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I have always wanted to attend one of your readings as boring as they likely are ha ha , however I live 2 hours north of your old home and I have always been unable to get down there to meet you. Well that explains why my sisters could not even utter the word Congratulations for my nonfiction book. I was going to give them each a signed copy but donated them instead to their local library. I co-run the New Books Network author-interview podcast consortium http: A typical NBN interview will be streamed or downloaded 3,, times during the month of publication and then a couple hundred times monthly thereafter.
Sometimes I get the sense that our guests and podcast hosts are disappointed by these numbers, when actually, they are quite terrific, especially for academic monographs! They are curious, and they do care. Heck, it may even prove that there are larger markets for these books than we had imagined. Three people attended, including an older couple that I had to coerce to stay from the previous reading. Can you read it again? On the upside, the one legitimate audience member came up to me to say how much he enjoyed my writing and asked me to autograph a couple of collections my stories had appeared in.
Thank you, Tom, for this perfect article. But my real joy has been with characters and their stories. Got an agent for my first novel and some wonderful rejections. Beyond the self-satisfaction of my creative days and nights, I read pages to my three critique groups, who give me great feedback and support. They want me to publish, as does my wife, of course, and perhaps I will some day. But I will remember your essay and hope to avoid the aggravation that comes with pushing my product.
My first book tour started out great…but the last one the one I tentatively thought would be the best , was a major letdown. I KNOW book signings are a crap shoot, but this hurt. However, I am holding my head high and moving on. Such a thoughtful piece. So glad you were able to express what many of us writers feel so eloquently. Inputting a contrary opinion: I would never expect people I know to read my book and would probably be fairly mortified if they did.
You have a very generous heart. As a novelist who is still struggling to get an agent and nowhere near getting published, I found your article very compelling. Because of that generous heart of yours, I am going to a good bookstore to buy one of your novels. Thank you, Tom, for sharing your experience as a writer with us. I look forward to reading one or more of your novels. I wish you the very best and an increasingly large readership.
I once did a reading with three other writers. Plus a lesser known writer and also me… Oops I mentioned two names. The reading took place in Leicester Waterstones and the number of people who turned up was….. I counted the audience a few times just to be sure. No, not at all. Zero is a number just the same as infinity or any other. Your article really touched me, Tom. I was so excited to do my first book signing for my two novels and a nonfiction writing-related book last summer in historic downtown St.
They set me up on the porch, which was quite warm in July but otherwise nice — plus people could see me there as they walked by. No one came in the first hour, and then the sky opened up and it POURED, with the wind blowing sideways and onto the porch and my books which I had to box up and move inside for the next two hours until the end of the official signing. Maybe half a dozen of my friends had told me they would come — a fellow-writer Facebook friend even coming from out-of-town and bringing her mom with her to meet me — but the weather kept all but one away.
She is a fellow writer friend here in town who introduced me to the store manager when I attended her book signing there and bought her book. Now she came in the pouring rain, with no nearby parking available, and took a lovely photo of me and the books and bought one of my novels. Another of my writer friends, a Brit, also showed up in the downpour with one of his writer friends whom I had not yet met. Neither bought a book, but they invited me to join them for tea, and I did and had a most delightful time.
I also had a nice chat with the owner of the store, who informed me that she was moving overseas and closing the store where my books were FINALLY for sale the next day. So, all in all, you could say I got a bit excited about the public exposure for nothing, but I am so grateful for my writer friends who did show up. That sort of support is something you cannot buy, no matter how much marketing you do.
Writers are wonderful people, and I love them. Thank you for this most excellent article reminding us writers of what really matters in the writing life. Sorry, it puts my teeth on edge. Ian Andrew Author of some books and sharing this on my Facebook page: Tom, thanks so much for writing this.
I really needed it today. Honest, moving, no-bullshit posts can be the best promos. No need to reciprocate out of bogus, writerly obligation that passes for friendship on social media. Thank you for this, Tom. It made feel slightly better. Sometimes honest, authentic writing is the best promo. Just bought 2 of your books. I am now retiring from my profession with a nearly unblemished record: I have rarely—by which I mean no more than two or three times over 40 years—heard from readers of my publications, including people to whom I have given copies, having credited them in the Acknowledgements.
