I'm not a PR person, but I've played one on TV, so none of this is gospel, but here are a few thoughts.
Yes, the house (or a freelance PR firm in tandem with the house) sets up the tour, and unfortunately, signings aren't the main factor in deciding where to send an author, since there are bookstores everywhere and signings are relatively easy to book. *groan* The big focus is on getting media coverage, so a market has to be big enough to offer decent media options but not so big that no one there will care that Adelaide Author is in town. NYC and LA are terrible markets for getting media coverage for anyone who isn't huge (Dan Brown, anyone?) or who doesn't have some talkworthy hook, like the kid who wrote Eragon, who was a big deal simply by dint of being a kid who made his own weapons and yadda yadda.
To save costs and get the widest possible coverage for the best price, a lot of tours are done via satellite media now. The author sits in a studio and does on-camera interviews (live and/or taped) for stations all over the country. That pretty much means no signings at all, or maybe one or two in the general area of the studio.
That said, signings sometimes get set up around events in the author's life (visiting cousins in Kamloops, attending a writers' conference in Your Town, USA) or just because there's A Reason, a trade show where the author can connect with a large number of fans/potential readers, a Ren Faire where a historical novelist would be a big draw, a quilt show for a writer who features quilting in her books, or just a huge outpouring of fan support with a local focus. Those signings, especially the fan-oriented ones, are often initiated by the author, who gets the house to throw in its support.
It also doesn't hurt to let your local bookstore know you'd sure love to see Adelaide come and autograph. Stores can sometimes pull strings to get an author in, and if you know a local specialty bookstore, they're a great place to push to arrange an autgraphing, because publishers know they'll get a lot of bang for their buck sending an author to a store that knows her genre inside out and can draw the right kind of crowd.
As for how and when to buy, velocity gets a book on the bestseller lists. If a book is coming out on September 10th, buy it that first week. Where to buy is trickier, because the different lists canvas different stores for their info. I'm not entirely sure how the on-line stores figure into the lists, but amazon, in particular, makes it easy to see a book's ranking, and trust me, publishers check that out. Ditto for pre-orders, which can move a book way up in the rankings before it's ever been printed. And don't buy used books to save a few bucks (unless the book is out of print and you have no choice), even though used books show up on-line at the same time as new. Not only doesn't the author get a royalty on that sale (ie: you'd be depriving MWT of money she could use to pay a babysitter so she'd have time to write), those sales won't count toward getting the book on the lists.
Other ways to help out? Write to the author c/o the publisher (snail-mail or e-). People do notice. Talk her up to your local bookseller. They pay attention and will rec the book to others or tell the company's sales reps, who'll report back that buzz is building.
I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but if I do? You'll be the first to know.
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Date: 8/9/06 01:01 am (UTC)Yes, the house (or a freelance PR firm in tandem with the house) sets up the tour, and unfortunately, signings aren't the main factor in deciding where to send an author, since there are bookstores everywhere and signings are relatively easy to book. *groan* The big focus is on getting media coverage, so a market has to be big enough to offer decent media options but not so big that no one there will care that Adelaide Author is in town. NYC and LA are terrible markets for getting media coverage for anyone who isn't huge (Dan Brown, anyone?) or who doesn't have some talkworthy hook, like the kid who wrote Eragon, who was a big deal simply by dint of being a kid who made his own weapons and yadda yadda.
To save costs and get the widest possible coverage for the best price, a lot of tours are done via satellite media now. The author sits in a studio and does on-camera interviews (live and/or taped) for stations all over the country. That pretty much means no signings at all, or maybe one or two in the general area of the studio.
That said, signings sometimes get set up around events in the author's life (visiting cousins in Kamloops, attending a writers' conference in Your Town, USA) or just because there's A Reason, a trade show where the author can connect with a large number of fans/potential readers, a Ren Faire where a historical novelist would be a big draw, a quilt show for a writer who features quilting in her books, or just a huge outpouring of fan support with a local focus. Those signings, especially the fan-oriented ones, are often initiated by the author, who gets the house to throw in its support.
It also doesn't hurt to let your local bookstore know you'd sure love to see Adelaide come and autograph. Stores can sometimes pull strings to get an author in, and if you know a local specialty bookstore, they're a great place to push to arrange an autgraphing, because publishers know they'll get a lot of bang for their buck sending an author to a store that knows her genre inside out and can draw the right kind of crowd.
As for how and when to buy, velocity gets a book on the bestseller lists. If a book is coming out on September 10th, buy it that first week. Where to buy is trickier, because the different lists canvas different stores for their info. I'm not entirely sure how the on-line stores figure into the lists, but amazon, in particular, makes it easy to see a book's ranking, and trust me, publishers check that out. Ditto for pre-orders, which can move a book way up in the rankings before it's ever been printed. And don't buy used books to save a few bucks (unless the book is out of print and you have no choice), even though used books show up on-line at the same time as new. Not only doesn't the author get a royalty on that sale (ie: you'd be depriving MWT of money she could use to pay a babysitter so she'd have time to write), those sales won't count toward getting the book on the lists.
Other ways to help out? Write to the author c/o the publisher (snail-mail or e-). People do notice. Talk her up to your local bookseller. They pay attention and will rec the book to others or tell the company's sales reps, who'll report back that buzz is building.
I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but if I do? You'll be the first to know.
Princess Nutmeg *g*