The first book tour I ever made was in 1980, when my biography of Fred Gipson, the Texas author who wrote the classic novel “Old Yeller,” came out. I traveled from Amarillo to Beaumont, missing only El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, in doing media interviews and other appearances. It took time and energy, but it paid off with a lot of ink and air time, which of course had been the goal.
Now, from the comfort of my home office in Austin, I’m off on a virtual book tour thanks to my friend Stephanie Barko, my Austin-based publicist. (Check out her Web site at www.authorsassistant.com)I am “appearing” at various Web sites popular with readers of books, from www.bookgasm.com to the Web site of Portland’s legendary Powell’s Book Store, www.powells.com to discuss the final book of my two-volume Texas Ranger history, “Time of the Rangers: The Texas Rangers from 1900 to Present.” (New York: Forge Books, $27.95)
For those of you who’d like to travel along with me, here’s my virtual itinerary:
10/13/09 Texas Pages Blog http://booksblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/10/mike-cox-coming-to-fort-worth-1.html
10/14 Books & Writers www.books-writers-news.com
10/15 Bookgasm www.bookgasm.com
10/16 GoodReads / History is not Boring Group www.goodreads.com/group/show/435.History_is_Not_Boring
10/16 GoodReads / Texas Readers Group www.goodreads.com/group/show/167.Texas_Readers
10/16-10/29 GoodReads www.goodreads.com/book/explore#
10/17 Western Americana Blog www.westernamericana.blogspot.com
10/19 Rough Edges Blog www.jamesreasoner.blogspot.com
10/26 Texas Escapes www.texasexcapes.com/TexasBooks/TexasBooks.htm
10/27 Powell’s Blog www.powells.com/blog
10/29 Straight from Hel Blog www.straightfromhel.blogspot.com
10/31 Texas Scribbler Blog http://texasscribbler.com/blog
11/2 Bookzillion Blog www.bookzillion.com/trenches/
11/3 Writers in the Sky newsletter
11/4 Powell’s newsletter www.powells.com/newsletter.html
11/4 Powell’s.com www.powells.com/essays?header=Sub:%20Author%20Essays
11/14 Texas History Page Blog www.texas-history-page.blogspot.com
TBD Texana Review www.texanareview.com