Notes form the Road

Making a quick lunch stop in Lennoxville, Quebec, where Robin Harlick and I are appearing at Bishop’s University this afternoon.

Yesterday was the first stop on the book tour, at Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, Quebec. It is a wonderful independent bookstore owned by Danny and Lucy. We were put onto the store by Louise Penny who kindly introduced us, via e-mail. Brome Lake is her local bookstore, as she lives not far away. Louise and Michael came out to our event, and we had a great time.

Attendance was somewhat selective, shall we say.

Which raises the question: is it worth it? It is worth travelling for hours, paying to stay in a hotel or B&B, meals on the road, to sell and handful of books.
I’d suggest it depends on the store. A local independent bookstore can be the hub of a community. Few people may come to your event; Sunday night isn’t the best after all. But there was a nice display beforehand, and several books were sold before we even arrived, our names and pictures were in the local paper, and people who did come said they would tell their friends.

So was it worthwhile? Well, if we hadn’t gone, we wouldn’t have sold any books and no one would ever have heard of us.