Once on a flight home from Boston, I sat next to an A-list
author. We got to talking and found out that we were both authors; she was
visiting Washington for an exhibit that she literally wrote the book for. I
asked if she toured very often.
No, she replied. She didn’t travel very much to
promote her writing. In fact, the last really good deal she got from a
publisher was in 2003 when the publisher paid for a major book tour. Since then
the publishing industry has cut back significantly on marketing. If you want to
go on book tour, authors are expected to pay for it themselves with minimal
support from the publisher.
So do you need a book tour? It is an expensive proposition,
and one that may not be worth it. There are many marketing opportunities such
as blogging and radio interviews that you can do from the comfort of your home.
And you can do many events in your home market where you know the audience
best.
How do I sell my books? I give
a lot of talks. A lot. I suspect a
high proportion of all my books out there have my signature in them. Think
broadly about events that hit a large audience: book fairs, interviews, op-eds
and radio shows. Your job is to get as much press as you can – that’s the point
of giving talks.
For my first book, The
Prohibition Hangover, I sent myself on a national book tour in fall
2009. It was exhausting, as I had to work my
day job at the same time (I had a really cool boss). I spent about $6,000 of my
own money and did more than eighty events through the end of the year. I got home from the road and looked five years older.
I met some really interesting people along the way and got
to see some places like Cincinnati that I had never visited before. I spent two
lovely weeks visiting my parents in California and spoke at Google as part of
the Authors@Google program (spectacular, spectacular). But I also learned that traveling to another city
is pointless if you don’t have an existing social network. Don’t expect people to show just because you throw an event.
The adage, “Book it and they will come,” sadly isn’t true.
For my second and third books, Prohibition
in Washington, D.C. and The
Potomac River, I never left the Washington area. There was no need to
(they were both local/regional books). But I held probably four dozen events
for Prohibition in Washington, D.C.
in 2011.
So do you need a book tour? Probably not. But do you need to
promote your work? Absolutely. If you don’t promote, then it simply won’t sell.
Just think carefully about where you can best spend your time and money to
reach the broadest audience. It may well be from your desk.
Garrett Peck
No comments:
Post a Comment