Launching a book into the world is a mind fuck. It’s exciting but often devastating and can be humiliating.
My Adventures in Book Publicity Part 3 | Book Tours
Each edition of series My Adventures in Book Publicity will feature a campaign or organization close to my heart!
My Adventures in Book Publicity
Book Tours
Low expectations and making the most out of everything big or small is the key to surviving.
Book Tours
For my third post in My Adventures in Book Publicity series, I am focusing on book tours for small and independent press authors.
Literary festivals are often what makes up a great deal of a tour for an author and allows them to afford to go because festivals or your publisher pays for travel and hotel. Then the author can do side events around the festivals.
At the time that I had planned my tour, I had not been invited to any literary festivals, so I knew if I were to do a book tour I would be footing the bill.
Just because you have a book out doesn’t mean the world is waiting for it. That can be a tough pill to swallow for some writers, and book launch season can feel like one disappointment after the next, if you let it.
I’m not going to lie.
Launching a book into the world is a mind fuck.
It’s exciting but often devastating and can be humiliating.
You may not be on a list or get a review or get an invitation.
You will compare yourself and your book to others.
You will mostly feel bad because it’s an exercise in exclusion.
Low expectations and making the most out of everything big or small is the key to surviving.
I learned this lesson with my first book and have carried it with me through subsequent publications.
Nobody cares about your book more than you.
Nobody.
A book tour looks very different for a writer who is getting paying invitations along with some travel funding or for an author who can afford to self-fund and take time off for an extensive tour.
So if you don’t get invited to a paying festival, what can you do?
For most small or independent press authors, your press will likely host a group or small group launch. But that’s it. Understandably they won’t have the financial resources to send their authors on a major book tour or even pay for them to come to the launch. This is just the reality when you are with an independent press.
Through the Writer’s Union and the League of Canadian poets there is sometimes money for events and tours. I did not access these funds, but I recommend checking them out.
This puts literary authors without extra cash to fund a tour in an awkward position.
Should you organize your own tour and take on all the expenses when you likely won’t sell enough books to make it worth it?
There is no clear-cut answer for this. It really depends on your situation and what you are hoping to get out of the tour.
I will outline what I have done in the past with my poetry books, what I did with my debut short fiction collection Anecdotes, and what I would do in the future. Plus I will offer some alternatives to the in-person book tour.
What I Did for My Previous Books
I’m just going to focus on my solo-authored traditionally published books here.
My First Book
For my first book of poetry which was published in 2011, I did not do a tour. It didn’t occur to me to do one. With my nerves, I could hardly get through the two launches let along do a book tour.
Instead, I attended Tightrope’s group book launch in Toronto and then I hosted my own launch in London at the Forest City Gallery. I grew up in London and taught at the university at the time, so I wanted to have an event where my family and friends could attend. This was less about selling books and more about celebrating the book—although a hometown event like that, you do tend to sell books especially if it’s your first book.
My Second Book
For my second book, DC Books had arranged a group launch at the Blue Met festival in Montreal and then I organized my own launch in Toronto where I invited a couple of friends to read with me.
My Third Book
For my third poetry book, Mansfield Press arranged for a four-city bookstore tour—Toronto, London, Montreal, and Ottawa, but I covered all my own travel expenses which I did by putting it on my credit card. It was fun except I had terrible nerve pain in my neck, so the tour is a bit of blur.
While I hardly sold any books, I did make friends with the two other poets who were launching with Mansfield that season, and of course it was fun to read and hang out with my editor and publisher, so it made for a great experience.
What I Did for Anecdotes
I have to say that I’m not a huge lover of doing public events. I know some writers enjoy them. But takes a lot out of me, so the event has to be worth the excessive drain on my body and mind.
Before I decided to do a book tour for my debut short story collection Anecdotes, I had two readings lined up. I was invited to the Junction Reads Series online with
in October 2023 and Susan Sandford Blades’ Wild Prose Reading Series in Victoria in January 2024.I was initially not going to do a tour because I didn’t want to pay for it, and I didn’t want to be drained. In addition, I have health issues and still mask, and I thought that would also be a hassle. These two events plus a book launch seemed like enough.
Forced Myself to Do a Book Tour
When I say I like publicity—I like online publicity. You know—doing a newsletter, making videos and social media posts, and supporting other writers. I actually don’t like being in front of people in person.
Sad, maybe, but true.
And although I don’t like it, I do it anyway. I have had such anxiety around public performance that I’ve seen acting coaches and performance psychologists about it. I seem to be better these days, but I still find it exhausting.
