One More Bit About Readings….

….I was in France in June for the Roman Noir Festival. It’s a great event in Frontignan near Sete in the South of France. Because I was going to be relatively close to Switzerland, I contacted my German publisher about six weeks in advance and suggested that I come over to meet with them, since I never had. They thought it was a great idea and even put together a couple of readings for me to do in the Zurich area….When I got to Switzerland, my publicist apologized, explaining that since they had to arrange the events in a relatively short time that there would be no fee…”Fee?” I said, thinking ,Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?…My publicist explained that normally writers receive the equivalent of 500 Euros for readings. I said, “Very famous writers, right?”…She said, “No. The famous ones get 2,000.”…This all came as big news to me, and I later learned that paid readings are commonplace throughout Germany and Switzerland, and because bookstores are shelling out lots of money, readings typically draw 100-200 people…All of this made me think how different things would be in the U.S. if, say, BN and Borders paid writers a minimum of $750 per reading. Right now the superstores have no real stake in the attendance of their events. If they get 5 people, great; if they get 50 people, great….But if the stores were playing authors decent money then they would work their butts off to fill up those stores. It would also create a lot of new enthusiasm for books and readings…The money in our pockets wouldn’t be so bad either, would it?