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 ...