And you make an important point…. The work is for yourself. Gives me a feel for reality as I teeter totter at the first step of a book writing journey. That is both depressing and eye-opening. Thank you for putting this out here, a little forewarning about realness never hurt anyone. I totally agree with everything you say here. I get and respond to emails from readers once in a while, and I am thrilled. Thanks for writing this article; maybe some prospective readers will read it and come to your next book signing. Wow, this is tragic news! I was hoping that when I finally get my first novel done and published, I could rely on family and friends to buy it, and read it!
Thank you for putting the experience into words. I attended my first book event, Untitledtown, this year. How To Be Safe drew my interest and I attended your reading. I was blown away by the sections you read, your openness about the process and good humor regarding 8 people in a room set up for You impact lives by writing.
The comments are as insightful as this terrific article. I have read my poetry in public. The good thing about multiple readers is that they all invite their friends so the experience is generally not as lonely as those mentioned. To my surprise, a fellow poet saw my photo in a poetry magazine and wanted to fly from a distant city to sleep with me.
I never did find out if he liked the poetry. After a career in marketing and advertising, I knew a lot of the stuff you describe so accurately was going to be true, but I denied it as I set out on the fiction trail. This was brought into focus when I had a chance to speak in public.
A story of mine was included in a print anthology to be launched in a local bookshop. Unknown to me, my launch coincided with that of a memoir by a famous Canadian public figure. I was in the wee little launch space in the back and the memoir was in the larger main event area. Alas, I fear this was a sign. I know this feeling all too well. It was packed thankfully, due to a combination of people who knew me and my friend. I co-wrote a fiction novel with another friend and maybe 10 people showed up. And you are so on point about family and friends. I keep writing though because I love writing and telling stories.
Tom, I had read about these disappointing outcomes before publishing my first novel. Even my publisher was a writer turned publisher and had faced disappointments regarding sales. So he and I agreed to print just copies and wait for the reaction of the public — mostly facebook friends. Thankfully, books were sold and we published my second novel. I happened to come across an invitation to submit my book for a prize and won it. It is a prestigious award in India. Soon a friend created a Wiki page for me. But sales did not go up.
Thought of sharing this with you and your readers. Well, you see what an impact you made in an article about how hard it is to make an impact! Another problem is that less and less people are reading books these days, but that does leave a devoted and hopefully not too small hard core.
I have often hesitated to write letters to writers whose books I love, but now I can see the impact it makes, especially with newer or less known writers. Thank you—I will be sharing your article with my writers group. A friend was bragging about their upcoming signing at a Chicago bookstore.
I replied, oh yes, the time-out table. There you are sitting at a desk behind a stack of your books. As people come close they often avert their eyes to avoid contact and subsequent commitment to engage—and they scoot on by as you sit at forlorn at the time out table. Thank you for describing so articulately the experience of so many writers. I enjoyed your essay. I feel your pain. I write contemporary romance, so a genre that many enjoy; however I found no matter what genre you write — the people you meet always seem to prefer another genre.
I gave a presentation at my local library and loved their set up. Felt like a gathering of friends. Best of luck, Tom. So much of this hit home for this fledgling author of two novels. Thanks for this, Tom. Incredibly insightful and honest. This is a fantastic article about being a writer.
Could totally relate to every. I love this observation near the end: Thanks for these insights. I wonder if we could just forego holding readings altogether. Wow, that is sobering. We write for ourselves, we publish for others. I am about to publish my maiden novel and I hope someone cares. Everything in this piece is SO TRUE and has happened to me, including the library reading where no one came though in my case there were no late stragglers, just one unresponsive elderly couple.
