A: This varies from book to book. Publishers are increasingly of the mind, however, that book tours are not cost-effective ways to sell books, and in many cases I agree with them. If you want to tour your book and your publisher does not want to pay for it, my advice is to try to set up sponsored speaking engagements where your travel costs are covered. As long as you don't ask your publisher to finance your tour they will generally be happy to try to set up bookstore events and local media for you. The other very important thing you can do is to go to every book store in your area and whatever other towns or cities you happen to visit, on tour or not. Introduce yourself to the manager and offer to sign your book. This is not a signing, but just a drop-in. Don't be shy-be friendly and polite, and don't take it personally if you are occasionally turned down. Bookstore employees are generally quite happy to meet authors, and this again creates a relationship that is more likely to lead to the handselling of your book. Additionally, signed stock will be displayed more prominently, and this can also lead to increased sales. Carry a flyer with you that has information about your book: if you happen to chance upon a store that does not carry it, you can urge them to order it and leave the flyer as a reminder. If you do go on a tour, take advantage of it and build personal relationships with booksellers and readers around the country. If they like you, and push your book, this can make a huge difference in sales.

Q: Will the publisher advertise my book?

A: Book advertising is a controversial and complicated topic. Many people are of the opinion that advertising books is a poor use of the promotion budget. Generally, you will not get an advertisement in, say, The New York Times book review, unless you have received really wonderful reviews from prestigious publications and the publisher wants to use them to get the word out. Advertising is more likely to occur in more targeted (and cheaper!) kind of publications-so that if you have written a book about cats, the publisher may pay for an ad in Cat Fancy magazine. Some advice: don't focus your energy on trying to get your publisher to run ads. Instead, if they are willing to spend money, far better to focus on doing a radio drive-time campaign or a satellite t.v. tour or having them hire an outside publicist.

Q: Will I go on Oprah? The Today Show? Charlie Rose?

A: Can you imagine how many books are pitched to Oprah each year? Those that catch her eye tend to do so out of a combination of luck and tenacity. I've heard of one book getting on the air because Oprah saw her hairdresser reading it! Having said this, there is always the chance that you or the publisher will get you some national media. If you do land a national show, congratulations! If you've never been on tv, try to get some media training before you go on-it can make a huge difference.

Meanwhile work any connection you can think of, and focus on any media you can get-no newspaper, radio show, television show, or website is too small or insignificant. Focus on building a readership one customer at a time. Even the very smallest exposure can result in creating loyal readers for you.

Q: I went to my neighborhood bookstore today and they didn't have my book. Isn't that the publisher's fault?

A: Remember that the publisher ultimately has no control over who does or does not choose to stock your book. Their sales rep has pitched your book, but if the store chooses not to order it, there isn't really anything they can do. If you find a store that doesn't carry your book, don't call your editor. Instead, ask to meet the store's manager. Tell him or her that you are a local author and show him a copy of your book or a flyer that you have made up with reviews, etc. Ask him or her politely to consider carrying it. Then, if you want to be really cunning, have one or two of your friends go in the next day and ask for it. Chances are, they will reconsider their decision.
Also, keep in mind that the publisher doesn't control how many copies of your book a bookstore will order. If you see only one or two of your books on the shelf, keep in mind that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's far better to have the bookstore sell out and re-order more books, than to have too many and have to send them back (see "sellthrough," discussed below). No matter how many books the store is carrying, remember to offer to sign stock. Hopefully, this will get you more prominent placement in the store, if you don't have it already.

Q: Why hasn't the publisher released a paperback edition of my book?

A: It means that either they tried to sell paperback rights to another house and no one wanted to buy them, or that hardcover sales have been too low to justify the publisher printing their own paperback edition. Another possible reason is that sometimes if a hardcover book is selling phenomenally well, the publisher waits longer than is traditional (usually about a year) to release the paperback. The idea is if readers are still willing to pay $23.95 for your book, why give them the opportunity to get it at a much lower price?

Q: How many copies do you need to sell for the book to be considered a success?

A: A complicated issue. One indicator of success is whether or not you have earned out your advance. Take Author A and Author B. They both sell 25,000 copies of their book. Author A received a $25,000 advance for his book. Author B received $200,000. Author A's book is considered successful. He will be able to sell his next book for more money. Author B's book is considered less of a success. It will be more difficult for her to sell the next one, and she will probably get less than $200,000. Keep in mind, however, that there will always be exceptions to this sort of situation. If Author B has a really great idea or she is a celebrity or has a huge platform, she may still be able to sell her next book for a significant amount.

Another indicator of success is sell-through. Say Author A has initial orders for his book from bookstores of 10,000 copies. All these copies sell, and there are reorders to justify a second printing of 5,000 copies. Author B has initial orders of 50,000 copies. Yet 30,000 of these end up getting shipped back to the publisher. Guess who is considered the bigger success here? Better to have a small first printing and sell all your copies, than to have a huge first printing that mostly ends up in remainder bins. When your book gets published, focus less on the amount of the first printing, and more on making sure that whatever copies are printed are flying out of the stores.