Bloomsbury and Random Offer Two-for-One Deal
By John Sellers, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 12/20/2007
Attracting crowds and maintaining energy on the road can be pitfalls for any YA author on tour. This January, two publishing houses will try to prove that two heads are better than one, by sending two popular YA authors on a joint book tour. The idea came about—as ideas, both good and bad, often do—over drinks. About a year ago, Deb Shapiro, director of publicity at Bloomsbury and Walker & Co., and Judith Haut, senior v-p, communications and marketing at Random House, met up one evening and, while comparing notes, hit upon the idea of pairing an author with a forthcoming book from each of their houses—Shannon Hale from Bloomsbury and Libba Bray from Delacorte.
Libba Bray. Shannon Hale.
Photo: Cheryl Levine. Photo: Katie Janke.
“We felt they had a similar sense of humor and this great energy,” says Shapiro. “We thought, ‘Hmm, this could be a great pairing.’ ” Before sharing the idea with their colleagues, they first broached the idea with their respective authors. And the responses were resoundingly positive—Bray recalls that her first thought was, “Woo-hoo!”
With the authors enthusiastic about the idea, Haut and Shapiro pitched it to their respective houses. “People loved the idea and thought it was exciting, and thought that booksellers would be on board,” recalls Christine Labov, director of publicity at Random House Children’s Books.
The workload for setting up the six-city tour was split up by city. “Each store was contacted by one house or the other,” Labov says. “We might send out some materials, and Deb might follow up. We really have worked together and been in constant contact.”
And because the authors had never met each other, the houses arranged a “date” for the two authors at BEA last year. “Everyone was always saying, ‘You’d get along so great,’ ” Hale says, which they happily discovered to be true. “It’s funny,” Bray agrees, “because my husband [Barry Goldblatt] is her agent. I felt like I knew Shannon without really knowing her."
The tour was originally scheduled for this past fall when both Hale’s Book of a Thousand Days and Bray’s The Sweet Far Thing were to be published. However, the pub date for Bray’s book had to be pushed back to December 26. “Libba, bless her heart, had such a horrible time in rewrites,” says Hale, “but we finagled a way to do it together.” (Read PW’s story about Bray’s difficulties with the final book in her trilogy here.) Hale toured a few cities this past fall in support of Book of a Thousand Days, and the joint tour was rescheduled for January.
Both authors acknowledge that they are both looking forward to the tour’s start. “I’m extremely excited,” says Bray, “because it’s lonely on the road.” And while neither author has ever done an entire tour with another writer, they are well aware of the benefits of having someone else on stage at an event. According to Bray, who has done several panel events before, “It doesn’t feel quite as daunting. And if no one shows up you can talk to the person to your left!”
And because holding kids’ interest can be an exhausting endeavor, the authors are glad for shared support in that area too. “You don’t want the kids to be bored, and [at a joint event] you have someone else to work off of,” Hale says. “Touring can be hard. It’s nice when your downtime is with someone in the same situation. I don’t have to be entertaining—we can just turn it off and relax.”
Booksellers also see a distinct advantage to hosting joint events. “They each bring their own audience,” says Sharon Kelly Roth, director of public relations for Books & Co. in Dayton, Oh., which will host the authors on January 31. “[Fans] know their author, and they have an opportunity to meet someone new.” Roth also gives the publishers credit for trying something new. “It shows ingenuity on their part, and a willingness to think outside the box.”
“This particular pairing is very appropriate,” says Vivian Leal, youth and family programs director for Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, Calif., which will host the authors on January 22. “The themes in their fiction overlap in significant ways. They have an atmospheric mood that is very evocative and appealing.” The store expects a turnout of 400 to 500 people, and they plan to distribute ladies’ fans and have a harpist play in the store to tie in to the books' historical settings. “Their books are definitely our top handsells for young women along with Stephenie Meyer,” Leal adds. She also believes that while two authors do give an event added appeal, it’s not a guaranteed recipe for success. “I think the match needs to be as appropriate as this one, where they’re really appealing to the same audience. And then it’s fantastic.”
