Book tours can get expensive and overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. And a tour doesn’t mean you have to cover a broad area of the country, either. You can limit it to just a few towns that are close to each other, geographically.
The nice things about book tours is that you get an opportunity to produce a spike in book sales, develop a relationship with some book retailers, and create a little buzz about your book.
I’m going on a book tour starting this next Friday in central North Carolina with three friends of mine. Here are some thoughts on making your tour easier:
Find authors that live close or have connections to the area you’re touring. (I live in NC, Jenn Stanley’s (she’s also Ellery Adams) family still lives in the area, Krista Davis lives fairly close in Virginia, and Avery Aames used to live in NC.)
Decide on the cities you’ll be covering—with a map so you don’t agree to be in Town A at 9 a.m. for a stock signing, 11 a.m. in Town B for a talk, then 2 p.m. back in Town A for a meet and greet if the towns aren’t even close to each other.
Lodging: If you all have connections to the area, chances are you’ll have friends or family in the area you can stay with and reduce your travel costs. Otherwise, consider sharing rooms.
Contact bookstores (chain and independent) and consider other venues, too. Are there libraries that like hosting events? Are there any art fairs, etc., that you could attend? It’s a good idea to call the bookstores a month out so that you can make sure they can order extra copies of your book to have in stock.
Consider stock signings. Each event doesn’t have to be a signing or a talk. You can also arrange to go to a store and sign the stock and leave your bookmarks at the front desk or the customer service desk. Again, you’ll want to call a month ahead even for a stock signing and just make sure that the books are there.
Name your tour. We called ours the Killer Cozies tour. :)
Come up with a promotional flyer that can be emailed to the CRMs or put on webpages.
Post the events on Goodreads.
Add a webpage to your blog or website to give details on appearances.
Divide up some of this work and planning between the authors.
Take all the information on when you’ll be where and put it in an itinerary for the group with everyone’s cell numbers.
Keep all your receipts while you’re on the tour.
Arrange to go with some really organized authors who do most of this for you! :) Thanks Krista and Jenn! And a special thanks to mystery lover Molly Weston who is putting me up (and putting up with me) for four nights during the tour. Hope I don’t drive her completely around the bend…
Elizabeth – Thanks for these great ideas for organizing a book tour. I think the real key is good planning. Traveling is just less exhausting if it’s carefully planned. And it’s an intriguing idea to plan a group tour. Book lovers will be delighted to meet more than one author, and the group can share expenses so that no-one has to break the bank too much.
I think one of the best ideas I got from this, too, is to start small. No need to plan a huge swing through NYC, Washington, Atlanta and then Miami if you live near a small town in Illinois. You can go locally, too. I like that.
So true. Local book tours will help sell books to people who live in your region. It’s very exciting to meet people or support people you know at these books signings.
These regional tours turn out to be huge sellers for the writer.
These are fantastic ideas. Central NC, eh? I think I’ll have to come out for an event!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Sounds like a great tour is planned. To do a tour with others should make it that much more enjoyable too. Wishing y’all the very best in luck, weather conditions, travel and book sales.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
“Killer Cozies” is a fabulous name. And thank you for enlightening me; I have thought about how on earth Americans planned book tours :D
I like these ideas: a group tour, maybe with some free lodging somewhere.
How do you get bookstores to agree, though? Many won’t do a signing unless an author is a household name and/or just had a review in the local newspaper?
Malcolm
Margot–Thanks!
None of us make enough money from books to justify a big tour…and this is all out of our own pockets, although I’ll be writing off my gas, food, etc. Definitely–sticking with a cluster of towns works just as well…and you might actually be able to get local press out of it.
Sun Singer–Group tours really make sense–and can mean a bigger turnout, too.
As far as signings, it can depend on the publisher–if it’s a traditional publisher and the store can get the book, then it’s usually no problem at all. If there’s a self-published book, you may have to set something up with the store–that you’ll accept returns, for instance. Some stores may let you sell on consignment, if you’re not with a traditional publisher…or else you’ll need to offer the bookstore a discount. And the words “local author” can help a lot, too.
Journaling Woman–The bookstores like it, too–they put copies of our books in both the mystery and the local author sections.
Michele–Yes! We’re going to be in Raleigh-Durham, so come out to see us. :)
What a great idea! I’ve heard, and it makes sense, that book tours can be exhausting. Doing it this way, you’re accomplishing book awareness and promotion, but you’ll also have fun!
If I were closer geographically, I’d definitely plan on going to at least one of your *stops!*
Have you ever done a tour like this before? With others? Although it’s a week away, I’m really looking forward to hearing how it went!
Elizabeth, I live in NC too and would love to meet up with you but the towns on your list aren’t listed, just the places. I know where Cary is, but anywhere else? Is there a stop planned near Winston-Salem?
Very informative. Not yet published, I assumed agents/publishers or someone else would arrange book tours. Thank you for the education.
Good advice.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Good outline of ideas for anyone to use. Since I live in So. Cal. I can line up scores of book signings and not have to worry about lodging. so there’s a huge cost saver.
Stephen Tremp
Crystal Clear Proofing–I’ve done lots of group events, but never a tour like this one. I’ll be filling y’all in on how it went! :)
Mason–Thanks so much! I’m hoping it will go really well.
Piedmont Writer–Good point! I’ve updated the Killer Cozy Tour link on my blog, with your suggestion. I’ll be in Winston-Salem at noon on Friday, the 13th for a stock signing, if you’re in town. :)
Robert–They CAN…but from authors I’ve heard from, you would do better to set it up yourself than let the publisher set up venues. :)
N. R. Williams–Thanks!
Stephen–Keeping it close to home makes lots of sense, financially.
Dorte–Thanks! Yes, it would be nuts to do a huge cross-country thing. Sooo expensive!
This is great stuff, Elizabeth! I’m not there yet but will be… In Canada there are govt. grants for book tours which is very helpful – sometimes for the readings so that you do readings in a major city and then sometiems to cover travel costs – it is done in conjunction with the hosts.
Good Luck on your tour. Thanks for the tips.
Really great advice! Anyone from Mexico out there? Actually, I would probably do one in Canada when I go up there for holiday.
CD
That’s such a great idea touring with a couple author friends. The book tour name is so catchy! Good luck and have fun!
Jan–That would be amazing! Wish we had something like that here in the States.
Thanks for coming by, Lou!
Clarissa–Sounds like Canada would be a great place for a tour!
Thanks, Laura!