Things Authors Can Do to Ensure a Great Reading

I promised this post as a follow-up to my previous post on book tours and how to make them successful. So, what can an author do to ensure a great reading?

–First of all, you need to become a great reader, and that is not an automatic skill set most writers are born with. Practice. Try your reading skills out on a friendly audience of family or friends if possible, and have them point out, kindly, how you can improve. Slow down. Breathe. Don’t talk in a weird “poetry voice.” Avoid substance abuse beforehand (seriously, people! I have suffered through too many readings where the readers were dead drunk or stoned or both. It does not improve your performance, though it may enhance the way you feel about the performance at the time…) Have your poems picked out so you’re not shuffling papers into the mic. Time your reading so that you actually read for the allotted time, or preferably an even shorter amount of time. Etc.

–Make friends with professors of giant creative writing classes of 200 students and up, and have them assign going to your reading as extra credit. Ha ha ha. (But seriously, if you can make that happen, you really should.) Think about people in the community you’re visiting whom you would like to hang out with, before or after the reading – that way, you’ll have something to look forward to and will be less nervous. Plus, making friends along the way is really one of the best reasons to go on a book tour. If there’s a restaurant or wine bar or coffee shop you’d particularly like to visit in the city you’ll be reading in, try to meet there – again, try to make the whole experience as pleasant as possible, because, you know, if you end up with a two-person audience, having something to look forward to afterwards will make you feel a lot better.

–Publicize your reading, and help your host (be it a professor, bookstore, or library) do the same. Provide a picture, a bio, a blurb. Social media is fine, but Facebook and twitter will only get you so far. Put up some flyers if you can, contact people in local poetry societies or book clubs. E-mail people you know to invite them personally. If you’re reading with someone else, help them publicize themselves as well – that never hurts! And newspaper/radio coverage – in Seattle, this would include alternative newspapers, which are widely respected here – is great if you can get it.

–If you’re traveling to a distant city, be sure to ask to read with a local. Once again, this person will probably become a friend, and reading with someone local means at least their parents/significant other will be there. I actually prefer reading with someone I like and admire rather than reading by myself – it just makes the night more festive, more social, less focus on me…(I call myself a half-introvert, so that may not be true for everyone, but when I read with someone whose work I specifically like I always feel like the evening was a success.)

–Mix it up. Invite a visual artist friend to display some work with your reading, or a musician friend to play with you. Interact with the audience a little. Give them chocolate, or, if possible, alcohol. (I don’t drink myself, because of some kind of weird genetic trick that keeps me from breaking it down properly, but I have observed it does great things to audiences. Think about the audience in advance, about what might make the night more fun for them.

–Try readings at places like the obvious: your local readings series and libraries and bookstores, AWP offsites, universities, yes. But also consider the unconventional: ComicCon (if you happen to write about comics) or a boat show (if you happen to be writing about boats.) If you’re just starting out, a reading with an open mike will guarantee you won’t be the most nervous person in the room. Slams are really fun if you’re comfortable with competitive performance – but remember to actually perform – slams kind of demand a bit more energy and theatricality than your local book club might. Don’t be afraid to ask a venue about a reading, or to start up a reading series yourself in your neighborhood and see how it’s done. Take chances. Be brave. Yes, get your work out there, but more important, make friends, love your art, try to take in your surroundings whether you sell a dozen books or not. I recommend not trying to squeeze every reading possible into your calender, but saying yes to the ones that feel like a good fit for you and your work (Caveat: one of my favorite reading experiences when I was just starting out was reading at a Cowboy Poet gathering, which would not have seemed like a good fit for me, seeing as how the audience was mostly older men over fifty, mostly in hats. But it was super fun! So sometimes, take a chance.)

What are your best tips for ensuring a great reading? There’s no perfect reading, but doing what you can will at least make you feel like you gave it your best shot.