I'm delighted to welcome Mary Alice Gorman and Richard Goldman, owners of the Mystery Lovers Bookshop to the blog to offer the booksellers' perspective on the Book Tour Tool Kit.
Get the Most Bang for Your Buck and Make New Friends.
In 15 plus years in the business of selling books and hosting all manner of author events, we’ve picked up a few things that I’m glad to share. Not all booksellers are the same so it takes a bit of asking around to avoid unpleasant surprises. At the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA [that’s right outside Pittsburgh], we have had visits from nearly 500 authors.
These events have been held at the Frick Family Art Museum and Mansion, Carnegie Music Hall and The Pussycat fine lingerie shop. Accompanying displays have included Funeral Quilts, Animals Friends adoptable cats and dogs and the youngest Chabon-Waldman child. We have served Rolling Rock beer with Kielbasa and Pierogi as well as Cuban cuisine with Corona and limes. The audiences have included 30 women lawyers who were downing gorgonzola napped butternut manicotti while earning two CLE credits in a study and discussion of the Fourth Amendment and the Patriot Act with a current US Attorney and former federal prosecutor or a church hall filled to standing room. They have paid between $5.00 and $50.00 for a ticket-----often including the author’s book. Be it Klondike ice cream, champagne, pizza, coffee or Hershey kisses, there’s always a treat to nibble when an author visits. [Please advise if you are arranging treats] And the flowers match the book’s cover.
The word here for us is “build” the event around the author’s book or background and make it a real day or night outing for guests. This means going the extra mile on planning, catering, newsletter, web and underwriting. That‘s our job.
What should you do? The best events are a partnership of publisher, author and bookseller and have the following requirements:
1. Early booking. Most stores appreciate an advance notice so that frequent exposure on the web or newsletter will attract more folks.
2. E-mail j-peg of cover and author photo with bio and ARC. If there’s no ARC, you really can’t expect a review.
3. Author should link to the store for book buying. Don’t expect a hug if your only link to buy books is to Amazon. Ditto, bringing books to give to family as comps. The object is to SELL THE BOOK and not break the bookseller’s heart.
4. Send out invitations to all of your mailing list detailing where you will be--------this must include family, friends, sorority sisters or fraternity brothers, your family’s friends, other writers, any reviewer you have read, teachers from K thru PhD……...you get the picture. If you have fewer than 200 names, rethink this whole plan.
5. Plan any personal visits before or after the bookstore event. Don’t sit with a non-buying friend and refuse to meet any others who have come to a dinner in your honor.
6. Introduce yourself to all staff around and say good-bye to each.
7. Ask about local preferences before reading. In our store, the folks who come are mega readers and want to hear about writing, research and themes related to the books. Plan a short talk.
8. Do try to move along the line by asking long-winded fans to wait until the end. Ditto, those who come with a bag of books to be signed. Mostly, a staff person can help so signal any distress. It helps if you ask them to buy a book in that store that evening and then sign their books. You may want to set up a policy about this.
9. Complaining about publishers, writers, bookstores, escorts and interviewers is a real no-no. It offends everyone and booksellers want repeat business after you are long gone.
10. Be gracious and say thanks to all.
For the most part, we have only good things to say about the many authors who have visited our store. We have prepared a PR Memo of 16 pages that goes to the publicist and/or author before the event with suggestions for where to stay, transportation, local media and our needs for promotions. Be nice and read it.
Don’t forget to “buy books” where it matters. If on tour, pick up books from Indy stores………….most everyone will ship them home for you to lessen the load. The chances are great that the store will even be there when your next books come out and you are not on tour. A good thing.
If you are reading anyway, and we know that all good writers are voracious readers, order your books online, via mail or phone from bookstores all over the country. This order will be far more memorable that a cold call, post card or ARC. Trust me. Research, pleasure reading and/or gift books should all be sales that do more than fill your request. They also leave an impression that you are doing your part in the partnership you expect. This can be better than a call or visit if you cannot get to Pittsburgh!
As the bookseller to longtime author Phyllis Whitney who sends hand written mail orders, I can also handle any online or phone requests too. Most stores can do subject searches for you or title searches in Books in Print while talking about your order. Create a memory and a friend with your buying power.
Travel safely and well.
Mary Alice, Richard and all mystery lovers company
Mary Alice Gorman
Richard Goldman
Mystery Lovers Bookshop
514 Allegheny River Boulevard
Oakmont PA 15139
412/828-4877
Mary Alice and Richard -- great advice! I've already asked Putnam to schedule a visit to Oakmont this summer while I'm on The Last Assassin tour. I hope that'll work for you and that I'll see you then.
Cheers,
Barry
Posted by: Barry Eisler | February 16, 2006 at 11:32 AM
Great post!
Mary Alice and Richard have the absolute best book events at MLB. Somehow, they manage to cater to both the author and the readers. Everyone has a great time as a result.
Posted by: Joyce Tremel | February 16, 2006 at 02:24 PM
As the author who appeared to sell my books once at the Pussycat Lingerie shop (hey, it wasn't MY idea--that was your baby, Mary Alice!! LOL!) I can vouch for the creativity and professionalism at Mystery Lovers----and at many independent bookstores all over the country. The independent stores are already building relationships with readers, so I know when I set foot in their stores, I'm preaching to the choir---readers who will buy my books on the recommendation of the bookseller alone. It's the quickest way I know to build a solid fan base.
Posted by: nancy | February 16, 2006 at 03:42 PM
Just stumbled across your site through Publishers Marketplace. Love it! Can't wait to read more.
Posted by: Buffy | February 16, 2006 at 04:08 PM
I am a constant reader and a buyer of new releases, including hardcovers. Unless its a paperback original, usually I just cannot wait for the paperback to come out.
I have met and then promoted many authors after meeting them at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop - I am from a family of readers, and once I meet an author I like, he or she gets on the family reading list, which spans 15 states and four generations.
We need to support our independent bookstores - authors and readers alike.
By the way, M.J. - it was Mary Alice who introduced me to your books - love 'em!
Posted by: Kathy Sweeney | February 16, 2006 at 05:47 PM
I've been touring a huge amount since early January with The Finishing School. Some of it has been inspiring and memorable, and some of it has been less so. The event I just did in Oakmont, which Mary Alice mentioned (teaching a mini-course on the Patriot Act to a women's bar assoc. group, along with the brilliant Kathy Sweeney and the current U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania) was one of the more meaningful things I've done in a long time. Taking the time to design and execute an original event can yield benefits for all involved, even beyond selling more books. Many thanks to MLB for being so creative.
Posted by: Michele Martinez | February 16, 2006 at 09:23 PM
Wonderful advice--I've worked with Mary Alice and Richard both as a publicist and now as an author. I hate to admit it, but even after all the years I've spent doing PR, I learn something from them every time we talk. Their "Care and Feeding of Authors," the 16-page PR memo they mention, is absolutely spot-on, as are all their events. And their annual Festival of Mystery? What a blast!
Posted by: Sandy Balzo | February 17, 2006 at 12:25 PM
Thanks much to all our new and old pals. Please BUY BOOKS from an Indy!
Love and Joy, mary alice et all
Posted by: Mary Alice Gorman | February 18, 2006 at 02:16 AM