January 21, 2007
Problems with book tours
Here's the latest wrinkle in book tours -- tours that do not set foot in book stores (hat tip: my travel writing buddy Beth Whitman).
From Authors on the celebrity circuit, in the Seattle Times:
When Mitch Albom, best-selling author of the new novel "For One More Day," came to town two weeks ago, his was not a typical visit of an author on a book tour.Albom began his day reading to about 600 employees at Starbucks' corporate headquarters, then answered questions from more than 250 fans at the Starbucks at Madison Park and finally read again at a candle-lit literary salon at the swanky Palace Ballroom in Belltown. Instead of folding chairs and shelves of books at the local bookshop � the customary accoutrements of book readings � these events boasted free lattes, a velvet-skirted stage, and a catered crostini bar, not to mention the presence of Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, whose chain of thousands of coffee stores is selling Albom's book.
Albom's day of book readings, during which he never stepped foot in a bookstore, is emblematic of the way � for better or worse � that the bookselling world is changing.
Bookstores depending on a mega-author to come sign and help them make money are not pleased with this development.
But book tours can be quite problematic, as I wrote of my tours undertaken in 1997. See here for a trip down this memory lane.
- posted by jbelliveau at 2:07 PM in Books, Music, DVDs