I do book collaboration and book doctoring, and the first thing I do with a prospective client is break down their fantasies or try. This is an absolutely spot-on post. I have had 12 non-fiction books published over the years. I am so tired of talking about it on my blog, FB, IG….. I went to an event at a very good bookstore where I previously had over 30 people attend a lecture. Three people showed and two of them travelled from my hometown to see me.
Then someone comes to me with an idea and I sign on again for the long slog. This last book I dedicated to my 4 sisters and not one even noticed. Thanks for telling me that I am not alone. I feel you, Tom.
This reminds me of a time when a book I wrote flopped miserably here in the States, but did well overseas. So my agent got the brilliant idea to translate the book back into English, thinking that we could preserve what captivated them and draw in an audience here. So I gave a reading at a bookstore in NYC. It went poorly and most of the audience drifted away before I was done.
Those library reading were the hardest but most rewarding; it does feel almost heroic to sell even one book at a time sometimes. After all the time spent in solitude writing the book, the rest is engaging and engaging with people from the rest of its lifespan. Tom, that is so true.
I published my first book over 2 years ago. Like you, I believe if readers come out, I will give them a show.
Turned out that both of those attendees bought a book and then one invited me to her book group which meant I sold another 8 books. Except this one is historical fiction. It will be a lot tougher to sell. My book won an award, and neither of my two sisters has even congratulated me.
This is gold and makes it all worth it. But it is a slog. I am buying your book today! They are going to love it, I can tell. So feel good about what you have received. I fully share your thoughts.
Or, we're writing it because we're already scared, so we should The Event paints a bleak, realistic picture of a dystopian world. 7 Don't read this because you're in the mood for a ripping yarn—Atlas The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. Does it ring a bell?. 5 Rings Around The Collar I'm sure nearly everyone have seen, read or heard about the “piss colored” water, spouting from the showers and.
After the pleasure of doing the things that we like, we must take away all expectations and relax. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. The Millions' future depends on your support. Become a member today. You meet the strangest people on a book tour.
I recognized the guy instantly. Beyond all that, Epstein and I attended our first big-league ballgames at Tiger Stadium mine was at age 9 in , his was at age 10 in , and we both remain fans of the team to this day. After reading both of his fine books — the first one is called Big Hair and Plastic Grass: During the s, when I was getting started as a professional writer, I tuned out all the cheesy pop culture of an era I regarded as a stylistic Sargasso — disco music, hideous cars, atrocious fashions and hairstyles and, yes, baseball played on AstroTurf by guys in gaudy polyester uniforms.
And he did it without the killing smirk of irony. Give me the s, any day. But in the cocoon started unraveling. Jim Bouton published Ball Four , which dared to point out that baseball players were not the clean-cut, clean-living heroes of popular myth but, as often as not, a gaggle of skirt-chasing boozers and pill-popping reprobates. The fun was just beginning. Big Hair and Motor City Burning both use baseball as a mirror of current events.
Epstein, who has written extensively about music, is a rigorous researcher. Well, yes and no. He was heckled and pelted with debris, and the city of Detroit continued to burn. It just made me happy. And listen to a Chic record today — and realize they did it without synthesizers! Eventually I got into soul and funk and Blaxploitation flicks. The reason I wanted to write Big Hair was because it was the era when I fell in love with the game. Then, in the process of researching the era, I fell in love with the era too. But I also have the sense, from the drugs and the war protests and the political scandals, that those were fucked-up times.
With his six months of book promotions winding to a close, Epstein and his wife, Katie Howerton , were getting ready to return to their home in Los Angeles. I asked him the question every writer dreads: I get the hives just thinking about it. I arrived in the city some days early, by request, because I feared the jetlag would be much worse than it was.
I just felt like I was dreaming. I walked down to the festival every morning. It was held in a park not far from my hotel; two stages shaded by trees and elaborately rigged awnings, a tent for food and coffee, a bookstore tent. I drifted between events, drank coffee under trees, listened to writers talk, thumbed through novels in the bookstore, was mesmerized by parrots. Rowe was on a panel of three poets, on one of those first days when I was still in a daze. She read a poem called "Vanellinae" about ex-army men at a repatriation clinic.
