"Are you still on book tour?"

I mean... define "tour"...?

My last book came out almost a year ago, and one of the questions I get the most often from friends and frenemies and dentists is “So are you still on book tour?” I never know how to answer this.

The accurate answer is No, of course not — who on earth would have a yearlong book tour other than someone so absurdly famous that they’d have the power to do just about anything, including getting themselves out of a yearlong book tour?

But I know what they’re really asking is whether I’m still doing events for my book. Even then, I don’t know how to answer. If you mean Are you traveling occasionally for writing-related events, then I guess the answer is Yes, I will be on book tour for the rest of my natural life, fates willing.

This is me on tour, obviously, with my hatbox and whatnot

But if I actually take the time to explain it all to someone who actually wants to know, they’re usually fairly interested, or at least they pretend to be, so—for the actually interested—I’m going to break down the kinds of events a writer might do, and why someone like me might be on the road this much.

Let me say first that I’m incredibly fortunate to have this many opportunities, and most of them did not happen until my fourth book. There are writers who do more of this than I do, but the majority of published authors might have just a couple of events for a new book, and one of those might be in their own living room. My gratitude for all these opportunities is one reason I keep saying yes to so many of them, despite being a little bit exhausted and very dehydrated.

So here are the things…

Actual Book Tour

This is when the hardcover or paperback has just come out, and my US press sends me around for a couple of weeks. I’m usually in a different bookstore (or sometimes a larger venue, or a library) each night, usually in conversation with a local author. I’ll read for five minutes, chat with the other author for 20, answer some audience Q&A, sign books, and then go out for a bite with the one high school friend, two college friends, three author friends, and one former student who live in that city. Then I wake up and get on a plane and do it again.

The brilliant author Lindsay Hunter (Hot Springs Drive) interviewed me onstage in Chicago, and LOOK at her SHOES!

Before Zoom, these stops often included local media (radio, podcasts, maybe local TV); now, those interviews tend to happen in advance of my visit, or totally unconnected from my being somewhere physically.

Heyyy, by the way: It’s really fun and at least 20 karma points to support authors on book tour. It’s not like a book club; you absolutely are not expected to have read the book beforehand. Nor do you have to know the author or something. Often there’s wine and cheese. (If you live in Chicago, you can come out to see me interview Marie-Helene Bertino about her brilliant new novel on 2/6/24!)

Book Festivals

There’s at least one book festival somewhere in the country just about every weekend of the year, especially from spring to fall, hosting anywhere from five to five hundred authors. The festivals will invite authors, and sometimes pay their way, sometimes not. Sometimes the press pays. (For my first books, I was sometimes cashing in airline miles and couch-surfing.) Typically I’ll be on two panels, or have one panel and one solo event; there will be a couple of author and donor parties; and there’s a giant signing tent where I’m usually sandwiched between a fantasy author with a thousand-person line and a poet who’s now my new best friend.

This was November in Miami, where the sidewalks were not made of pebbly ice. From L-R Mary Beth Keane, some lady, Idra Novey, Jenny Jackson.

I love the camaraderie of festivals. I always keep an eye out for who will have a new book the same year as me, because those are the people I’ll be seeing in Austin and Miami and Tucson and Brooklyn, etc. all through the year.

The smaller festivals are among my favorites. You get to know the other authors a little better, and you often sell more books; readers are eager to buy a book from everyone there, rather than racing past you to get in line for James Patterson.

Heyyy, by the way: If you’ve never been to a book festival and there’s one near you, you should go! Often the kids’ programming is especially amazing, if you have young readers in your life.

University/School Gigs:

A lot of colleges and private high schools have reading series. They might bring in three or four authors a year, to give readings and visit classes. Or an MFA program might bring in an author to meet with students, lead a one-day workshop, and give a reading. Or a university might bring in a Writer In Residence to do all this stuff and stay for a whole month. Children’s and YA authors spend a huge amount of time doing school visits for young readers. From everything I’ve heard, these are both as rewarding and exhausting as you’d expect.

These gigs also usually pay money, which means they’re how a lot of writers support themselves. Think particularly of award-winning poets who might have big names but still aren’t selling many books because the world doesn’t read enough poetry.

