To blog or not to blog. More specifically, to tour blog or not to tour blog.
Pros, from my point-of-view: I dunno. What are the pros of a tour blog? I loved Laurie King’s, but — she’s Laurie King! Ditto Lee Child. Lee Child’s tour blog is more exciting than some people’s novels. Debonair Englishmen flies across the country, is greeted everywhere by adoring women, drinks excellent beer, watches Yankees. Man, change the locale to Boston and the team to the Red Sox, and it’s practically a Spenser novel.
Cons: Burglars. Although I want to be clear that THERE WILL BE SOMEONE IN MY HOUSE WHENEVER I AM ON THE ROAD, NOT TO MENTION AN ALMOST OMNIPRESENT CONTRACTOR AND A SHARP-EYED NEIGHBOR WHO LIKES TO SMOKE A CIGAR ON HIS FRONT STEPS. (RE: Contractor. I have a rotted cornice. Go ahead, take your best shot.)
Truth-telling. Self-explanatory. Fact is, I think it would have to err on the side of fluffiness because I would never criticize anyone publicly — not a bookseller, not a reader, not a reviewer, not an escort. But I might let fly about a random taxi driver.
Share your thoughts, don’t pull your punches.
Laura, I’d love to follow your tour through your blog. (I was one of those folks checking in daily with Lee Child’s blog and appreciating the flavor of each city with him.)
Somehow it makes The-Great-Writer-Herself more accessible, more real.
As if you need that.
Louise
Louise,
But what about the not-so-Great-Writer-Herself? Because she’s the only person I can make available.
(I have to get into a very negative headspace just before publication.)
I like tour blogs, but you do have another option: just keeping a little journal for yourself and then, when you get back, posting all about it. That way you get the best bits and fewer burglars.
If the Not-So-Great-Writer shows up, I wouldn’t recognize her. And she would probably be using an alias.
Travel well. I’ll stop by at whichever event is closest to the water in San Francisco.
Blog away! I love to read what you write… but do what you want. Always.
Hey, I loved the secret one last year. And as I was doing off and on events, it was great to know I wasn’t the only one on the road going through all this.
Besides, you’re not coming to my town [*sniff!* Was it something I said?], so I’d like to have some of your postcards from the edge.
Of course, if you had a dual identity, you could really mess with a burglar’s head.
I have only followed one author’s tour blog and I enjoyed her travels, comments about friends, reactions to her book, the fact that she likes gimlets. While I can’t travel like that, it was enlightening to hear about different audience reactions, meeting up with old friends. Hey go, blog, I’ll read it and live thru your experience.
If I were keeping a tour blog right now, I could mention that there is a sudden and urgent need for a color photograph to accompany a review in a national publication that has never been very nice to my books (but has run lovely color photos of me.)
Or I could explain that, about ten days prior to publication, I enter Worst-Case-Scenario World, where I imagine many bad things, and I have an excellent imagination. I’m here now, setting up the tent and the cookstove.
Devoted Reacher Creature here, chiming in on the wonderfulness of tour blogs, and agreeing with Louise that it’s great to experience various tour spots through wonderful writers’ eyes.
And what is this folderol about not-so-Great-Writer-Herself? Phooey – you rock
Um, er, I don’t have to tell you how immeasurably fond I am of you, my friend, but tour blogs? Um, I guess I’m in a minority. They bore me. I’m not very nice I guess because I don’t CARE who you saw or what bookstore you were at or how many people showed up. I DO care, actually but don’t have a lot of patience to sit and reada bout it unless it’s somehting new;/different (new store, huge crowd where before only the usual folks, or somehting.) I don’t enjoy seeing photos of “TOURING AUTHOR with THIS PERSON I don’t know” or “TOURING AUTHOR standing in bookstore with vaguely familiar person.” I mean, um, forgive me but I know what you look like and I don’t get a lot out of “visiting” some place that either a) I will never be or b) have been but so?
I don’t read ‘em unless i happen to be on the blog anyway; yes i did read yours last tour but um, well? (ok, this year for SURE, dammit). But I don’t get the attraction of them. So you’re on tour. GREAT, I’m really glad. And you’re getting to see people and sign books. That too is terrific. What do I remember from last year – the ducks. THAT is worth blogging about.
Um, er, um gosh, sorry? I feel like such a wet blanket saying all this.
Andi,
Please — I asked everyone to be _candid_. <g>
Seriously, this is helpful so far. I’m leaning toward a private site and people who are interested can e-mail me and ask for the address and password. Then it’s not forced on anyone.
But no firm decisions yet. However, if I do go ahead with this plan — I’d like all burglars to put that in the subject header. As in: Local Burglar Interested in Ripping You Off This July.
Wouldn’t touring jar different memories? Why would it have to be any different from The Memory Project?
Ack! I just checked your schedule and there’s no San Francisco signing planned! Now I insist that you do some kind of mini tour blog. (Insist, my ass. But I’d be eternally grateful.)
Louise
I am leaning toward a private blog at this time.
Here’s the scoop: E-mail me for the URL and password. If you’re a lurker here, or someone whose e-mail won’t ring a bell, it would be nice if you identify yourself.
Remember: If you’re a burglar, please identify yourself in the subject header.
I think we can safely say that I’m not typical and leave it at that. I so appreciate what you say but I just wonder; I’m sure most folks would love to hear from an author on tour if it’s an author they like/are fans of/whose blog they read. Your blog is NEVER forced – either in content or on anyone. It’s always a choice to come here and read – one of the truly neat things about blogs. You get to read WHAT you want, IF you want, WHEN you want. It’s not like i’d be having to scroll through post after post after post of Really Dumb Shit. You’re not capable of that.
Thinking about this some I also realized that it has more to do with who is posting than what it’s about. what I mean is I’d probably choose to read your tour blog over some other author’s blog about ANYthing because you are more interesting to read. On pretty much any topic. Period. I of course read every syllable of Cornelia’s blog about touring because she could make a, a, a recipe hysterically funny. So it’s more the source.
And Laura? there are a few new action figures. I’ll email you – my mom and I are buying one of the new ones.
The advantage with a private-ish site is that you can afford to be a little more candid and drop some of the fluffiness. While tour blogs can be a little “I went here and there were some people there. It was nice. I went there and there were some people there. It wasn’t quite as nice as the last place, but they gave me prawn sandwiches.” there’s usually enough oddball stuff to keep things interesting. Certainly was IIRC on your last one.
I say go for it.
The thing with most burglars is that they aren’t smart enough to read tourblogs.
Which is to say, go for it, whatever form it takes.
I say blog!
I had a rotted cornice once.
But I got some ointment and it cleared up.
I’d love to read the tour blog, but I’d love it even more if you were coming to Denver on your tour! I could give you the personalized Beany Malone tour, complete with getting lost up in the Stockyards area!
Denver isn’t that far from Albuquerque!
Tour blogs rule. I’m so out of touch, I haven’t seen this post until now and thought I was being left out… thank God for people to point the way… end of school year haze
Zelda,
Denver could happen next year, as a family trip, so don’t count me out just yet.
tour blog. duh!
If you need to get in a negative headspace before publication then I’d be happy to do my duty as a devoted fan and tell you how poorly you write. I mean seriously, have you ever tried to follow one of your plots? And those characters…
Echoing Dave�s comment about the end of school haze, I�ve just finished a 3,000 word study of Hammett�s political views as espoused in both his life and fiction and want nothing so much as I want to sleep.
My view, for what it�s worth, is that a private blog is probably the way to go and to say that I�d be interested in obtaining access to the same.