Why does a Book Tour work?

Done well, a book our allows people to know, like and trust you—essential characteristics of any selling and buying relationship. As I prepare a book tour to promote my soon-to-be-released Here to Stay/Lives in 17th Century Canada, I want to share some elements with you that I think make a book tour work.

But first, a moment of levity!

One fall evening in 1992, I was launching a book tour. My first stop was at my town’s library. As I approached the library, a copy of my recently published book, Turning Memories Into Memoirs / A Handbook for Writing Lifestories, lying on the passenger seat, its width thickened by slips of paper to indicate places from which I wanted to read at my program, I was evident there were few parking spaces along the town’s Main Street which was normally empty in the evening.

Well! How exciting could this be! Turning Memories Into Memoirs was my fifth book and my first how-to. I had great hopes for it. I had been leading memoir-writing workshops for the previous four years, and Turning Memories Into Memoirs was the summation of my teaching and coaching. It was truly a comprehensive guide that covered memoir writing from A to Z, and any writer making use of its many suggestions and guidelines was likely to succeed at undertaking and finishing an interesting and meaningful memoir.

The publicity—press releases, calendar of events, posters—was what was available at the time (1992), and I had, as they say, “covered my bases.” And now, it was the moment of my big launch at the local library—from which I had launched my four previous books—and that evening, I was apparently doing my outreach well as it seemed I had a full house! How exciting to have every available street parking space taken.

Not only do I always enjoy going up and down the rows of seats at the beginning of a program to ask people where they are at in their memoir-writing project but I feel it is important for establishing rapport with the attendees. Now, keeping my excitement in check, I knew I had to focus on finding a parking spot so as to be at the library not only on time but to “work the crowd.”

So, it was with a solid sense of anticipation that I found a parking spot on a side street and rushed to the library, joining the line of people streaming into the building.

Dashing inside, I entered the room where I was to read.

It was sparsely filled! Perhaps thirty people!

Huh?

Clearly, there were, by far, not as many people as the number of cars along Main Street had suggested.

Soon, the librarian came toward me, grinning, extending her arms to encircle the room of thirty or so people. “I’m pleased with the attendance. Aren’t you?”

Not to be ungrateful for her hospitality, I answered, “Oh, my! Yes, this is lovely.”

We chatted a bit and then, as nonchalantly as I could, I asked, “Is there something else happening in the building tonight?”

“Yes,” she said, “a regional Alcoholics Anonymous group is meeting in our function room downstairs.”

It was then that I heard the din of a crowd arising from below.

Why Book Tours Can Sell Books—And Ancillary Products

While I did not draw the crowd I had anticipated as I had driven by that evening, I did have, if I remember right, some thirty-plus people in attendance. I don’t know how many bought a book, but I do know that, over the years, I have found readings and short seminars—usually an hour long—do attract an interested crowd that buys books.

Notice the operative word: “interested.” Generally, people come to a specialized program because they are interested in your topic. The attendee who attends merely for a social event is in the minority.

Over the years, I have gone from my home in Maine to places as far-flung as Missoula, Montana, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Miami, Florida, to present book-centered promotional programs. Book tours have been a successful outreach both to sell books and to introduce myself as a coach and an editor to the audience.

While my reading for Turning Memories Into Memoirs at my local library those many years ago was not as well-attended as I had presumed when I searched for a parking space that evening, my strategy to promote books and my services via readings and programs—whether physical or (now) virtual—has been one that I continue to implement. These programs can lead to hundreds of dollars in sales per event and often to coaching and editing clients. (Once in Minneapolis at a conference at which I was a featured speaker, I collected $29,000 in book sales. I thought I was in heaven—well, of course, I wasn’t, but it felt pretty darn close!)

Programs / presentations work because they are a prime opportunity to acquaint an audience with your work, to develop rapport (also known as “they like you”) and to develop trust that your books will deliver what you promise.

These three ingredients —”know, like, and trust”—are at the core of every successful selling—and buying—relationship.

Book Tours Are Essential To My Day Job

Most writers, myself included, depend on a “day job.” For some, this may be teaching or medicine or sales. For me and many other writers, my day job is coaching and editing.

I cannot tell you how many people have approached me at a book promotion program saying, “I only came to check you out, to see if you were the real thing.” (Another corroboration of “know, like, and trust.”) In one short four-library tour, I generated almost $25,000 of book production services from people who had already written their book and were looking to have a developmental editor and then turn their manuscript into an attractive self-published book.

Although I have a website that attracts national and international attention, I have found that local outreach can be rewarding. It is locally, after all, where most of us can develop a solid reputation. One year, I tabulated that 40% of my income came from my home state of Maine. One way to see this is that 60% came rather passively through an internet search over the whole world. Wonderful indeed! The fact is, though, that the 40% who found me locally—from a population of a little more than one million—and they did so largely via my programs and the outreach I generated for these programs. They were not looking for me on the internet. They found me in press releases, newsletters, posters, calendars of events. 40% is not an insignificant portion of an income.

While I wrote above about some programs I delivered far from home, I believe the local market is probably best for those of us who are not famous. Invest your energy in programs that you can drive to easily.

The Virtual Tour

In the old days, there was only the physical tour—today there is the virtual tour. I have engaged in virtual tours. I promoted a short e-book series which was packaged under the label The Memoir Writing Books Series. Each 60- to 90+-page e-book tackles one, and only one, problematic or challenging area for the memoir writer.

There is not enough space in this post to cover the topic of e-touring adequately. I will do so in a subsequent article.

If you run a blog or a podcast, please email me to invite me to be a guest.

Here to Stay launches with a book tour.

My first stop on my book tour is at the Franco-American Collection in Lewiston, Maine . This group maintains an archive and offers cultural programming. I am so pleased to launch myself from there. The launch is October 15, 2025. For those readers who can get to the Collection easily (Westminster Street, Lewiston), I invite you to attend and introduce yourselves to me.

If you can suggest a venue for me to speak at—either in person or virtually, please email me.