I hope Lucille Clifton got 7 million dollars for this reading

Heyyy, by the way: If you donate to your alma mater anyway but also want to support working writers, you can always earmark your donation for the English department, a certain reading series, etc. If you happen to be financially blessed, you could even endow a visiting author deal and get it named after you. If you’re very wealthy and had a lousy business magnate father who hated books, this is honestly a great way to stick it to him. Just putting that out there.

Benefits:

There are lots of other events that might involve writers: a book lunch for an alumni association, a literacy foundation’s gala, a library fundraiser, a young writers’ award dinner, etc. etc. etc. At the best of these, you have an amazing time, help a great cause, sell some books, and get really good food. Other times you’re the table host at table #37, sitting with a bunch of banker bros who are there because their bank bought a table, and you find yourself whispering “good cause, good cause, good cause” as you down your third gin and tonic. One time a drunk guy leaned over and very intensely asked me to “define creativity.”

Heyyy, by the way: Please never drunkenly ask a writer to define creativity.

Book Clubs:

I do very few of these nowadays, and really only for friends—but they’re so fun, and lots of authors absolutely live for these, especially when the book is new, the writer is just starting out, and/or the book club can pay a little bit. Plenty of writers are especially happy to Zoom in.

There are other kinds of book clubs, too—ones for the employees of a big corporation, or for a country club, or for a library—and sometimes these pay. I once heard of a very wealthy book club flying out an author and putting her up at Canyon Ranch, which, hey, call me.

This is my own book club. We are currently reading Das Kapital.

The coolest book club I ever visited was this group in Milwaukee that had been meeting for over 100 years. There was a wait-list, and you could basically only get in when someone died.

Heyyy, by the way: Especially if your book club is reading a debut author, invite them to Zoom with you!

Foreign Tours:

Authors have different publishers in different languages and territories, and a foreign press might have the funds to bring an author over for a festival or a book tour. This is less glamorous than whatever you’re picturing (the schedule is usually packed and the author is usually jet lagged), but it is a lovely way to see the world, and it’s very nice to get picked up at the airport and taken around by a bookish person who can order for you in restaurants.

This is me in Poland with the Polish version of The Great Believers.

Heyyy, by the way: If you’re in Ireland, Barcelona, or Madrid, I’ll be coming your way in March.

Conferences

I absolutely love teaching at writers conferences. I’m often leading a workshop for a week or two; and often there’s a public reading in the middle of this. I just finished teaching at the Key West Literary Seminars, and I’ll be teaching at the Bread Loaf Writers Workshop in August.

Bread Loafers Bread Loafing. I’m pretty sure that’s Laura van den Berg teaching.

Heyyy, by the way: The application for Bread Loaf is 2/1/24. DO IT!

The one thing I’ll never do again:

This is a Me Problem, to be sure; many other authors love it.

Sometimes billed optimistically as an “author signing,” there’s this thing where you sit at a table, either all alone or next to other authors, and wait for people to maybe stop and talk to you and buy a book. This isn’t a signing table following a talk, or at a book fest; you’re just sitting there in a bookstore or library or Costco, while people try to avoid eye contact with you. It’s awkward when you’re alone, and honestly worse when you’re in competition with other writers. Do you try to look more friendly and approachable than the sweet mystery author next to you? Does one of you shout something out to get attention? It’s hell.

If you’re David Sedaris, though, it sounds kind of great.

Hey, speaking of book tours:

Here are my US paperback tour stops later this winter!

2/20: CHICAGO; Women and Children First (at the Swedish American Museum) with NPR’s Greta Johnson
2/21: DETROIT (or actually West Bloomfield); Schuler Books
2/21: MONTCLAIR, NJ; Montclair Literary Festival with Julie Otsuka
2/26: LOUISVILLE; Carmichael’s Bookstore at Louisville Free Public Library with Katy Yocom
2/27: RALEIGH; Quail Ridge Books with Rachel Simons
2/28: ATLANTA; A Cappella Books at Wild Heaven Brewery with Jessica Handler
3/9: LONG BEACH; Literary Women Festival

If you’re local, I hope to see you!