Day #11--Last Day of Book Tour

Today was an all drive-by day, no event signings scheduled.

I tell you, I question the wisdom of sleeping on my brother's couch vs. a bed in a 5 star hotel. Though I didn't get to enjoy the facilities at any of the hotels, they sure had nice beds.

My brother has a lumpy couch. Plus he's got one of those hairless Japanese dogs that heats up to about 120 degrees and likes to sleep on people's heads. Not the best night of sleep I've had on tour.

I woke up early, took the dog off my face, and began the drive-bys:

Borders in Tukwila, signed 3 hardcovers and 8 paperbacks.

Barnes & Noble in Tukwila, signed 4 hardcovers and 5 paperbacks.

Waldenbooks in Tukwila, signed 3 hardcoveras and 5 paperbacks.

Borders in Tacoma, signed 4 hardcovers and 15 papebacks, sold 1.

Waldenbooks in Tacoma, signed 2 hardcovers and 5 paperbacks, sold 2.

Whoddunit Books in Olympia, signed 1 paperback, but chatted witht he owner and she'll order many more.

B. Dalton in Olympia, signed 2 paperbacks.

Barnes & Noble in Olympia, signed 2 hardcovers and 10 paperbacks, sold 1.

Barnes & Noble in Lakewood, signed 4 hardcovers and 9 paperbacks.

FINAL TOUR TOTALS---I signed a total of 933 books at 105 bookstores, and passed out 775 signed coasters. I shook hands with over 300 booksellers and hundreds of customers and fans.

FINAL THOUGHTS---After hitting the 100th store, there was no ticker tape parade or round of applause. All I felt was tired, and somewhat overwhelmed. There are over 5000 bookstores in the US, and I'd only visited less than 2% of them. Does that make a difference? Will all of this hard work impact my numbers significantly?

Rather than be satisfied with a job well done, I can only think of the work left to do. I take the red-eye home tomorrow morning, but instead of going home I have an event in Wisconsin that night. Then, a day to play catch up (I'm judging a Writer's Digest contest) and then off to Michigan for a week for more drive-bys during my family vacation.

But I'm happy I hit my goal of 100, and I believe I've impressed my publisher, which is a good thing.

While the publisher sponsored part of the tour has ended, I'll continue touring for the rest of the year, doing events and drive-bys, getting my name out there.

But for the time being, I think I'll have a beer...