On the road again with Gollancz Publicist Jon Weir

This week, I hit the road again with Brandon Sanderson as we embark on a tour as epic as one of his books . . . You’ll find the dates below.

Anyone outside of publishing thinks it’s an industry of glitz and glamour (thanks Bridget Jones) when the truth is most of the time I’m sat behind a desk. So you can imagine how excited I get when I head out on a book tour with an author. I’ve toured with some great authors at Gollancz including Robert Rankin, Joe Abercrombie, Charlaine Harris, Joe Hill and Stephen Donaldson and each tour is a lot of hard work. They take months of planning to set up and then each day is a whirlwind of train travel, taxis, eating on the run, interviews, meeting the fans and signing lots and lots of books before finally crashing out at the hotel to get up ridiculously early and do it all the next day. Though to be fair, we do usually stay in some pretty fabulous hotels.

And do you know? I’d not change a thing. Because while the internet and social media especially have given fans the access to authors that they never had before, allowing you to tweet or send a message to them on Facebook and often receive a reply, there’s still no replacement for the excitement of meeting them in the flesh. Which is why I love touring; there’s nothing that can quite beat the sight of a long signing line, or a packed events room, as hundreds of eager faces wait their turn to meet their favourite author and get their book signed. It’s still one of the most magical things about working in publishing.

So we do hope to see as many of you as possible over the week of the tour, but do please be patient. Brandon’s signing lines can be quite long and he likes to spend as much time as he can with everyone and answer their questions. While you’re waiting you could strike up a conversation with the person next to you and make a new friend! We’d also love to see your pictures from the events. We’ll post as many as we can on our Facebook Page to share the fun of the events with everyone.

See you out on the road . . .

Saturday November 19, 2011
1pm – Signing
Forbidden Planet
179 Shaftesbury Avenue
London
WC2H 8JR

Monday 21 November, 2011
12.30pm – Signing
Waterstones
71-73 High Street
Guildford GU1 3DY

6.30pm – Talk and Signing
Waterstones
Midsummer Place
Milton Keynes MK9 3GA

Tuesday 22 November, 2011
12.30pm – Signing
Waterstones
24-26 High Street
Birmingham B4 7SL

7pm – Talk and Signing
Waterstones
1/5 Bridlesmith Gate
Nottingham NG1 2GR

Wednesday 23 November, 2011
12.30pm – Signing
Waterstones Liverpool One
12 College Lane
Liverpool L1 3DL

7pm – Talk and Signing
Waterstones
91 Deansgate
Manchester M3 2BW

Thursday 24 November, 2011
12.30pm – Signing
28-29 High Ousegate
York YO1 8RX

6.30pm – Talk and signing
Waterstones Edinburgh West End
128 Princes Street
Edinburgh EH2 4AD

Friday 25 November 2011
6.30pm – Talk and singing
Waterstones
Emerson Chambers, Blackett Street
Newcastle NE1 7JF