{"id":28028,"date":"2015-10-22T08:33:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T12:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=28028"},"modified":"2015-10-22T08:33:11","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T12:33:11","slug":"kevin-hearne-the-book-tour-faq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2015\/10\/22\/kevin-hearne-the-book-tour-faq\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Hearne: The Book Tour FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Hearne is doing a rad tour for his newest, Staked<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. And as such, he hears a lot of the questions writers get when it comes time to tour in support of any new book, and so it seemed like a good idea to cross-post his FAQ here (with his permission). Behold: the Tacopope’s Decree!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By the way, go pre-order Staked now: Indiebound<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, Amazon<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, B&N<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Why don’t you come to my town? We have tacos and beer.<\/h2>\n

An excellent, fair, and frequently asked question that I often don’t have the time or ability to answer in social media! Going to take the time now\u00a0and refer to this post as needed,\u00a0because there’s a lot to it and this is a question many authors get asked.<\/p>\n

First: It is\u00a0not\u00a0because I don’t love you or tacos or beer. People come at me sometimes with “Why don’t you love the place I live?” as if that’s my\u00a0only criteria for choosing tour stops. The very short answer\u2014the answer to so many things, alas\u2014is math. \u00a0Mostly the fact that I can only visit ten or fewer\u00a0places and there are many more places than that out there. Math says I’m most likely\u00a0not\u00a0going to visit your town, or even your state. But it’s never because I don’t want to, so please don’t be upset with me. Be upset with math.\u00a0I’m gonna explain further\u00a0below because I get the feeling most folks don’t understand how the tour ecology works. (I didn’t understand until I started doing tours so don’t feel bad, this is not common knowledge!)<\/p>\n

Stuff authors & publicists look at when arranging tours (not a comprehensive list but these are the biggies):<\/p>\n

1. Population density. The cold, hard fact of the business is that a hell of a lot of people on the earth do\u00a0not\u00a0read for pleasure. And the ones that do in any given city might not read urban fantasy or whatever an author’s genre happens to be. So we have to go where the largest pools of potential readers are living and hope there are enough of ours there who first actually hear about us coming and second care enough to come see us. All of which\u00a0usually means authors visit the\u00a0really big cities and their sprawling metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n

a. Getting the word out about appearances is surprisingly difficult. I can’t tell you how often I go somewhere with full social media and website blitz and even publisher help, then announce the next day I will be in town X, and someone from the city\u00a0I was just in\u00a0says “Come to my city!” And I’m like aww…dude. I did everything I could to publicize my appearance in your city and yet the appearance you heard about was\u00a0some other one…? It’s baffling and frustrating for both authors and readers, believe me. Which leads me to the next bit and the importance of community outreach.<\/p>\n

2. A thriving independent bookstore that welcomes events. This is, quite frankly, a\u00a0majorconsideration. Hold on, lots of points and examples ahead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>a.\u00a0For stores like The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale and Powell’s in Portland (and many others!) holding events is a vital part of their business plan. It brings readers into their store that might not otherwise stroll in. It helps them keep the lights on. It makes their store a\u00a0center of culture in their city.<\/p>\n

b.\u00a0The Poisoned Pen (and others on the ball) have a customer email\/postcard list to which people voluntarily subscribe. I subscribe to theirs and\u00a0every month I get a list of the author events scheduled at the store. They hold 250+ events a year! And when I know about those events I try to get there so I can satisfy my inner fanboy. Which means\u00a0The Poisoned Pen is very good for authors and readers, and almost every major mystery book that gets released in the US also\u00a0means an author appearance at their\u00a0store. But they do other genre stuff too:\u00a0Diana Gabaldon works with them. So do I. Jim Butcher stops there, and so do other genre authors. And the publicists in New York know that The Poisoned Pen does a great job with events so they schedule tours to go through Phoenix\/Scottsdale. The other big indie that’s great at events in the Phoenix area is Changing Hands (and they also have an\u00a0email list). Which means that if you’re an author ready to do a big tour, Phoenix will probably be a stop because 1) It’s the sixth largest metro area in the US, so it’s got the population density thing nailed, and 2) there are two excellent indie stores there that regularly hold events and have\u00a0a great relationship with the reading community. But stores like that just can’t be found\u00a0everywhere. If you would like one to be near you, then it is in fact up to you.<\/p>\n

