April tour begins - lessons in how to sell your book

The Valley Of Shields tour was always going to be a ``lighter'' tour than the Bridge Of Shields, which went for seven weeks.
This is a ``mere'' four but as it includes Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney, it's still pretty full-on.
First week kicked off with a trip to Perth, followed by two Sydney stores and two Central Coast stores.
So it was nine stores in four days, which was a pretty solid debut by anyone's standards.
Perth was great and I particularly loved how people I'd met at the Perth Supanova in 2012 came back to speak to me in 2013. That meant a great deal!
I'd never done any Perth bookstores before but the ones I visited were great. The weather was stinking hot, which wasn't too helpful but the warmth of the welcome I received made up for it!
Sydney, by contrast, was wet and cool. The North Sydney street fair on the Saturday was something of a damp squib. I felt sorry for the stallholders and organisers, who had gone to great lengths only for the rain to defeat things. I'll have to get back there in May, on a weekday.
Chatswood, by contrast, was completely packed and almost impossible to get a park.
On Sunday I'd planned something special - a couple of mates dressed as Forlish warriors from the Empire Of Bones series. It would have been entertaining, had they not been injured and unable to appear!
Still, there's always next time.
It was strange - the two Sunday stores were my ``locals''. At Erina I had lots of friends and family dropping by to say hello but I still had more fun at Tuggerah, selling out of Wounded Guardians and Bridge Of Swords.
It is fascinating how a store's location can change the clientele. At Erina, people are rushing past to get to other parts of the centre. At Tuggerah they stroll along. It makes it a lot easier when people are more relaxed!
So, one week done and three to go ...

April tour!

Well, Valley Of Shields is officially out and so it's time to hit the road to speak to people, wave some books around and help bookstores sell some books!
If you want to get some books signed, or just have a chat, here's where I will be:

PERTH:
Thursday April 4: Dymocks Hay St: 11am; Stefen's Books, 1pm; Dymocks Morley: 4pm
Friday April5: Dymocks Garden City: 10am; Dymocks Carousel: 1pm
SYDNEY
Saturday April 6: North Sydney Dymocks 10am; Chatswood Dymocks: 1.30pm
Sunday: Erina Dymocks 10.30am; Tuggerah Dymocks: 1.30pm

Thursday April 11: Dymocks Penrith at 11am and again from 4pm
Friday April 12: Dymocks Burwood at 11am (TBC)

MELBOURNE:
Saturday April 13: Dymocks Collins St from 10am (TBC); Supanova
Sunday April 14: Supanova

ADELAIDE:
Thursday April 18: Dymocks Adelaide Rundle Mall from 12pm

SYDNEY

Friday April 19: Dymocks Rouse Hill from 11am
Saturday April 20: Book Bazaar Umina from 10am; Dymocks Castle Towers from 1pm
Sunday April 21: Dymocks Warringah from 11am

Tuesday April 23: Kinokuniya from 12pm
Wednesday April 24: Dymocks Carlingford

ACT
Friday April 26: Town & Country Books Goulburn 11am; Canberra Central from 5pm
Saturday April 27: Dymocks Belconnen from 12pm
Sunday April 28: Dymocks Tuggeranong from 10am

NB: That weekend I'll also be at NatCon (Conflux) in Canberra, with a reading on Friday afternoon from 3pm, a panel on Saturday at 10am, a kafeeklatsch on Saturday from 11am, a panel Saturday from 4pm and the OFFICIAL launch of Valley Of Shields at 6.30pm!