The News about Book Tours

Teresa Méndez has written an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor on Why Book Tours Are Passé. It discusses why fewer and fewer authors are being sent on book tours to promote their books. Here are a few interesting quotes from the article:

Among the many reasons for this shift are marketing tools that have made it possible to orchestrate a virtual encounter, without the hassle or expense of travel. Publishers and authors are now touting books through podcasts, film tours, blog tours, book videos, and book trailers....

Man Booker Prize-winner Ian McEwan opted not to take his 10th novel, "On Chesil Beach," on the road this past summer. In his place, a short film was screened by bookstores in 54 U.S. cities....

Meanwhile, a company called TurnHere has launched an ambitious project to create an online book channel with short Internet videos - the founder likens it to an MTV for books. So far, BookVideos.tv has exclusively aired Simon & Schuster authors. But it recently announced plans to expand coverage to 10 other publishers.