Marketing Guy Returns From Book Tour Humbled, Exhausted, But Happy

Carl Lennertz, vice president of independent retailing at HarperCollins, former senior consultant to ABA's Book Sense marketing program, and friend to independent booksellers everywhere, shares his thoughts about his recently concluded weeklong book tour to promote May Book Sense Pick Cursed by a Happy Childhood (Harmony).

By Carl Lennertz

First of all, here are the five worst pieces of advice I got about things to do during my readings on the book tour:

5. Take a shot of tequila right before each reading to calm the nerves.
4. Start with a joke, or by asking if anyone is from out of town.
3. Imitate the Frampton electric-mike-in-the-mouth thing. (I wwwant to thwank yow.)
2. Cry at key spots in the text.
1. Add a smiley face as you inscribe the books.

Seriously, it was a great week in many ways. Even just to experience what authors go through: from packing for a week of a hotel-a-day, to those 6:00 a.m. flights; from talking all day on the phone or with your escort, to having anything left in the tank for the reading each night and not speaking in run-on sentences as harried deejays fit you in during traffic reports.

The highlights? Top of the list was meeting a number of booksellers face-to-face for the first time, after corresponding with them via newsletters or e-mails these many years. Lots of hugs and smiles. Next came perusing favorite bookstores like any customer and getting handsold a few gems! And yes, it was wonderful to see a stack up front of one's own book.

The hardest thing for me, and I now know for any author, is just not knowing how each evening is going to go. Will it be five, 15, or 25 people?

You have to prepare for the 25, but not be disappointed in any way when it's less -- which is usually the case for a first-time author. No one knows you, after all, but it's your responsibility to get up there and convince at least one person that your book is worthy … and then let it grow from there.

If someone has really spent years crafting a novel or a biography, it has to be a real comedown to walk into the reading area and find just four people. I say to them, as I had to say to myself each day, it's not about that night, but it's about the month-long promotion of your book in that store, in newsletters, and via displays; about a bookseller who may pick up your book because you're coming and then handsell it long after you're gone; and about a local media mention that will prompt someone to pick up the book another day. Bird by bird, another brick in the wall …you pick the metaphor.

I'm just so grateful for the stores that did host me, and for the friends who showed up along the way. And for Random House's support the whole time … even building in time for a nap every now and then! And for the USA Today review -- that's one for the grandparents' scrapbook!

As for the only disappointments? Forgetting to take a camera to photograph all the wonderful June Book Sense Pick displays I saw everywhere -- still got a soft spot for that, you know -- and leaving Raleigh/Durham the day before J.J. Cale was to play in town. His album with the muskrat on the cover is one of the great ones of all time. Sigh.

(To read an earlier column by Lennertz about his new role as an author, click here.)