Appearances for the Rest of 2010
In and Out Like a Ping-Pong ball...
I’ve just come back from two weeks in Scotland (with London and Ireland thrown in at the end), and am busily doing laundry before All Hell breaks loose next month. I have two Book Festival appearances in the first part of the month, and then The Exile is released on Sept. 21.
See my blog for assorted bits about the Scottish trip (and other matters of general interest, like Outlander the Musical, about which more here a little later…).
In the meantime, this is what’s on the agenda for the next couple of months.
October
October 17th - West Virginia Book Festival
Yes, I am on the program, even though not listed on the website at the
moment.
October 20 – Edmonton, Alberta
7:00 PM – signing with independent bookseller, TBA
October 21 – Surrey, BC
Chapters Bookstore, Strawberry Hill
7:00 PM – multi-author signing (short talks)
October 22-24 - Surrey, BC
Surrey International Writers Conference
This is a paid writers conference (and an excellent one; the only one I do every year), but they do also have an open-to-the-public mass autographing session on Friday evening. This is held at the Guildford Sheraton Hotel, which hosts the conference, and is usually from 5:45 – 7:30 PM.
October 24 – Vancouver, BC
Black Bond Books
event – time and place TBA
October 25 – Victoria, BC
Chapters/Indigo
Evening event, Time/place TBA
NOVEMBER
November 11-14 - St. Simon’s Island, GA
Scribbler’s Retreat Writers Conference
For other inquiries regarding book-tour appearances, please contact
Katie Rudkin | Publicity Manager | Random House
1745 Broadway | New York, NY 10019
Tel: 212-782-9356
Or
Adria Iwasutiak, Publicity, Random House Canada
CANCELLED due to a scheduling conflict; however, Diana plans to attend next year's conference: November 16th – Scottsdale, AZ
Arizona Library Association conference
Radisson Hotel
Contact Jennifer Whitt@pima.gov for details.
Katie Rudkin | Publicity Manager | Random House
1745 Broadway | New York, NY 10019
Tel: 212-782-9356 | krudkin@randomhouse.com
What happens when I do a book-tour is that the publicist will talk to all of the sales reps and ask them where they think I'd be particularly well received, and/or which stores they'd get major brownie-points from for producing me. [g] Then they set up the itinerary, and start booking media interviews in whatever cities they have planned. So if you want me to come to your city, the thing to do is talk to the manager of the biggest bookstore (or of several bookstores!) in the place and have them talk to the sales reps. Bear in mind that I only do tours when I have a new book out. [g] Other than that, I do come to do conferences, Highland Games, or other special events in various places, and if I'm going to be in a place anyway, the publicist will usually schedule some bookstore appearances, too, though.
Now, just to be clear about this:
1. I don't pick the places I go on book-tours. The publisher(s) do-which seems only fair, as they're paying for it.
2. Said publishers use various criteria for deciding exactly where to send an author on tour. These criteria include (but are not limited to):
a. cities where the author's books are known to sell best or are likely to sell best, geographically (an author who writes Christian inspirational books, for instance, is a lot more likely to be sent to Bible Belt cities than to Sodom and Gomorrah---er, San Francisco and New York, I mean. Whereas a writer who specializes in gay and lesbian lit…well, they're probably not going to Birmingham or Savannah).
b. Specific stores that
i. have a track-record of holding good events (that means "doing enough publicity to attract large hordes of book-buying people"), and
ii. report their sales to the New York Times. (This is how the NYT does its bestseller list-using a weighted formula on reported sales from a sample of selected bookstores. For awhile, publishers made a pretense of not knowing which stores reported to the Times list, but I think they've largely given that up.) Since a publisher's chief reason for sending an author on tour is to try to get the book on Da List (or boost it a trifle higher on said list), they won't-as a general rule-be inclined to send authors to stores who don't report to the NYT, though of course they have no objection to my racing into any handy store to sign books, as long as I'm in the neighborhood.
Doing a book-tour therefore does not mean-as some people seem to assume-that I just "tour" randomally all the time and will go absolutely anywhere (I do have to stay home and write sometimes). I do go a lot of places, though, and for this September, the rough lineup so far is as follows.