Many authors hate to go on grinding book tours. But I've always found it a useful way to be a foreign correspondent in America and take the pulse of the country.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Book tours and research provide a lot of travel - too much, I sometimes think, but we do take vacations.
I deal with the authors I work with, agents, and other departments of the company, talking about both the books that I'm working on and everyone else's. Then there's dealing with foreign publishers: foreigners visit all the time. People want to bounce things off the publisher, and a lot of it is encouragement.
Book tours are excellent things, and one is lucky to get to go on one, but they have a way of leeching away one's will to live.
I've loved traveling around the country and meeting people at book signings.
American books reflect our common heritage with many other nations and their influence upon our culture. The influences are endless, linking us with the rest of the world. Thus, they are good ambassadors for us.
I have always thought, the secret purpose of the book tour is to make the writer hate the book he's written. And, as a result, drive him to write another book.
I'm an active author: I travel to give readings and talks, although I know it's risky.
It's kind of amazing that people will travel because of a book. I admire that.
I don't like to travel. Yet all my books seem to involve a journey.
No one really knows the value of book tours. Whether or not they're good ideas, or if they improve book sales. I happen to think the author is the last person you'd want to talk to about a book. They hate it by that point; they've already moved on to a new lover. Besides, the author never knows what the book is about anyway.