Katey Schultz published her debut collection of stories, Flashes of War, through a university press. Lacking the support of a major publishing house meant Schultz ended up self-financing her book tour. To get started, she spent $12,000 on a publicist, tour manager, and airfare—about forty-percent of her yearly income—she tells The Billfold. But she knew if her book was to be taken seriously, she had to take the process seriously:
Ok, I told myself, try to sell 5,000 copies in three years. One year later, I’ve sold somewhere around 1,500 books–an accurate number is shockingly difficult to get, actually–and I’m told that’s successful. It feels good, knowing what I know now, but in order to reach 5,000 I’ll need to win another award or learn how to levitate to keep the attention coming at Flashes of War. People read and forget, people recommend and move on; at the end of the day, no one is under any moral or financial obligation to buy your book. All you can do is try your best, and indeed I did.
4 responses
She never should have spent that on a publicist or a tour manager. Ridiculous. There are so many better ways to spend $12K on a book tour.
Hindsight is 20/20, B.S.
It’s not hindsight. She should’ve done her research with other authors or publishers. I’ve put together hundreds of events and readings in the Bay Area. I’ve been on book tours that never cost me a dime but actually made money. I would never hire a $5K publicist with less than 20K copies in trade orders. And for a first time writer? Unless she was a celebrity, not worth it.
It is almost like a person buying a deal from Author Solutions. Sometimes people think the cost makes it better. Like the best editor is the one that charges most. It is a difficult field to experiment and learn in, but there is a lot of info available.
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