John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars
I try to read one or two YA books a year, and this will be one of them.
The video below is something John made earlier this week. He’s on a book signing tour with his brother, Hank, and his sister-in-law.
E-Books on the Road
I chat about e-books, here, quite a bit. I like e-books a lot. I’ll review a wonderful e-book on Monday: Ann Pratchett’s The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life (Kindle Single)
When I received a photo from the mighty Tom Wideman from the back woods of Alaska, showing me that he picked up a copy of Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors (HCWWPD) on the day it was released, I thought it was one of the more wonderful uses for technology. A guy in the middle-o’-nowhere Alaska got a copy of an e-book I released, on the day it was available.
Recently, CM Stewart sent a photo of her on the road with HCWWPD. Since HCWWPD is a road trip story, it’s an ideal book — to me — to have been published as a physical version with me on a signing tour.
When I submitted it years ago — to agents who loved it, but thought it was too quirky for them to know what to do with — I dreamed of getting an agent and making a sale. Not because it would have meant I somehow “made it,” but because I would have had a physical book with which to tour. I dreamed of restoring an old station wagon for a cross country trip, signing books.
Obviously, that never happened.
A Problem with E-Books
I love e-books. I know there are blog tours and other ways to promote e-books, but…it’s not like you can pile into a car with loved ones or good friends and go on tour like you can with a physical book.
Or maybe you can.
Some of the neatest jumps in the way we think about things come along from changes in technology. So while I haven’t figured out a way to do an e-book signing tour, I’m not saying it can’t be done.
Any thoughts on ways of making one work?
I’m honestly not sure. While I have my sewing/costuming research books that I prefer in real-book format (although I would LOVE to have a copy in eBook format come with it), I am dreaming about a Kindle Touch and hoping to get caught up on reading that way. I’ve never been too interested in book signings, but what if you still signed other things… photos, the funniest items a person could bring that could be related to the subject (for those familiar with the story, or series, or just the subject itself). Have little contests (like who brought the funniest/best item related to the subject or made something). Readings. Giveaways…. not sure.
Cynthia: Some interesting ideas. I’m not thinking about a tour, but as I watched the John Green video, I thought about how there are still some authors who do well with actual tours. And after a lull for a few years, comic book conventions seem to be growing again. People still want to meet the people creating the stories they love to read.
I used to think the toughest thing with an e-book tour would be finding space, since signings are usually done in book stores. But…I’ve seen more than a few writers and Internet personalities tour with something resembling a variety show. John Green and his brother do more than let John read a passage and sign: it’s a whole show. The Nerdist podcast crew tours, recording shows and just entertaining the hell out of fans. Scott Sigler — who now has physical books to sign — started his own mini convention with rabid fans who just wanted to hang with him. Other media personalities…you used to (and maybe still do) see Gary Vaynerchuk post on Twitter, saying, “Hey, I’m drinking wine, here–come out and say hi!”
I know some would say that the author-turned-personality goes against what writing is about, but…many writers have always toured and talked with people, even before e-books. And while many fans go to signings to get a book autographed, they also go to meet somebody they like in person.
When I started writing, I was fortunate to see a fair number of good writers give free lectures at Southern Methodist University–most notably (for me): Ray Bradbury and poet, Howard Nemerov. While I walked out with Bradbury’s autograph, it was his speech that was the best thing about the evening. Seeing Nemerov in a blue windbreaker pulling poems from a brown paper bag and reading them was great.
It’s easy to think that e-books have changed things — some even say they’ve ruined time-honored ways of doing things — but one big thing hasn’t seemed to change: it’s a writer’s job to let people know they exist. Whether in print or in pixels, if you create a following, I have to think people will show up if you stop by their town.
That video- wow. I didn’t imagine book tours could be like that. Granted, that’s probably the only book tour ever to be like that, but still . .
So you’ve got an e-book and you’ve got a car and you’ve got a wanderlust. How to combine all 3 into something fun, practical, and profitable. In your case, with “Hell Comes,” I’d say it could be a bit easier than for others- thematically, at least- because of the novel premise and plot.
I’ve less experience with all of this than you do, so I’ll just list some thoughts.
Yesterday, while researching alternative and independent presses, I read about Jaded Ibis Press, and how they combine different art forms into one package. Not sure how they format it, but that’s what they do- combine literature, art, and music into a fusion media. Using “fusion” as a jumping off point, maybe an author could team up with an illustrator or musician or both, and tour to promote the:
1. Author’s story (the text of the book). Without actual physical books, you could have other physical items. The trick is to keep the expense down. The “Hell Comes” cover would make a kick-ass poster. You could have “Hell Comes” T-shirts. You could have a variety of HCWWPD-inspired T-shirts. (The shirt I have on in my photo is HC-inspired. “WWED?!” = “What Would Elvis Do?”, a spoof on the “WWJD” [Jesus] fad of the 1990s.) Of course, every physical item would have your web address printed on it, and other important info.
2. Illustrator’s illustrations (or photos) in the book, and / or inspired by the book (on tour). For a touring illustrator, these would be physical, tactile illustrations. A photographic illustrator would have to be able to produce prints for fans in real time, I imagine. A drawing illustrator would have to be able to draw quickly, like a caricature artist (which would fit right in with your book).
3. Musician’s music to accompany the book. (In your case, I imagine this would be an acoustic guitar or banjo player playing original (perhaps turning the novel text into lyrics) or pre-selected “on the road” songs, with a few Elvis songs thrown in.) And it could be with lyrics or without. You could have an excerpt reading / musical performance point-counterpoint show. You read for the audience a bit, then the music fades in for a few minutes while you wait. Then a music fade-out, and you read the next excerpt. And so on.