c.\u00a0Visit your indie store instead of ordering online. Keep your local business in business!\u00a0Subscribe to their email list so that you know who’s coming and when. Attend their events. Start a book club at the store or join one! Bring your friends and have them subscribe to the list too. Community outreach is just huge because as I mentioned above, authors’ and publishers’ attempts to publicize an appearance often don’t reach readers who’d like to know about it. And when authors have\u00a0events at your store\u00a0and do well, then word will filter through to other authors and their\u00a0publicists. I’m going to be visiting an indie store that’s in a midsize\u00a0city\u00a0for the\u00a0Staked\u00a0tour\u2014Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, NC\u2014because I keep hearing what a great store it is and how dialed in it is to the reading community. Plus it’s well located regionally so people from several other\u00a0cities can get there if they wanna. Charlotte, Knoxville, Spartanburg or Greenville SC\u2014all within reasonable distance. Good indie store + access to large population = author visits. Math.<\/p>\n

d.\u00a0Cities that let their indie stores close? Well, it’s not the end forever, but it definitely puts a damper on authors showing up.\u00a0Two examples to illustrate the principle: 1) Dallas\/Ft Worth. You had an AMAZING store called A Real Bookstore that served BEER inside. I did a thing there once with Jaye Wells and it was simply awesome. I loved it! Wanted to go back forever! But by the time my next book came\u00a0out, it had\u00a0closed! I wept. So\u00a0there was no Dallas tour stop for that book, and\u00a0I doubt I’ll be back unless a new indie store sprouts up (they really are\u00a0that\u00a0important in deciding where to go).\u00a0I am visiting Austin and Houston instead on the\u00a0Staked\u00a0tour<\/strong><\/span><\/a> because they have Book People and Murder By the Book, respectively, which\u00a0both hold lots of events and\u00a0bring in lots of readers. Seriously, Austin and Houston: You have two\u00a0of the best indie bookstores in the US there. \u00a0Give \u2019em lots of love and don’t\u00a0let \u2019em die. 2) Nashville is an example of how communities can turn it around. They had all their indie stores die out for a while, and then author Ann Patchett couldn’t stand the tragedy of it and opened Parnassus Books. People love it there. Nashville\u00a0got its second chance and embraced it, so Nashville gets plenty of author visits now. I was there for the\u00a0Tricked\u00a0tour. It’s an object lesson how you can make your city a place that authors visit. Ann didn’t do it by herself.\u00a0The people of\u00a0Nashville did it!\u00a0Readers\u00a0supported Parnassus instead of online giants. Then they demanded to see authors and authors supplied that demand.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Entrance to the Powell’s Books store at Cedar Hills Crossing (Beaverton, OR) from inside the mall. Photo by Steve Morgan.)<\/p>\n

3. Some cities\u2014in part because of the great indie stores, I think\u2014have thriving reader cultures, and I often wonder if we appreciate just how important such stores are to the community. I’m going to single out Portland here as an example. Powell’s City of Books downtown is a simply stunning place to visit. But their stores in Beaverton and elsewhere are truly great also. Thanks to Powell’s, the Portland metro area enjoys regular visits from the world’s authors, fiction and nonfiction, giving residents of that\u00a0city access\u00a0to creative and inspirational minds almost every single day. And that’s why I think their city is such a trip, constantly innovating and re-inventing itself. It’s because there’s a freaking awesome bookstore there and people read voraciously and treasure ideas and creativity. They show up for authors so authors keep showing up in Portland.<\/p>\n

