Scenes From a Book Tour: Are They Worth It?
A Literal Literary Loser Lets Loose
On January 18th, I announced that I was heading out on a book tour of the San Francisco Bay Area, even as I asked the question, Are Book Tours Worth It?
Now I am back to answer it. And to ask a follow up question: Define “worth it.”
I flew out to San Francisco International Airport on Sunday, January 22. I returned to New York City on Monday, January 30.
In between, I spoke to a book club in Burlingame, CA, where, in addition to discussing my latest historical fiction, “My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region,” I was fed mushroom soup, baked fish, and Napoleon torte. It was all unspeakably delicious, and the company was lovely.
The following evening, I spoke at my old elementary school, The Brandeis School of San Francisco. When my family and I arrived in the US January of 1977 (exactly 46 years before this return visit), I spoke no English and knew nothing about Judaism, due to the USSR banning all religious practices. This was the place where I learned both.
Next, after many pandemic-mandated virtual events, I finally met my fellow Soviet-born author, Masha Rumer, when we both presented at Green Apple Books.
You have to understand, the bulk of my wayward (i.e. nerdy) youth was spent among the stacks of this bookstore, so it was a gigantic thrill to, forty years later, be a visiting author. You can watch us discussing being immigrant parents, raising bilingual kids, Junior Spies of America programs, assimilation, identity, and more at:
Finally, on Sunday the 29th, I gave a talk at the Jewish Community Library, another thrill as, when funds are too low to spend at the bookstore, libraries are there to fill the gap.
There is no question that I had a wonderful time. My 16 year old daughter even deigned to admit that I managed to dress myself in a manner that didn’t overly embarrass her. You know how she feels about my fashion sense. If you don’t, see the refresher below:
But, wonderful time aside: Was this book tour worth it?
See my question at the top of the post: What’s “worth it?”
Let’s cut to the chase: How many books did I sell?
I have no idea. Do I count the books sold in anticipation of my appearance at the book club and the Jewish Day School, or do I only count books sold at the Green Apple and Jewish Library readings? How do I calculate the potential word of mouth sales, the people who might have seen online and social media\ listings for the events and didn’t attend, but bought a book anyway, and the books that might be purchased later from the signed stock I left behind at Green Apple (support your local independent bookstores! Shop there!)?
The short answer is: I can’t.
The longer answer is: Even if I could, there is no way all of those sales combined could cover the cost of the tour.
As I wrote previously, this is a trip I was going to take anyway. My mother wanted to visit her sister, and I wanted to go with her. Our only hard cost was the plane tickets. We stayed with friends and family for the entire week, so no hotel fees. We ate our friends’ and families food, and periodically went out to eat, but those are costs I would have incurred even if I stayed put in NYC. You’ve got to eat, wherever you are. I thought I might need to take cabs or Ubers to some of my events but, as it turned out, friends and family were kind enough to drive me.
So costs were kept as low as possible. And, still, I cannot imagine that I sold enough books to even cover the plane fare, much less anything else.
“My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region” was published by a small, independent press. They did not contribute anything towards the book tour. But, for the record, my previous novel, “The Nesting Dolls,” was published by one of the Big 5, HarperCollins. And they didn’t contribute anything towards a tour, either.
Anyone who goes into novel writing to make money is making a… less than sensible choice.
Book tours are nerve-wracking, complicated, fun, thrilling, ego-boosting, ego-deflating, and everything in between.
But are they worth it financially? Absolutely not. My HarperCollins publicist even went so far as to assert that they don’t sell books.
Are they worth it in other ways? That’s up to every author to decide for themselves.
What do you think? Tell me your perspective in the Comments!