> I've outlined this before, but it's been a while so I'll go through it again. > > You start with your local bookstore. You find out who in your area has a > good record of author's appearances. Now that Border's is defunct, it's > either a B&N or an independent, or (occasionally) a local department store > with a monster book section. Talk to them. They put in a request for me > when I next tour. If it's a good book store, in a good book city, then it's > possible. > > The publisher weighs variables. There are "locks," towns where they just > sell a bunch so I'm almost automatic in going there. On the west coast I'll > do LA, SF, Portland, and Seattle, plus they sometimes toss in Denver. I will > never go to Salt Lake City, for example, because there's just not the > readership there, and I've only been to Las Vegas once on a tour, because > there was only one Borders there for a while with management that worked > their butts off to bring in authors. I went to Las Cruses NM, once,because > the local guy there guaranteed x number of books to get me there and > advertised out to Midlands/Odessa TX to bring in people. I've been to > Chicago a few times, Minneapolis a couple, Boston once, NYC once, Philly > three times, Orlando once, etc. It's based on a lot of variables. I haven't > toured in years for some personal reasons (right after my divorce I did 20 > cities in 28 days around the world and didn't see my kids for a month, so I > haven't done one of those around the world jobs since), and lately it's been > for business reasons--the contraction of the brick and mortal book stores in > the US, and the distances to travel. > > Anyway, that's the long version of "I go where they send me," so it's up to > you to convince your local folks to make my publisher want to send me near > where you are. > > Best, R.E.F. > ----
Ray, given this process, it's a fair-dinkum miracle that you went to Penrith back in '98. I'm so glad that you did though, because I love showing my signed copies to friends, and my oldest child is looking forward to seeing you when you next come down under. Dan.