However, my good friend
wanted to do a book tour because his poetry book Queers Like Me was also coming out with Book*hug in the same season, and he has a terrific energy and attitude when it comes to celebrating good things and book publicity.I reluctantly agreed threatening at times to pull out. Seriously how Michael put up with me I’ll never know! Anyway, once I finally committed, Book*hug helped us arrange events in bookstores in different cities.
Announce Your Tour Dates
I wanted to keep the tour as inexpensive as possible since it was just going on my credit card (again), so I limited it to three cities that I could access by train—Toronto (at TRANZAC CLUB), Montreal (at Librairie l'Euguélionne), Ottawa (Perfect Books). Once I posted my tour dates—I got invited to Concordia’s Writers Read series and Words Festival in London (which were two paying events).
The strategy—post your tour dates and then say you’re looking for more events in and around those cities. While a series or festival might not be able to swing the whole trip for you, if they know you are coming to their region, they may add you to the ticket if you’re a cheaper date, which is what happened to me!
I’m a cheap date!
Tour with Other Authors
I always recommend touring with other writers from your press or other writers launching in the same season. It’s hard to get people out to the launches especially if you’re the only one reading, and it’s way more fun to celebrate your book with others who are celebrating their books. Sandra Ridley joined us for the three-city tour and Hana Shafi launched with us in Montreal.
At the last minute, Micheal decided to come to Victoria, so the two of us actually kicked off our book launches in Victoria. It was difficult to find a bookstore that would have us at such a late date, but Camus Books—Victoria’s anarchist bookstore—welcomed us with open arms!
It seemed like a fitting way to start our tour!
All in all, the tour was very fun. I got to see friends I hadn’t seen in years, and it was a nice way to celebrate the book.
Again, I don’t think I made enough in sales to make it financially beneficial. I never go on vacation, so I sort of saw it as a mini vacation where I happened to make pit stops to read my book.
The other benefit to doing a tour is that you keep the publicity machine going by sharing your stops on social media. It gives you or your press a reason to keep posting about the book.
Take Pictures
As they say—do as I say and not as I do.
I was not good about taking pictures, so I don’t have a ton of documentation of the tour.
That was a mistake. Make sure you document each stop and at least get some group photos of the people you’ve read with.
Spread Out the Book Tour
After the Wild Prose event where I read with JD Derbyshire and Emi Sasagawa, I had a final launch for the book which my friend Kevin Chong sweetly set up in Vancouver at Upstart and Crow with Shashi Bhat and Christopher Evans. That was in February 2024.
This made me realize that my book tour didn’t necessarily have to happen all at once in a short amount of time. In fact, spreading it out can make you less exhausted and avoid having all your publicity in a short spurt that dies off.
What I Would Do Next Time
Considering Hiring a Publicist
Next time, I would consider hiring a publicist. I don’t know how much this costs so I’m not 100% committed. And I don’t think writers should go into debt for their book.
However I would have liked help specifically with pitching festivals, reading series, and podcasts. There are things I did not do myself but could have if I had endless time and energy which I did not.
Your press will do some of this, but it’s such a big job and having more people involved is a good thing.
Hollay Ghadery from
is great. I’ve been on the receiving end of her pitches for Send My Love to Anyone. Hollay is also an author which makes her publicity strategy unique. River Street tends to focus on small press authors.My sense (and I have nothing to back this up) is that this might be cheaper than funding an entire book tour on your own. Even getting just one festival could help you create a tour using those travel funds for events in the region of that festival. But of course with hiring a publicist there is no guarantee, so it can be a bit of a risk.
Festivals and reading series are losing funding at such a rapid pace, I’m worried that there may even less space to present literary works in the future, so the more hands on deck the better.
Spread It Out
The other thing I would do differently is intentionally spread out the tour over a year to a year and a half. This would allow me to recover from events because I do get so burnt out, but also I will not be able to take time off work.
For my Anecdotes tour, I was teaching online, so I didn’t have to miss any work. In the future, I will not be in this position so a tour would look quite different.
And really no one is paying any attention to you or when your book launches are taking place. You can extend your tour for as long as you want.
What Can You Do Instead of a Book Tour?
What if you don’t want to or aren’t able to fund or take the time off or have another reason due to health or life circumstance for not wanting an in-person book tour?
While I enjoyed the book tour in the end, I’ve launched books both with a tour and without. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t do a book tour.
The key thing is that you want events in place so you can continue talking about your book. It’s about keeping the ball in the air for as long as possible.
