owner explained that the poor turnout was probably "due to the P. Diddy concert that night on the beach." Seemed a reasonable enough explanation to me.
This summer, I'll do a reading at Politics & Prose in Washington D.C. as part of an anthology called Stress City, featuring 50 male writers from the district and metro area. I can't wait to get up on the stage with a real gang, and share stories, hopes, and (hopefully) fans!
Geri Spieler says:
Terrified
Hi Ellen:
My book, "Taking Aim at the President," first as you know, is scheduled to come out Jan. 12, 2009. I have a bookstore reading scheduled already at Book Passage in Corte Madera for Jan. 13.
It is still very early in the PR process for the book, so I think the booking at Book Passage is unusual.
However, I'm concerned about facing an empty room. It seems as though it is increasingly difficult to urge people out of their homes at night to do anything.
I wonder, also, are book tours really worthwhile? Do they actually increase sales? Wouldn't people come to hear an author as a trade off for buying the book?
Possibly the reading and author pitch make the difference?
Obviously I've given this some thought.
Here's to a full room....I'd like to bring along others associated with book , but that would mean FBI agents, criminals and possibly Sara Jane if I knew where she is?