Listening to the Cleveland radio interview yesterday (posted by Gregg very shortly after it aired—thank you/well done), I was struck by the fact that the overriding feeling that came through was one of gratitude. The interviewer—who asked good questions in a great radio voice and generally was wonderful—obviously was thrilled to have Elmore in her studio, and each of the callers was a combination of well informed, knowledgable, and a little in awe to be speaking with the man himself. Which is what Elmore deserves.

Maybe I haven’t paid close attention, but I don’t see those things when Elmore’s in LA or on the radio in NY. Air personalities and callers in the Big Two seem to be jaded, coming across as feeling entitled. Which may be understandable—since celebrity interviews are much more commonplace in those cities—but knowing why it’s that way does nothing to lessen the sense that having Elmore live often is viewed as a routine deal.

As unbelievable as it sounds, I’ve been at Elmore book signings in LA that drew 30 people. On this tour, though, in these smaller cities, I understand people are showing up in the 100s. In fact, one person who was there last night just emailed me to say there were 400-500 people present. Whovever decided to hit NH, St. Louis, and Cleveland made a very good call.

And aside from sounding grateful, everyone who talked to Elmore on the Cleveland radio show seemed genuine. Nobody pulled any cutesy-pie moves; no name-dropping, no pretension, no artifice.

I found the whole thing to be extremely refreshing. And I got the clear impression that Elmore did, too. When Gregg comes up for air, maybe he can post about Elmore’s Cleveland/smaller city experiences .

Sure would be nice for him to make it over here to Windsor, being right across the border and all…

Because you can’t go the other way on the bridge?

When book sellers and event planners learn that Elmore is touring for a new book, they clamor and beg the publicity department at his publisher to schedule him for appearances in their towns.  Elmore likes to mix it up and agrees to include a few different cities on each tour.

There are three factors that make any appearance a success.

First is the event itself.  Independent Bookstore events can be highly successful, at stores like Books and Books in Coral Gables or The Poisoned Pen in Phoenix.  These stores have big mailing lists, and reach the people most interested in Elmore’s work.  Audiences there are generally receptive and knowledgable.  Chain bookstores appearances work best in New York as was the case of this tour at Barnes and Nobles in Lincoln Square.  They are also guaranteed a good audience, as Mike said, people slightly jaded, who expect a steady stream of celebrity authors.  Special events at Libraries are often quite good which was certainly the case on this tour in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Cleveland.

Second is the format.  In some cases, like Borders in Elmore’s hometown of Birmingham, MI, he just gets up and talks for an hour and answers questions to an audience of friends and long time fans who have heard most of his material in the past.  Sometimes, in a new town,  he gives one of his talks about the Ten Rules or his Funny Letters speech.  Whether it’s free association from topic to topic, there are always quite a few laughs along the way.  Elmore’s favorite format now is the interview.  This is the most relaxing and often yields uncommon gems.  They can also be a disaster, such as in Portsmouth, where the interviewer was totally unfamiliar with Elmore ‘s work.  Not only is this lack of preparation an insult to any author but a blemish on a showcase event.  Still as Dutch Forum member BobbyK notes in his long post about the event, Portsmouth was a good show and he came a long way to hear Elmore.

http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/169/ an otherwise big event

it was worthwhile.  In Cleveland, by conntrast, you had Michael Heaton, a well known Clevelannd Plain Dealer columnist (and brother of actress Patricia Heaton) dubbed The Minister of Culture.  His questions were really good.

Finally, there’s the audience.  Big or small, they have to get it.  I’ve been in those entitlement audiences and it’s unsettling when you know they are just not with you.  I remember a signing years ago at Liberty Books in Boca Rotan, Florida.  The audience was there because it was free or the shuffleboard court was full, I don’t know.  All I know is that they did not get it and it was very uncomfortable.  When Elmore has to explain one of his fundamentals, you know there’s a problem.

On this tour, some audiences were small but enthusiastic like St. Louis (65 people) or big and enthusiastic like Philadelphia (350 people) or Cleveland (400-500 people).  Big or small, Elmore only cares about enthusiasm, and feeds off of it.  Also, if you have been in a signing line of his, you know it can take a while to get to the table.  He doesn’t short change anybody and will sign anything, much to the chagrin of handlers who want to keep the line moving.

The best event on this tour so far is Cleveland.  As a native Detroiter, it’s hard to heap praise on Cleveland but they deserve it.  Just listen to Dee Perry’s show and you’ll get a feel for the gratitude as Mike describes it:

http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/weblog/a_party_on_the_page/

But the key to Cleveland’s success was the work of Sari Feldman, Executive Director and Library Foundation Board President.  She really got the vote out.  She had been trying to get Elmore to come for a long time. and when she finally got him, she created a super event.

We are also looking forward to The Writer’s Bloc event next Friday (May 25)  Elmore will be in conversation with Walter Mirisch.  This event, which Elmore has done three times before with Martin Amis, Scott Frank and Judy Muller, puts authors, actors, politicans etc in conversation with journalists or other notables.  It’s always a big success when Elmore does it and this one with Walter will be no exception.

Excellent overview. Thanks Gregg.

And I should mention that on rereading my original post I see that I was overbroad in my characterization of LA & NY as jaded. Or at least the LA part, where I’ve found events to be a mixed bag, mostly depending on venue. The 30 fan signing I mentioned was at the Mystery Bookstore when it was still over on Beverly. On the other hand, there were what? 400-500+ people at Royce Hall a couple years ago for Elmore’s talk at the LA Times Festival of Books.

As for NY, all I have to go by are the radio interviews posted here and there online, and absent in those is the sense of awe and gratitude that came through in the Cleveland broadcast.

Like Gregg said, that Dee Perry interview is great, worth the time it takes to listen if only to hear Elmore’s enthusiasm rise to a new level in response to incisive questions from informed and respectful fans.

Gregg Sutter - 19 May 2007 01:03 PM

Independent Bookstore events can be highly successful, at stores like Books and Books in Coral Gables or The Poisoned Pen in Phoenix.

You mention The Poisoned Pen just to torture me, right?  I assume that you are referring to the original location in Scottsdale.  The downtown Phoenix location just closed, unfortunately, after about a year and a half.  The reason given was structural problems with the building, but I suspect that they were not doing much business.  We keep waiting for the promised rejuvenation down here in the ‘hood, but until it happens we are doomed to travel out to the bland suburbs for a lot things like a decent bookstore.

LACrimAtty - 18 May 2007 05:18 PM

Because you can’t go the other way on the bridge?

Yup.