Another harsh truth is that your press will be onto their next season’s books after about three months. So podcasts and other events online or in person can be great way to keep your book publicity going. Just because the press has to move on, doesn’t mean you have to.
Here are some ideas in addition to or in lieu of in person events or a book tour:
Online Tour
Create an online event or tour for you to do a series of readings or interviews. Likely your press would help with this, and you can invite another writer to interview you or you can do a reading with other writers from your press or other writers who are launching in the same season as you.
There are still literary series and festivals that incorporate an online component—The Fold, Draft Literary Series, Junction Reads, and the Victoria International Authors Festival come to mind.
This does take some research, but you may be able to find some online opportunities.
In 2020 when we launched Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (published by Coach House Press) co-edited by myself and 13 editors, we did a series of online events. More eyes were online at that point, but it is possible to do some cool online events.
Literary Podcasts
Pitch literary podcasts. Well before your book comes out, do some research into literary podcasts and pitch their hosts.
The great thing about this is that you can reach new audiences, and you don’t have to leave your house!
Literary podcasts tend to have a dedicated readership. I found out about literary podcasts too late into my promotion activities or else I would have pitched some.
Howwever, I ended up being invited to Tim Blackett’s (author of Grandview Drive) podcast Tim Blackett and Friends (I met Tim on Tik Tok!), Rebecca Davey and Natalie Davey’s
(who I met on Substack) and Short Story Today with Jon DiSavino (who Hollay Ghadery put me in touch with).All of these opportunities came from online networking and making friends with people who are into the same shit. I’ll go into more detail on this when I do my post on social media.
Promote to Book clubs
I didn’t do this, but if you want to promote your book and not travel, you could try to promote to literary communities where you live such as library book clubs, bookstore clubs, continue education classes, and other community spaces.
Join the Unions
Join the Writers Union, the Canadian Authors Association, and/or the League of Canadian Poets.
Often there are opportunities for new members to read in their regions. Also if you are a member of these unions then your book is eligible for various book awards.
Pitch Universities and Colleges in Your Region
If you have a college or university in your area, why not send an email to the English or Writing Department and let them know about your book. Try and get in touch well before the fall semester starts, and an instructor might be able to bring you in as a guest speaker online or on Zoom.
Universities are cutting funding for guest speakers so there is often no money for travel and very small honorariums if any. If you’re looking for a place to read and talk about a book, you might consider letting the department know that you’re in town or plan to be in town and would love to visit a class in person or on Zoom.
It’s worth a shot. It might not be a paying gig if you’re doing the asking, but at least you’re not paying to play.
With limited paying opportunities and the defunding of series and festivals, small press and independent authors have to get creative with their publicity.
My advice is do what you can within the limits of your situation.
It can feel terrible and vulnerable waiting for people to notice you or your book, and it’s difficult to create opportunities for yourself when you’re feeling forgotten or overlooked, but if you’re able to do something, this can lead to other opportunities.
Remember you have a book. That is a huge accomplishment, and you want to make the most of it.
I’d love to hear about your book tour experience and other book tour publicity tips or ideas for small press and underfunded authors.
My Adventures in Book Publicity Series
Curious about my debut story collection? Check it out at Book*hug Press.
Kathryn Mockler is the author of the story collection Anecdotes (Book*hug Press, 2023), which won the 2024 Victoria Butler Book Prize and was a finalist for the 2024 Trillium Book Award, 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, 2024 Fred Kerner Award, and 2024 VMI Besty Warland Between Genres Award. She co-edited the print anthology Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020). Her films have screened at TIFF, EMFA, the Palm Springs Film Festival and most recently at the Arizona Underground Film Festival and REELPoetry/HoustonTX. She runs the literary newsletter Send My Love to Anyone and teaches screenwriting and fiction in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria.
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This is so useful!! Thanks for sharing. I also find it exhausting to be in public and the idea of promoting ME scares the crap out of me! As the host of Junction Reads my biggest advice is to pitch early! If your book is coming out next year, START NOW!! Most series kick off in September (or at least curated with a Fall start date). We already have a waiting list for the 2025/2026 season so if an author reaches out in September about their book that launches in November, we won’t have a spot. The entire season will be locked down by the middle of May, so if your book comes out next June, we still won’t have a spot. It is so difficult to say no to authors with great books, so one of our criteria has become pub date. We choose the most recent. Shitty, I know, but we had to create some way of narrowing the list.
Mockler, you are a fucking gem, this is SO helpful! Especially for, ahem, those of us with sizeable gaps between our books, amid a literary landscape that undergoes so much change! I've saved it for planning re my spring 2026 book. xoxo