Are Virtual Book Events Here to Stay?

Book tours and author events are a fixture of bookselling.

Finish this sentence: “If not for Covid-19 . . .”

It could be completed in a million, mostly negative, ways. However, for me and perhaps the bookselling industry, might I suggest that the pandemic has offered a few bright spots. If not for Covid-19, I might never have had the chance to field a question to one of my favorite authors while sitting on my couch in my sweatpants.

On a quiet Tuesday night a few weeks ago, Women and Children First—a Chicago bookstore—hosted a virtual book tour for Ashley C. Ford’s memoir Somebody’s Daughter, with Glennon Doyle as moderator. I typed a question into the chat box for the Q and A portion and listened on as Ashley offered thoughtful responses to others’ inquiries, including what she ate for dinner the night of her book launch (answer: steak, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and Champagne). Glennon informed the audience that she would pick one more question, and I white-knuckled the armrest as she read my query aloud: “How did you keep writing through tricky and painful emotions? Did it slow you down or give you pause?”

Ashley smiled her big grin. “Yeah, and it did give me pause and sometimes I just stopped . . . The thing that got me through it . . . is that I came back . . . It’s like a wall that you have to keep walking into, it’s like . . . one of my favorite movies is The Secret Garden . . . the 1993 version, and I think of it kind of as how that garden wall is covered in that ivy, and you have to just put your hands in there and try to find the key.”

As the daughter of a former independent bookseller, I’ve been to my fair share of in-person book events. I took them for granted, though I always found them enjoyable, sometimes even magical. Lucky to grow up in the Harry Potter generation, I remember the summer midnight book releases fondly. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I became obsessed with virtual book tours. They offered entertainment, purpose, and connection in a time when these feelings were in short supply. While the unparalleled pivot online was one few booksellers, authors, or publishers would have freely chosen, this format seemed to scratch an itch for me as a reader and writer. It also sparked some questions: What did the rest of the book industry experience in this switch to virtual, and what does the future hold for the format?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, I became obsessed with virtual book tours. 

Book tours and author events are a fixture of bookselling. They are often held in partnership with a bookstore and occur when a book is first published or when the paperback version comes out. The goal of these events, first and foremost, is to drum up sales for a particular book or author. The interaction between attendees at these events is a lucrative feedback loop as well. “The cross talk that takes place between the audience as they’re waiting . . . there’s a lot of synergy that sells not only that author’s book but other books,” explains Geoffrey Jennings, an independent bookseller with Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas. Excitement and buzz generate demand, so the traditional system of in-person book events seemed to work well for the whole ecosystem.

Beyond the bottom-line, traditional book tours also offer non-monetary benefits. “I think the benefit of traditional book tours is the magic behind seeing our favorite author in person!” says Margaret Riley King, the literary agent for the likes of Austin Channing Brown, Jeannette Walls, and Glennon Doyle. For authors, celebration is an aspect as well, according to novelist Julia Fine. “Writing and publishing a book is a huge commitment . . . countless hours of work, often alone. A book tour feels almost like a victory lap—a place to talk about and share your work.” Historically, these events “rarely” took place online, explained Emer Flounders, Senior Publicity Manager with HarperCollins. That was until, of course, the pandemic changed everything.

In those dark days of early 2020, bookselling, like many other industries, retreated from store fronts and relocated online. This left publishers unsure of how to promote their new releases, many of which were pushed back on the calendar into 2021. “I was very impressed with the way the entire industry pivoted to virtual,” shared Flounders in reflection. Events cropped up using platforms like Crowdcast, Zoom, Facebook, and Instagram. Nashville’s Parnassus Books, co-owned by author Ann Patchett, invited followers into their Staff Meetings by streaming “The Laydown Diaries” each Tuesday on Instagram. In these videos, the Parnassus team would share that week’s new book releases, commenting along on their personal favorites. Authors also got creative with Instagram, sharing “slice of life” moments. Notably, Glennon Doyle leveraged Instagram Live to host “Morning Meetings.” During these talks, she shared anecdotes about caring for and trusting oneself that echoed themes from her memoir, Untamed, a bestseller despite (or perhaps because of) its March 2020 release date.

As both booksellers and attendees got more comfortable with the technical aspects of virtual programming, some shops simply shifted their existing events calendar online. “We’ve kept up the pace,” says Elyse Adler, Director of Events at Parnassus Books. Other stores drummed up a more modest virtual event presence—turning elsewhere to drive revenue or cut costs. Rainy Day Books, for instance, hosted virtual events primarily at request. “The numbers just weren’t there,” explained Jennings, “Our job is to put books physically into the hands of people, not do TV shows.”

Regardless of their varied approaches to virtual events, booksellers seemed to agree that the book sales they generated generally did not parallel those from a traditional, in-person event. According to the New York Times, 98% of the books published in 2020 sold fewer than five thousand copies. To put this in perspective, Electric Literature outlines that if a new author sells less than five thousand copies of their first book, they “could be in trouble” selling their next book to a traditional publisher.

