Here's how I set up a book tour. This is a do-it-yourself tour not involving a PR agency.
I regret that I am unable to respond to individual queries about this entire process due to other demands on my time. However, if you have updated information, please let me know and I will try to revise this information.My book, An Amateur's Guide to the Planet, appeals to the many independent travel bookstores. In late 1996, I sent free copies to about 30 store owners around the country, not realizing at all, at first, that I had a West Coast book on my hands, due to the many adventure travelers out West. Note: I live in Baltimore and am a native of Maryland.
During followup calls after I mailed out Amateur, two Bay Area bookstores (Easy Going in Berkeley and Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif.) not only wanted to order, but wanted to know, with great enthusiasm, if I was ever coming to the West Coast from my home in Baltimore to do events. Our discussions took place in late November. Allowing a 2-3 month lead time for setting up events, we looked at Feb-March 1997 dates. Easy Going even set me up as a featured speaker at the Outside Magazine Adventure Travel Festival in San Francisco, on March 2.
I called back travel bookstores in Seattle and Portland and Pasadena to try to make a more ambitious tour. Both the stores I talked to, Wide World Books and Maps and Powell's Travel Store, had dates available since I worked in advance. Finally, to round out my tour, I booked with two Barnes & Nobles between the Bay Area and Pasadena (in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara). Both were delighted to book dates. Given my subject, adventure travel, I could have also spoken at Earthling in Santa Barbara and Phileas Fogg in Stanford, but both only do events on Wednesday nights, and need loads of lead time. We didn't have a good fit for dates by the time I called them. If I do a second tour, I will re-approach both the owners (extremely pleasant folks).
I did all the phoning around myself.
Logistics: I flew out using frequent flier miles. I took Amtrak from Seattle to Portland ($15.50, a bargain) and Greyhound from San Francisco-SLO-Santa Barbara-Los Angeles ($32 or so with stops permitted). I flew from Portland to San Francisco for $70 on Alaska Airlines because the bus schedule looked too grueling for me. I stayed with friends, at youth hostels and the occasional Motel 6.
I contacted all the book-oriented radio shows, newspaper lifestyle sections, and alternative weeklies along the way. Only had a few nibbles here and there (Santa Barbara paper, Cal Poly student paper, Fran Halpern's radio show in Santa Barbara). This is where being a one-person operation became difficult, in terms of both time demands and the fact that you the author are acting as a PR person: contacting mainstream, alternative, and student print media & radio.
I tried calling the Seattle Times travel reporters, writing their features editor, calling the NPR station in Seattle, etc. No one seems too interested. Even when I sent my book out, it was, of course, hit or miss. I thought Diana Jordan, a book show person at a Portland radio station, would be a definite go. Or Kirstin Jackson of the Seattle Times travel section. Nope. Guess it's how it goes: You get a rave from Women's Books Online and all the adventure travel columnists and people who instantly perceive what's different and special about one's book, but nada in other quarters.
In general, radio seemed tricky to me: it seemed some producers wanted a fax, others wanted a direct call, and if you didn't know which they'd get quite huffy. The switchboard didn't exactly know either what the preferred approach was.
This was one area where I would have loved to have PR assistance but could not afford it. I strongly suspect that all of you who urged the assumption of a second name for PR efforts are exactly correct. One sounds more competitive with the bombardment that these editors and radio producers receive, and pitching the story becomes not an issue of personal rejection.
Also, I think seven cities is a heck of a lot for a one-person outfit to publicize. Still, this author tour seemed like a great move because at minimum, I'll start the ripple effect of word of mouth from those who attend my mini-seminar on adventure travel.
Because I can't count on strong print/radio support, I am writing directly to invite people to my events. Here are some of the groups I wrote to:
- Friends of friends.
- Buddies of mine who do adventure travel have scoured their address books for people I can invite directly in each of the cities.
- University professors of human geography and cultural anthropology. Sending out about 50 utterly personalized letters to profs found on the Internet listings of college home pages who might like my material on crosscultural communication, African diaspora, China, Southeast Asia, comparative world regions, the ethics of environmentalism, etc. Inviting them and their students. Enclosing the letter & a 2-page book flier incl. table of contents & a one-page release on where my event is.
- Adventure travel agencies, women's travel clubs, and sailing clubs.
Basically these letters invited the core group that I would hope would find out about me on the radio.
That's how I set up my book tour.
Next: The tour itself