Booksellers Ready for Sold-Out Gore Tour

by Charlotte Abbott and Craig Morgan Teicher, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 5/17/2007

The Assault on Reason, Al Gore's take on "the current politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism and blind faith," doesn't go on sale until next Tuesday, but several lucky booksellers are already cashing in on the politico's popularity, preparing to host him at six mostly sold-out, ticketed events in five cities.

The tour to promote the book from Penguin Press will include a May 22 event in Los Angeles coordinated by Book Soup; a May 24 interview with Charlie Rose at New York's 92nd Street Y (book sales by B&N); a May 25 event at B&N's Union Square store in New York and a June 6 event at the downtown Chicago Borders. Due to overwhelming demand, Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif., moved its May 23 event to a now-sold-out 2,000-seat venue from one half that size. Washington, D.C.'s Politics and Prose has also secured a larger-than-usual 1,500-seat auditorium for its May 29 event. Tickets average around $30, which includes a copy of the book; revenue from ticket sales will cover the venue rental. Book Passage's $40 tickets also include a donation to local environmental and educational organizations.

Gore returns to the book tour circuit with his celebrity factor still soaring from An Inconvenient Truth (Rodale), his bestselling book and Oscar-winning documentary. With competition to host the appearances so high, booksellers were obliged to accept strict guidelines for the events.

Mike Giarratano, event coordinator at Politics and Prose, said Penguin Press and Gore's people are asking booksellers to sell only The Assault on Reason and the young reader's edition of An Inconvenient Truth, which was published by Viking Juvenile: "We don't want the focus to be on [An Inconvenient Truth], but on his new book." Said Giarratano, "They [the publisher] dictate a lot of those guidelines. Basically, the publisher wants it a certain way, and we go with that. But we're also looking out for the people that are going to our event."The store is actually discouraging audience members from bringing any books for signing: "We're telling people not to bring books in. He'll be signing 1,500 copies of his new book," Giarratano said. "It's just too much. We can't accommodate all that."

Maria Hampton, community relations manager at the Union Square B&N, said the store will be selling Gore's backlist books, and that Gore will be doing a brief reading followed by a signing, at which he will sign, though not personalize, the new book as well as one backlist title per customer.

Unlike his last book tour, when he put on a slide show on global warming, Gore won't be using any visual aides. "He'll just talk for half an hour and hopefully take questions," said Kate Ferguson at Book Passage. The four-time author has agreed to sign books at each event, though it remains to be seen if he can beat Bill Clinton's record of signing 3,000 books in an hour and a half.

Many readers will hear about the book--which has a 250,000-copy announced first printing, according to Ingram--via his ABC-TV package, which includes a May 21 appearance on Good Morning America and World News Tonight, and on Nightline on May 22. Time magazine will also run a first serial excerpt and feature on stands May 18.

Many booksellers were disappointed not to be hosting Gore. Penguin Press's Sarah Hutson said that the house focused on major markets that meshed with Gore's existing schedule "as well as the store's availability and ability to handle a very large event." She holds out a slim possibility of openings in Gore's schedule that may allow additional events. Then again, Gore may find his rock-star appeal tested if he goes head-to-head with the stars of the Live Earth concerts he's organizing on seven continents to raise awareness of global warming this summer.