Touring
Many writers will tell you how miserable the book tour is. And while it certainly has its trying times, I have long reflected on the journal kept by novelist Charles Frazier as he toured in support of "Cold Mountain" in 1997. (Can you believe: ten years ago?)
Frazier wrote that he came to a great appreciation:
I had hoped that I would find the same thing. And indeed I have. When you do a book tour -- especially the sort of quirky, regional, independent-laden tour that I am now in the middle of -- you meet lots of people who love books. They love books so much that they open bookstores, or take jobs in them. I have had a few weeks now of visits to such bookshops as The Thistle in Cody, Second Story in Laramie, and the Montana Book Company in Helena.
I'm not trying to claim that I have a deep connection to Charles Frazier. I'm pretty sure that the only reason amazon.com is pairing our books is that Thirteen Moons (which I haven't read) has not sold as well as expected. But I did absolutely love -- and try to emulate -- his attitude toward the book tour, everything from taking the dog on part of it to this sense of its valuable philosophy:
That was the biggest hope for my own tour: that I would be able to see it as akin to the many driving vacations I have taken across the West over the years. And while I occasionally found it difficult (especially after a poorly-attended event) to switch out of tour mode and into vacation mode, the transition worked wonderfully for me last weekend. I took a long way home, through the Bighorn Mountains, on a road I hadn't traveled in many years. It was a beautiful, colorful spring day, and I was headed home, but none too fast.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
Frazier wrote that he came to a great appreciation:
I have a week of such visits to wonderful independent bookshops like Burke's in Memphis, Square Books in Oxford, Lemuria in Jackson, Quail Ridge in Raleigh. Old-fashioned stores, at least in the sense that they seem to mirror some part of their owners' personalities and that the staff members know many of the books on the shelves and many of the customers who walk through the doors and try hard to match the two successfully, which must be something like spending your day arranging blind dates.
I had hoped that I would find the same thing. And indeed I have. When you do a book tour -- especially the sort of quirky, regional, independent-laden tour that I am now in the middle of -- you meet lots of people who love books. They love books so much that they open bookstores, or take jobs in them. I have had a few weeks now of visits to such bookshops as The Thistle in Cody, Second Story in Laramie, and the Montana Book Company in Helena.
I'm not trying to claim that I have a deep connection to Charles Frazier. I'm pretty sure that the only reason amazon.com is pairing our books is that Thirteen Moons (which I haven't read) has not sold as well as expected. But I did absolutely love -- and try to emulate -- his attitude toward the book tour, everything from taking the dog on part of it to this sense of its valuable philosophy:
With the exception of the interviews and bookstore visits, I've spent a lot of summers rather like this one over the years, winding thousands of miles onto the odometer of my car. Driving all over the country. Back and forth countless times to the Rockies, the Northwest, the Southwest, the canyon country of northern Mexico. Taking days to cross a fascinating place like northern Nebraska on two-lane roads.
That was the biggest hope for my own tour: that I would be able to see it as akin to the many driving vacations I have taken across the West over the years. And while I occasionally found it difficult (especially after a poorly-attended event) to switch out of tour mode and into vacation mode, the transition worked wonderfully for me last weekend. I took a long way home, through the Bighorn Mountains, on a road I hadn't traveled in many years. It was a beautiful, colorful spring day, and I was headed home, but none too fast.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