f. I have had\u00a0three very kind & vocal people repeatedly ask me to come to Las Vegas. It’s turbo\u00a0sweet but here’s the thing: Las Vegas actively\u2014even aggressively\u2014promotes itself as the place to do anything\u00a0but\u00a0read. That doesn’t mean nobody reads there\u2014obviously many do, and I appreciate hearing from the\u00a0three people who would really like me to visit! However, I am simply unaware of an indie store in the area. I know I could search for one online\u2014that’s not the point. The point is that as an author who speaks with other authors regularly and discusses tours and great bookstores in the United States, I’ve\u00a0never heard of anyone\u00a0having an event in Las Vegas. Ever. At least\u00a0not so far. Maybe even author events that happen in Vegas stay in Vegas? I don’t know. But that leads me (perhaps erroneously, I admit!) to conclude that they don’t have an indie store there that\u00a0regularly\u00a0holds events.<\/p>\n

g.\u00a0Related to that last point, I’ve had\u00a0many\u00a0people from Kansas City and Pittsburgh show up on my FB or Twitter feeds and ask me to visit. Thank you! That matters! It\u00a0helps! I love you! It has me thinking about visiting both places. But please speak up at your indie bookstores too. Or your libraries. They will, in turn, talk to my publicist in NY. Know why I started going to Houston and then kept going back? Murder By the Book contacted my publisher and\u00a0asked\u00a0for me. They said they wanted me there and I’d have a great event because they knew their readers. And holy shit, they were right! I had a hundred people show up\u00a0with barbecue!\u00a0I have such a good time every time I visit that I can’t leave Houston out of my tours now. But again, it’s not\u00a0just\u00a0the store doing it\u2014Houston’s doing it! Murder By the Book got me there but the readers also showed up. \u00a0So if you’d like me (or any author!) to come to your town, definitely let the authors know but also\u00a0be vocal and present at your indie store!<\/p>\n

h.\u00a0I’ve done a bit of looking into the Pittsburgh thing especially because I hear from readers there so often. And the indie store situation there is unclear. Right now I’m hearing through the grapevine there’s a new owner at Mystery Booksellers and maybe they’d be cool with events? (Mystery shops often host sf\/f writers, like The Poisoned Pen and Murder by the Book do.) If that’s the case…well, I’d like to know if that’s the case. O Good and Brilliant Peeps of Pittsburgh (and everyone who doesn’t get to see the authors they want): This is a fixable thing. You’ve made it\u00a0very clear to me through the provenance of social media that you have a lot of awesome, enthusiastic readers. But right now, at least from my admittedly non-local perspective, it appears that your city doesn’t have a clear go-to for author events. \u00a0Where’s the place to go? In Portland it’s Powell’s. In San Diego it’s Mysterious Galaxy. In\u00a0Lexington, Kentucky, it’s Joseph-Beth Booksellers. In Nashville it’s Parnassus. In Denver it’s Tattered Cover. Where’s the\u00a0iconic indie\u00a0in Pittsburgh? I’m using you as an example but understand that there are many, many cities in the same boat. Authors would love to visit their readers everywhere but we really need a place to go where we’re fairly certain people will show up. Because of number 3.<\/p>\n