I kept thinking of her work afterward. A flock of parrots flew over the stage, green feathers flashing in sunlight. Books are expensive in Australia. I was on a tight budget. Rowe self-published two volumes of poems some years ago, but in recent years her focus seems to have turned to short, often fragmentary pieces that slide between short fiction and prose poetry. The first of her two collections of stories, How A Moth Becomes A Boat , has one or two weak spots but carries an undeniable force.
Many of the pieces in the collection are utterly exquisite. There's a certain mystery about them; given the brevity of the form, context is often light or entirely absent. In the absence of context, only the things that are truly important remain. The reader will never know who the nameless smoker was, or what they were doing there, but it doesn't matter; all that matters is that they were there, and that freight trains broke their fucking heart, and that someone wanted them to stay but they didn't.
He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes. Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle: The Year of the Dog: Secret Saturdays by Torrey Maldonado: But lately Sean has been acting differently.
But will trying to save Sean jeopardize their friendship? Should Justin risk losing his best friend in order to save him?
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan first book in series: After getting expelled from yet another school for yet another clash with mythological monsters only he can see, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is taken to Camp Half-Blood, where he finally learns the truth about his unique abilities: He is a demigod, half human, half immortal.
His father is the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea, making Percy one of the most powerful demigods alive. All too soon, a cryptic prophecy from the Oracle sends Percy on his first quest, a mission to the Underworld to prevent a war among the gods of Olympus. Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus: In a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Manjiro, a year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England.
The boy lives there for some time and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider. With his hard-won knowledge of the West, Manjiro is in a unique position to persuade the emperor to ease open the boundaries around Japan; he may even achieve his unlikely dream of becoming a samurai.
Chomp by Carl Hiaasen: Wahoo Cray lives in a zoo. The critters, he can handle. His father is the unpredictable one. When his dad takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival! But the job keeps getting more complicated. Derek Badger foolishly believes his own PR and insists on using wild animals for his stunts.
See also Hoot , Flush , and Scat by the same author. The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer first book: The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought. There are two secrets Evelyn Serrano is keeping from her Mami and Papo: Then, like an urgent ticking clock, events erupt that change everything.
The Young Lords, a Puerto Rican activist group, dump garbage in the street and set it on fire, igniting a powerful protest. When Abuela steps in to take charge, Evelyn is thrust into the action. Tempers flare, loyalties are tested. Through it all, Evelyn learns important truths about her Latino heritage and the history makers who shaped a nation.
The Popularity Papers series by Amy Ignatow first book in series: Lydia and Julie are best friends with one goal: In this notebook they write down their observations and carry out experiments to try to determine what makes the popular girls tick. But somehow, the harder Lydia and Julie try to imitate the popular girls, the farther they get from their goal—and each other. Amy Ignatow understands friendship and the fifth grade, and she knows just how to wring humor out of ordinary and extraordinary moments.
Elias, reluctant science fair participant, finds himself defying the authority of Mr.
From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. Putting them together we can find the construction of a group's world view or rhetorical vision. They are curious, and they do care. And he did it without the killing smirk of irony. They explain in story and description what protesters accomplish in various world ports, what forces they must overcome to protect wildlife, how leaders in many countries support their efforts. The visions may last only for short periods of time.
Ethan Eden, teacher king of chem lab. And Honoria, legal counsel extraordinaire, discovers that telling a best friend you like him, without actually telling him, is a lot harder than battling Goliath Reed or getting a piranha to become a vegetarian.
Ten-year-old Jack Foster has stepped through a doorway and into quite a different London. Londinium is a smoky, dark, and dangerous place, home to mischievous metal fairies and fearsome clockwork dragons that breathe scalding steam. The people wear goggles to protect their eyes, brass grill insets in their nostrils to filter air, or mechanical limbs to replace missing ones. Over it all rules the Lady, and the Lady has demanded a new son—a perfect flesh-and-blood child. She has chosen Jack.
