Return of Bookseller's Brainchild Puts First-Time Authors on the Rocks

Five authors in six cities in six nights. That's the plan for the 2004 First Fiction Tour, which will bring five debut authors representing five publishing houses to venues on the West Coast and in the Southwest from October 17 - 22. An independent bookstore in each of the six cities has organized an event that will be hosted onstage at a local bar. "It'll be like a rock 'n' roll show," said Craig Popelars, director of marketing for participating publisher Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Bookstores on the tour are Book Soup in West Hollywood, California; Powell's in Portland, Oregon; Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver; BookWorks in Albuquerque, New Mexico; BookPeople in Austin, Texas; and Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona.

The First Fiction Tour, which was inaugurated last year, is the brainchild of Cindy Dach, events coordinator at Changing Hands. "I was constantly frustrated by the turnout at readings of first-time, unknown writers," said Dach, who explained that part of the problem was the perception of bookstores among many young people. "Bookstores are great community places, but they're not necessarily considered fun. And reading isn't cool. It's what the smart kids do."

After trying various combinations featuring two or three unknown authors at a time, she tried something new. "Last year, we took five first-time authors and went to a bar, served five-cent drinks, and over 100 people showed up." The strong turnout wasn't just for the cheap booze; each author sold about 10 books. Dach said that a year later, customers still recall the event and the authors. "People really liked being able to hear five authors at once," she added. "It was a fun event."

The five authors this year are Lorraine Adams (Harbor, Knopf), a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; Marc Acito (How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater, Broadway Books), a Portland-based humorist; Joshua Braff (The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green, Algonquin), the author of a number literary magazine articles (who also happens to be the brother of actor Zach Braff); Jason Headley (Small Town Odds, Chronicle Books), a musician; and Samantha Hunt (The Seas, MacAdam/Cage), who has been published in the Iowa Review and McSweeney's. All the authors will share the stage, and each will read for approximately 10 minutes.

About the work of the talented group Dach told BTW, "They are really five very different books. Five different styles. Five different voices. To see them all together is like going to a concert and being able to listen to different types of music -- blues, rock 'n' roll…"

Five authors also win more media attention, noted Popelars. "They're a great group of authors," he said. "When you have the synergy of six stores it does help create buzz, especially when dealing with regional media. This kind of event turns the spotlight on first-time fiction and allows the media to highlight the event with a feature article."

Bookstores were eager be a stop on the tour. "After Publisher's Weekly ran an article on the tour last year, I was contacted by so many independent bookstores asking, how could they do it and how could they help?" said Dach. Aside from the benefits of generating media and customer interest, Dach explained, the event also doesn't cost much for the bookstores. "When it's a new book the publisher will pay for the author to tour. And the bookstores can pool their co-op advertising dollars." The bars, all locally owned and independent, didn't charge anything to serve as the venues for the event and didn't mind offering deep discounts on drinks.

To choose the authors, Dach said she spoke with a number of different publishers at BookExpo America last June in Chicago. "I liked the idea of having different publishers working together. You get a better representation and spread the wealth."

Selecting the authors "came down to pure willingness to share the stage," Dach explained. "What's important is not so much the book's subject matter, but if the author could read in a bar setting."

"In the future," said Popelars "a lot of publishers will clamor to be part of this." And starting this spring, publishers' chances will at least double. Dach plans to expand First Fiction to include more cities and to be both semiannual and bicoastal. In addition, Dach said, plans are in the works for a First Memoir tour with the tagline, "A hard book and a stiff drink." As Popelars explained, "A couple of beers can make a good author event great." --Karen Schechner