Today's #pubtip: among first-time authors, I think *the* most common source of surprise and disappointment is the book tour or lack thereof. This is where I truly want to kill shows like The Affair and, well, any other popular media depiction of the book publishing experience.
Your publisher is *almost certainly not going to pay for a book tour.* Not unless you have a rabid fan base and cult of personality around you already. It doesn't matter how prestigious your publisher is. In most genres, it doesn't even matter how much your advance was. Tour - no
Your publisher should help with some events for sure - in the city where you live/work and in any city where you think you can hustle up 100+ attendees. 100+. One hundred! Plus!
Tours are crazy-making even for the few authors who DO attract big bookstore crowds. They're draining and exhausting. At least one logistical emergency happens every time. The thought of embarking on all that for flaccid enthusiasm and empty chairs - bleh. Not great for anyone.
It's takes truly a TON of sales to make the whole enterprise profitable for the publisher, but for the purposes of this thread I'll just stick to authors and THEIR needs. Tours aren't great for the latter either! If you have limited $ and time, there are things w/better ROI.
Depending on your book, these might include: strategic paid advertising. Influencer mailings. Cute merch. Professional videos. Noisy, interesting, argumentative op-eds for national media.
Giveaways. Events so creative and kooky that they actually *earn* media. In most circumstances, things like this are going to be a lot more bang and dignity for your buck than touring bookstores in markets where you don't know people.
It's tough to hear this because of course this is one of those things that's applicable to everyone except the few people to whom it Absolutely Is Not. The authors with screaming fans and national cults of personality. But if you want to be that? That's a whole-career thing.
As in: you don't come to that in the 3-6 months before your first book comes out. You orient your whole life and career around the goal of being people recognize and scream about in the street. Your face and personality lead. A book is a branch of this goal. Not the trunk.
I meant being SOMEONE people scream about. Obviously. Anyway. You want a tour? Either be pretty famous as a personality/speaker for years before you publish or invest in good marketing that gets you the sales to justify a tour for book #2.