His only hope of escape lies with a legendary clockwork bird. The Gearwing grants wishes—or it did, before it was broken—before it was killed. Twelve-year-old Jocelyn dreams of becoming every bit as daring as her infamous father, Captain James Hook. Her grandfather, on the other hand, intends to see her starched and pressed into a fine society lady. A Wrinkle in Time: It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract. The Underland Chronicles series by Suzanne Collins first book in series: In the first novel of the New York Times bestselling series by Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games , young Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building and hurtles into the dark Underland. Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever. The Mysterious Benedict Society: When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests.
And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them. But in the end just four very special children will succeed. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. The Mother-Daughter Book Club: From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama.
What would Jo March do? Janie Johnson series by Caroline B. Cooney first book in series: The Face on the Milk Carton: No one ever really paid close attention to the faces of the missing children on the milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the ordinary little girl with her hair in tight pigtails, wearing a dress with a narrow white collar—a three-year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey—she felt overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl—it was she.
How could it possibly be true? Something is terribly wrong. Johnson really her parents? And if not, who is Janie Johnson, and what really happened? Home Team series by Mike Lupica first book in series: Jack Callahan is the star of his baseball team and sixth grade is supposed to be his year. Little League World Series. That is, until he up and quits. But Jack is done. Millicent Min Trilogy by Lisa Yee first book in series: Millicent Min, Girl Genius: Millicent Min is having a bad summer.
Her fellow high school students hate her for setting the curve. Her fellow year-olds hate her for going to high school. And her mother has arranged for her to tutor Stanford Wong, the poster boy for Chinese geekdom. But then Millie meets Emily. She actually thinks Millie is cool. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.
Lyra Belacqua is content to run wild among the scholars of Jodan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle-a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armored bears. And as she hurtles toward danger in the cold far North, Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: Redwall series by Brian Jacques first book in series: The question in this first volume is resoundingly clear: What can the peace-loving mice of Redwall Abbey do to defend themselves against Cluny the Scourge and his battle-seasoned army of rats?
If only they had the sword of Martin the Warrior, they might have a chance. But the legendary weapon has long been forgotten-except, that is, by the bumbling young apprentice Matthias, who becomes the unlikeliest of heroes. First Team by Tim Green: With his strong left arm, Brock knows he can be a great quarterback, and with the help of his new friend, Mak, he has a plan to make the first team.
But the coaches have plans of their own, especially for the kids from the wrong side of the tracks, which is exactly where Brock now lives. Will Brock finally be able to navigate his new life, or will his past force him back on the run? Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs first book in series: Can an undercover nerd become a superstar agent? Ben Ripley sure hopes so—and his life may depend on it! The Five Ancestors series by Jeff Stone first book in series: Then one terrible night, the temple is destroyed. Fu and his brothers are the only survivors. Charged by their grandmaster to uncover the secrets of their past, the five flee into the countryside and go their separate ways.
Book 1 follows Fu as he struggles to find out more and prove himself in the process. Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim board the London Eye, but after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off—except Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? Ted and his older sister, Kat, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck.
Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. The Search for Wondla: When a marauder destroys the underground sanctuary that Eva Nine was raised in by the robot Muthr, the twelve-year-year-old girl is forced to flee aboveground.
Eva Nine is searching for anyone else like her: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson: In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the s and s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.
Joey Pigza series by Jack Gantos first book in series: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key: Sometimes Joey makes bad choices. Joey ends up bouncing around a lot — and eventually he bounces himself all the way downtown, into the district special-ed program, which could be the end of the line. As Joey knows, if he keeps making bad choices, he could just fall between the cracks for good. But he is determined not to let that happen. Al Capone series by Gennifer Choldenko first book in series: Al Capone Does My Shirts: Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water.
Plus, there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. I came here because my mother said I had to.
Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo first book in series: Midnight for Charlie Bone: A mysterious case, the search for a missing girl, and a legacy of magic. Once there, he realizes that some of his classmates have equally mysterious powers, and Charlie becomes absorbed in uncovering their dangerous secrets. The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall first book in series: