OK. I'm about to venture out for my first dinner on the "Paul Doiron Poacher's Son Portland-to-Portland" pre-sell book tour. (I need to get T-shirts made.) For those not familiar with this concept—I wasn't familiar with this concept a month ago—I am headed across the country to talk with booksellers about my forthcoming novel, The Poacher's Son. The book won't be published for many moons (or at least six moons, I think). But the goal for the contemporary author is to interest booksellers in your novel well in advance of the actual publication date. So you'd like to meet people and talk with them about how and why you wrote your magnum opus, and if it's any good, hopefully they'll have questions and want to engage in a dialogue. If you can be charming, I suppose, that's a plus. But having been a bookseller myself, I know the bullshit detector is off the scale in the industry, so my goal is simply to be myself and pray that's enough.
Fortunately for me, I'm starting in Portland, Maine, at one of my favorite restaurants, with a friendly group of bookstore owners that includes people I've known for years. It's like the Romper Room of book tour introductions. Or so I hope.