One thing I’ve appreciated along the road to publishing my first book is learning from the experiences of others. Jacqueline Deval, in Publicize Your Book (which I found incredibly useful in my own education on the business side of the book world), recommended reading Neil Gaiman’s online diary (scroll to the bottom of the archives page on Gaiman’s site) that he kept in the months that led up to, and after the publication of, his novel American Gods. It was a real eye-opener to me on how much planning, and how many varied activities, take place leading up to the publication of a book.

Though I have no intention of duplicating what Gaiman did, I will do my best to add posts to this blog about my own upcoming “author tour” in support of Inheriting the Trade in ways that I hope may help other aspiring writers.

My publicist at Beacon Press, Leah Riviere, is doing an amazing job. We communicate via e-mail regularly and have detailed phone conversations whenever it feels important to do so (2-3 times weekly at this point, just a month prior to publication date). Confirming a date at a bookstore, or other venue, that fits into a logical progression for travel is a time-consuming juggling act. And setting up the tour must be done in the midst of sending out press packets and review copies of the book to various media around the nation-with a particular emphasis on cities on the tour-as well as beginning to schedule radio, television, and print interviews around the time of publication in early January.

The January leg of the tour is now just about set. I’ll be starting in Washington DC on January 9th at Olsson’s Books and Records. Katrina and I are both set to fly to Duke University on the 11th and to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City for “Let My People Go: A Service of Liberation” on the 13th. I’ll be at Linden Place Museum (featured prominently in the book and film) in Bristol, Rhode Island on the 14th. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing there yet, but I’ll be in Boston on the 15th and 16th. Then, along with Katrina and several members of the Family of Ten, I’ll travel to Utah on the 17th. I’ll be in Park City for the entire Sundance Film Festival (January 17-27) in support of Katrina and Traces of the Trade as it makes its World Premiere. We plan to schedule a book event at a Park City bookstore while I’m there. After the festival, I’ll fly to Denver where I’ll be at the Tattered Cover bookstore (the LoDo location) on January 31.

I suppose I should say this schedule is subject to change, but I believe it’s pretty well set at this point. Now we’re beginning to work on the west coast portion of the tour which will begin in February (stay tuned!).

After all the years of writing, seeking an agent and publisher, working with my editor and copyeditor, proofreading, and all the rest, I look forward to the next chapter in this journey. It’s all been quite an education and the learning continues.

For more detailed information about the tour, please visit the schedule page on my website.