3. Travel expenses. Tours are\u00a0damn pricy and for the vast majority of authors not a money-maker. In fact this is why most authors do not tour at all or only do events near their\u00a0hometowns. (And also why we rarely\u00a0do international visits. The markets are smaller and it’s hugely expensive to travel out of the country, which makes the math tougher.) Let’s say I’m promoting a paperback like I did for my first six\u00a0books. I get sixty-four cents per copy (that’s fairly standard these days). If I sell a hundred copies at an event (which is a\u00a0lot!) I’ve made $64. Can I get airfare plus a hotel, rental car or taxi, and meals for under $64 anywhere? Hell no, not even close. There’s no way I can break even on a tour, forget about making a profit. And if you’re thinking the publisher is paying for my tour, well, yeah. They are\u00a0now. But they didn’t when I first started out. I paid for\u00a0everything myself\u00a0for the first four books, and please understand\u00a0that\u00a0almost all authors do. Del Rey picked up\u00a0a hotel room for book five’s tour\u00a0and\u00a0paid for a few\u00a0more nights for book six but it was still mostly my dime. Only when I got to hardcover with book seven did I get a full\u00a0publisher-sponsored tour, which I still can’t believe really happened. \u00a0Point is, aside from a very few gigantic names, authors\u00a0don’t go on tours to make fat stacks of cash. We lose money on it but we do it because we have heard of sunlight and how we should get some and we also hope that those appearances\u00a0will pay off down the road in word-of-mouth. So if we tour at all, we naturally try to arrange for events\u00a0that don’t make us cry and feel like we’ve wasted our time and money. Because nothing blows chunks so much as traveling somewhere, spending cash\u00a0you don’t really have on the trip, and then three people show up. (Yes, that’s happened to me. And it happens to lots of authors.) And something I genuinely fear more than my own embarrassment if nobody shows up: I don’t want the bookstores to feel like they’ve wasted their time and money either. (It does cost them time and money to set up an event!) So again, it goes back to big cities and stores with good reputations for community outreach and holding great events. We want to maximize the\u00a0chances\u00a0that everyone leaves happy.<\/p>\n

4. I might have been to your city in the\u00a0recent past or will be there soon. There are a few places I try to visit every tour now (Phoenix, Houston, Portland, and Denver) but otherwise I try to mix it up. Atlanta’s a pretty big city but I’m not stopping there this tour because I’ve been in Georgia twice already the past year. Chicago’s huge but I’ve been there a couple of times so I’m going\u00a0to Michigan since I haven’t visited them at all yet. And I like visiting Seattle on tour but since I’m going to be at Emerald City Comic Con in April it seems silly to also stop there in February. Basically the\u00a0Stakedtour\u00a0is six\u00a0cities I’ve visited before (Phoenix, Houston, Minneapolis, Portland, Ft. Collins, Denver) and five cities that are new to me (Austin, Orlando, Asheville, Crestview Hills KY, Lansing).<\/p>\n

So I hope this helps\u00a0explain why I (and authors in general) wind up going to some places and not others.\u00a0I’d\u00a0love to see all my\u00a0readers. Math says I can’t. And in many cases there are cities\u00a0I’d like to visit (like KC and Pittsburgh) but\u00a0I haven’t yet heard through the author grapevine that there is a great place to do events in those towns. That can change! It takes work. It doesn’t happen overnight.\u00a0But where you shop makes a difference in what’s available in your area. (The closing of many independent bookstores plus Borders and a slew of\u00a0B&N stores is proof of that.) If you value cheap books or simply\u00a0enjoy the ebook or audiobook format for any number of very good reasons, or if you live in a rural area with few\u00a0bookstores, then yes, online is definitely the way to go. If you value meeting authors and asking them questions and such, supporting\u00a0your local indie or library and asking them to book events\u00a0is the answer.<\/p>\n

Anyway: I love you all regardless of where you live or in what format you enjoy your books. I try to visit a few new places every tour, so I hope I’ll get to your town someday, or at least to\u00a0a city somewhere nearish that you won’t mind making the trip to say hi. And if I can’t make it near where you are, remember \u2014 it’s never anything personal, it’s math!<\/p>\n

Peace, tacos, & beer\u2014<\/p>\n

Kevin<\/p>\n

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Kevin Hearne is doing a rad tour for his newest, Staked. And as such, he hears a lot of the questions writers get when it comes time to tour in support of any new book, and so it seemed like a good idea to cross-post his FAQ here (with his permission). Behold: the Tacopope’s Decree!\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-7i4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28031,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28028\/revisions\/28031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}