Authors, too, were torn about the switch to online. Touring can be exhausting, with virtual events allowing authors the time and space to recuperate after the equally exciting and overwhelming experience of a book release. Others, though, found online promotion wanting and missed the physicality of bookstores. “With my first, I popped in [to a bookstore] to check on it, could watch people pick it up and consider it,” recounts Fine, describing the difference between the 2018 launch of her debut novel What Should Be Wild, and the 2021 publication of The Upstairs House. “This time around, it’s all been much more online and felt more anticlimactic.”

On the other hand, virtual events lengthened the window for press opportunities for some new releases, shared Flounders, who worked on the March 2021 publication of The Lost Apothecary. “We were able to schedule events for months after the book’s release. Traditionally, there might have been a local launch and then a national tour, but once that’s over, event opportunities would not be as plentiful. [Authors have] been able to do events throughout the spring and summer.” Michael Chin, Events Director at Books Are Magic bookstore in Brooklyn, New York says that virtual book tours are “absolutely” here to stay, largely because of how online programming boosts access for those unwilling or unable to attend in-person events. “There will always be contingents of both authors and prospective event attendees who feel more comfortable not traveling,” he says, whether that be for health-and-safety concerns or lifestyle factors and choices.

For readers like myself, I found that the virtual environment provided entertainment and novelty, all of which book-lovers deeply craved during lockdowns. I wasn’t alone in this sentiment; Margaret Riley King was surprised to see that audiences largely “LOVED” virtual events. During these talks, lively chatbox conversation between attendees would frequently flash across the screen, prompting interesting and thought-provoking asides. The virtual atmosphere also added an equalizing factor, humanizing the authors on the other side of the screen and allowing intimate access for those otherwise weary to ask questions in an in-person setting.

For readers like myself, the virtual environment provided entertainment, and novelty, all of which book-lovers deeply craved during lockdowns.

As a writer, I valued the insights shared virtually from renowned authors about their book-writing journeys served as education and inspiration. They offered a glimpse of the coveted “other side” of the writing process, while validating the messy middle that all writers face. These tid-bits kept me typing when languishing thoughts like “what’s the point?” reared their stubborn heads mid-pandemic.

Now, in this collective pandemic recovery period, expect book events to take on a hybrid, best-of-both-worlds approach. There are parallels to the hybrid models companies are adopting for their employees, who perform tasks for which remote work is both possible and productive. Data from McKinsey Global Institute highlights that activities associated with knowledge and learning have the highest effective potential in a remote environment. While virtual and in-person book events certainly “aren’t substitutes,” stresses Fine, though she believes both “can be good for different reasons.” In that vein, virtual options may be more suited to book events focused on education and information-sharing, perhaps more prevalent in the non-fiction space, rather than direct sales or relationship-building.

The magic of meeting a writer in person likely won’t go away, according to Riley King, “It’s a very human thing, after all!” Jennings outlines two distinct reasons for virtual to stick around. First, the balance sheet. Virtual events “cost [publishers] next to nothing as opposed to flying that author to ten markets,” he shares. In-person events could be supplemented where cost-effective, but otherwise, for debut novelists or lower budget releases, virtual is a great way to save on expenses. Attendees, too, can benefit from variety; deciding the right mix of in-person and virtual events that makes sense for their budget and needs. The second reason, according to Jennings, is the “incredible benefit for authors who are unable to travel.” Adler also touted that for Parnassus, virtual events connected them to readers such that their “neighborhood bookstore could be across the pond.” From an author’s perspective, Julia Fine agrees that online events provide reach, “I loved being able to talk to people virtually from across the country—my options for conversation partners really opened up.” Riley King welcomes a hybrid approach, and is thrilled to see the industry move in this direction. “Just like there is a beauty to in-person events, there is a beauty to virtual as well.”

In the middle of writing this article, my self-discipline waned and I took a break to check Instagram. A notification appeared: Cheryl Strayed was live in conversation with Andrew Sean Greer, discussing his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Less—Cheryl’s pick for her book club. Instead of mindlessly scrolling, I caught the chance to rejuvenate through their engaging exchange. I’m uncertain a pop-up production like this would have existed pre-pandemic, and we’re fortunate technology gave us an alternative arena for these events. It’s hard to imagine the impact on the book industry if all mid-pandemic promotional tours were canceled or postponed entirely.

As we venture into this oft-discussed yet hardly understood “new normal,” I picture that wall of ivy from The Secret Garden with a multitude of hands gently pressing against it, searching for a way to learn, connect, and flourish in an entirely different world. We may have found a key to open new doors in the virtual book event. In a word, the shift feels expansive, and I’m thankful that booksellers are willing to meet me and other readers where we are, which for me, is usually on my couch.