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Do-it-yourself touring: Authors in search of fame, fortune—and fun By Jonnie Jacobs and Lora Roberts Book Tour. Do the words bring to mind images of champagne receptions, limousines, swelling crowds and media coverage? For most of us it's not exactly that. Here's a peek at the glamorous world of globe-trotting authors as Lora Roberts and Jonnie Jacobs, finding safety (and economy) in numbers, hit the road again. We meet at the airport, without klieg lights or adoring crowds, but pleased to be hanging out with each other, and eager to meet readers. And confused, because planning these trips always involves numerous e-mails, phone calls, and reschedulings until we finally get everything coordinated. Since we have work and family obligations, we try to schedule the trips tightly. And so instead of flying in comfy clothes unharmed by pretzel crumbs, we're wearing our go-to-meeting outfits because we go directly to the event. There was no room in the suitcase for comfy clothes anyway. From fellow mystery author Janet Dawson we've learned an arcane packing technique, variously mis-remembered as "the pod" or "the bundle." A challenging on-the-road game we like to play is to see if we can get enough clothes, shoes, accessories, coats and makeup for the whole trip into one carry-on size bag. Granted, we should be spending our brain power on plotting our next masterpieces, but the pod challenge is too hard to resist (Jonnie usually wins). We spend the first part of our wait in the airport and on the plane comparing notes to make sure that we really have enough time to fly into one city, bus to another airport, fly into another city, and cab to the bookstore. The worrisome part of the equation is that we realized the day before that the signing is two hours earlier than we thought. Luckily, the plan seems workable if we can get a taxi without too long a wait. We find a taxi, and the driver is agreable to getting us there on time. So agreeable, in fact, that the forty-five minutes we'd allowed is compressed into a hair-raising twenty-seven minutes (without seat belts) by a maniac who seems inclined to hold us responsible for his wife's recent departure. We arrive safely, glad that the taxi driver has no way of knowing our hotel, hoping he doesn't show up at the bookstore later to tell us more about his soon-to-be-ex's treachery. The wonderful booksellers and customers make us feel better immediately. We sign the remaining stock (which the bookseller assures us will sell briskly even after we leave). We are taken out to a delicious dinner and given a personal tour of the area's high points. The evening ends with wine and conversation and the conviction that readers enjoy our books. The next morning we're up at the crack of dawn to repeat the process of two flights with a change of airports in between. This time we opt to rent a car at our destination. And this car is pretty straightforward, not like the one on a previous trip whose gas tank was so well-hidden that we had to ask a filling station full of men to help us find it. (They loved that.) The car works, but our navigation is off, and we go around and around an interchange until we don't know which direction we're going in. Lora finally figures out the map, and we realize that the address we're looking for is on a street that runs clear across town, fifteen miles at least. We have no idea where the store is. Luckily, we're not in a hurry. We see a couple of bookstores in a mall and decide to do "drive-bys." The store managers are usually glad to see us, and if our books are sold out, promise to order more. The bookstore that's hosting the signing is small compared to the chains. But the owner/manager is warm and knowledgeable, and has assembled a mountain of our books and chairs in every corner of the shop for the audience of enthusiastic readers. We speak briefly about our characters and mystery writing in general, and answer their questions. Mystery readers are the most funny and intelligent people, and spending time with them is a sure way to recharge the writing batteries. Our modest hotel is clean and comfortable, but the bar is smoky and closes before we've had a second glass of wine. And we have to make another early flight the next morning, anyway. But we stay up and talk for a while—about the other good signings we've had, the disasters that seem funny in retrospect (our favorite being the one way up on the top floor of a bookstore near the children's section, where upholstered benches made a kind of mini-auditorium. The benches were occupied by comfy, sleeping homeless people, who made a most uncritical audience). We wonder what it would be like to have publishers foot the bill for our travel, to be escorted and pampered, even without klieg lights, and we agree that it would be very nice indeed. But it couldn't possibly be as much fun as do-it-yourself touring with another author.
Lee Harris ~ Jonnie Jacobs ~ Lora Roberts ~ Valerie Wolzien ©2005-06 by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts and Valerie Wolzien. |