Last night was my second home reading, in Austin, Texas. There were close to 30 people. Amanda Eyre Ward brought brisket. I read at the front of the living room, near the kitchen. Doug Dorst opened for me and Book People, the local bookstore, sold books.

I did a long reading, quite a bit longer than I would do in a bookstore. Then there was a break where people mulled around and drank wine and bought books. I sold fifteen books, which presents an interesting math. Because there is airfare, which my publisher covers, and I’m not working on much else while I’m on tour. But then there’s the coverage in the local media, which amounts to some kind of something. And there’s the ride to and from the airport, the dinner, the bedroom (why is everybody else’s bed more comfortable than my own?). It’s certainly more people, and more books, than I would have sold if I read in the local bookstore. Also, we had a long discussion in the living room. People stayed. They were still drinking and talking when I went to bed around midnight.

The reading was fun. I mean really fun, like, life-affirming fun. A room packed with people (30 people feels pretty tight in someone’s living room), great conversation, food and drink.

The truth about reading in bookstores, in cities where you don’t live, is that they are often not fun. It’s fun meeting the bookstore owners and employees, who are usually lovers of literature, kindred, artistic souls. But often not many people show up, often they leave you feeling sterile and sad, and when the reading is done you go out with a friend or two, or go back to a hotel room. You don’t spend enough time with the audience to really connect. And last night, just like in Lincoln, many people told me they had never been to a book reading before.

Still, when I think about trying to get people to read a book, sometimes it’s like a thin rain, the kind that never wets the sidewalk. I don’t know if this is an effective way to sell books. I don’t know what that would look like. But here’s the other side of that coin. This is the best book I’ve ever written, and possibly ever will. You can’t work on something that long and just leave it out there to die.

I was talking to an author the other day, a very famous author. He said, controversy sells. He also said, sometimes it’s just about getting the book in the hands of one person, the right person. You don’t know who that person is.

So you hit the road, and you ask people to read your book. If they don’t like it, there’s nothing you can do. It’s not a job with great odds. But you’ve locked yourself in a room for two years to write it. I don’t look down on readers. I don’t think I’m entitled to readers. I always think readers are doing me a favor. I like what Emily Gould had to say here. At the same time, and this is maybe the most important thing, when asking people to read your book you should do so with as much integrity as you used to write the book. But you’ll have to figure out what that means for yourself.

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