Book Author as Rock Star
As the music industry looks to monetize the live performance and experiential side of band management, I have expressed skepticism that the book publishing industry can do the same. Would you pay $60 bucks to see an author in person? I wouldn’t but then again I am pretty cheap. The good stuff is on paper after all.
Random House of Canada tends to be a little more elastic about these matters. For years they have experimented with ticketed author events. First it was for crowd control reasons. Then they charged a $5 dollar fee to cover venue rental. Last night they packed the Winter Garden theatre here in Toronto for a Barbara Walters book signing. The book sold for $30 bucks and the event tickets were $20. The place was sold out.
The IFOA fills venues at the $20 per ticket range. Typically you get three authors for that price. In this instance, it is the venue that really got my attention. When you have a book signing in a theatre, it sounds a heck of a lot more like the music business.
What is next? Rock Band Author — the modern classics edition? 20 points if you can blather about your choppers a la Amis.
Good on Random for finding what works.
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