Of course, all of this would require extensive research and planning, including coordinating the schedules of 2 – 3 people. But maybe these thoughts could be a jumping off point for other ideas.
Good luck. 🙂
CMS: I don’t see touring (I don’t have the following or budget to merit it), but it’s something I think about as more people move to e-books. The scenario you mention seems to be something that those doing tours are starting to realize: it can be more than an author just reading a book and then signing until leaving.
John Green’s tour is nuts because he and his brother have spent years building a large following on YouTube. And, since John writes YA fiction, young adults come to his signings in droves because he and his brother have created a community.
When Conan O’Brien was left without a show, he packed theaters with a variety show. People paid money to watch Charlie Sheen freak out some more. So if writers can offer something more than the same old thing they’ve always done, it seems they can get people even more excited than the reading and sign–goodbye! formula.
I think you touch on the souvenir aspect in an interesting way. Since there is no physical book to sign with an e-book, you have to still give people something to remember the event by. And in some ways, since we have to think about if differently as writers producing digital books, there’s potential for some really cool stuff. As somebody who started writing comic books before other things, I can definitely attest that traveling with artists is always cool.
I’ve wondered if a group of e-book writers got together and toured, if people would come. I’ve mentioned Shawn Kupfer and his novel, 47 Echo here. I talk with Shawn almost daily about writing, and as a writer, he offers different things than I offer readers. I’ve done group signings when I wrote comic books, and they were always fun. I can definitely see a group of e-book writers on the road, or even forming a regional convention.
With Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors, there’s always been a lot of potential for touring. People into road side attractions like I am are a rabid bunch, and setting up signings not at book stores, but at road side attractions…everybody wins! Die hard fans of quirky Americana like me have even more of an excuse to stop at an attraction (and even do a mini road trip since most attractions are in the middle of nowhere), and the owners of the attraction get a crowd.
The sense of community of a bunch of fans (I’m pretending, here), of Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors all meeting to leave our mark on Cadillac Ranch and document it on a website for the tour…it’s really all so obviously cool.
Granted, you need the following, which I don’t have. But if I had even a somewhat decent following, I really WOULD consider an old station wagon and a tour. If for no other excuse than to see road side attractions I’ve always wanted to see!
As I think about it, more…maybe it’s not so much a tour as events that could work for a successful e-book author. Again, I know Scott Sigler puts out physical books, now…but when he was just doing podcasts and building a rabid following, he had something good going on.
I’ve seen self-help personalities and others doing cruises. Imagine if Sigler could get enough fans to do something similar. If not one author, a group of similar authors on a cruise. Or an annual convention bringing like-minded fans together.
Of course, it all comes back to having that kind of following. Maybe the post I should have written is how to do that, but I’m not necessarily the one best suited to dispense that advice, having only a handful of people reading my stuff, instead of a larger fan base.
“I’ve wondered if a group of e-book writers got together and toured, if people would come.”
I bet people would come. Of course, you’d have to have at least a couple well-known e-book authors in the group, and then get the word out without breaking the bank. Many publishing houses have tour budgets, and many independent e-book authors do not. You’d likely have to call a lot of bookstores, libraries, and roadside attractions (if it was a quirky author tour in the style of HCWWPD). Group touring e-book author criteria:
1. Authors have several (at least somewhat) successful e-books published.
2. Authors can commit the time, money, and energy to the tour.
3. ALL the authors in the tour write in the same genre. I think this point is particularly important. I’m not knocking the multi-genre or anti-genre authors, but for a group tour, a single genre would provide the much-needed cohesiveness. This would help the tour on the level that the tour itself is a work of performance art. Fans are more likely to attend a group reading or show if they expect to get a lot of what they love, and not a mixed bag.
Another idea, which you already do somewhat- themed videos. This could be a continual body of work in progress to illustrate your past, present, and future books. Actually, you do videos quite well, so I think if you expand your video horizon, you’ll gain more fans of your work in general. Fiction, juggling, writing advice, Americana, all done in that casual, friendly, quirky style of yours. A growing body of videos to accompany your novels. Or an idea to serve as a jumping off point. 🙂
There’s a bookstore north of Dallas that sells e-books in-store (through Google Books). Perhaps we should do a team-up, superhero style, and do a reading event?
CMS: Definitely on the similar author thing. I couldn’t, for example, see Jonathan Franzen on tour with Christopher Moore.
Thank you for the compliment about the few videos I’ve made. I’d like to make more, but the computer I have isn’t really great with processing video. A better video card, or an upgraded system is in order to prevent the jerky, Max Headroom effect in almost all the videos I’ve made. But I DO like making videos, and would love to one day be able to travel and shoot and edit video on the road.
Shawn: I would definitely be game for that. It’s been a long time since doing any kind of panel discussion or event, and I always liked them. I loved doing comic book anthologies, because the signings were always fun since there were usually plenty of creators at a table passing books down.
The first signing I did was for an anthology–at a comic shop in Austin. I drove down, and only one other person in the anthology showed up: Joe Lansdale. So I felt a bit odd sitting there with him, signing books. Since other creators weren’t there, it seemed like it should have just been him.
At an antique shop, today, I think I came up with a way to sign Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors without really signing Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors.
The only problem: it would mean eating most of the cost of the $2.99 e-book, so it may be more a promotional giveaway kind of thing.
More info down the line.