Larry Hagman Quotes

I genuinely like the people I meet at signings or the bits of public talking that I do.

I meet people at book signings. My record now, for signing, is ten and a half hours in one sitting.

I'm a fan of meeting readers face to face, at reader events, where we're able to sit down and take some time to talk. Too often, at regular book signings, I meet readers who have traveled six or eight hours to see me, and I'm unable to spend more than a few short minutes chatting with them as I sign books.

Many authors hate to go on grinding book tours. But I've always found it a useful way to be a foreign correspondent in America and take the pulse of the country.

Personally I estimate about a third of my time is spent on author events, social media and traditional publicity.

I have to finish this book tour of almost 30 cities.

High-level, big-deal publicity has a way of getting old for me, but what never fails to thrill me is when I make personal appearances.

My favorite aspect of being an author has always been visiting different communities and meeting my readers face to face.

I always give a little talk before I sign books and ask for questions. I love the Q&A sessions. We have a lot of fun at my book signings. I make sure of that!

I don't know why the world has changed so much that writers are now expected to appear in public and talk about their work. It's something I find very difficult. And yet, one does have some sense of responsibility towards one's publishers, to the people trying to sell the book.

I'm going to book-and-author dinners, and I'm the author!

When you're on book tours, you definitely need chocolate. At all times.

I think it's crazy, crazy that book tours lose so much money. They shouldn't. Book tours should be part of what keeps independent bookstores vibrant and profitable.

I make personal appearances around the country. I'm starting a book tour now, and I may be coming to Toronto with the Learning Annex, which I'm doing all through the United States, so that may come up just before Christmas.

Book tours are really kind of fun. You get to stay in nice hotels, you are driven everywhere in big silver cars, you are treated as if you are much more important than you are, you can eat steak three times a day at someone else's expense, and you get to talk endlessly about yourself for weeks at a stretch.

I do personal appearances, and I meet my fans, and I am genuinely honored that they come out to say 'Hello' and just to see me.

My favorite part of speaking at events has never been the speaking, but the reading of my books.

I went to SXSW in 2011. God, that was awful. I mean, I only went because my publisher wanted me to promote the book and the organizers invited me and it seemed silly not to go, especially for a relatively unknown first-time author. This is just not my cup of tea; the fewer such events I do on an annual basis, the happier I feel.

I used to sit home with my computer and write. After the Newbery, I probably spend more than half my time on the road.

I go to a lot of conferences and conventions to meet with readers directly.

Before I became a parent, I was a bestselling author and speaker pounding up the escalators of a different airport every week.

I've loved traveling around the country and meeting people at book signings.

I have done quite a few signings at bookstores, libraries and conferences. I have received phone calls and letters from people who liked the book.

I'm friends with a lot of writers and so many of them say how much they hate signings and how they leave after a certain period of time. But what is so hard about sitting there while people tell you how much they love you? And if you don't like it, well, learn to like it. I try to take one person at a time. I never look down the line to see how many more people are left. And I always try to make people talk about something besides whatever they planned to say.

I don't do much public speaking. I did a lot of stuff for Bones, and then ended up having said yes to a lot of things that kept me on the road for a while for that, but then I pretty much stopped. I'm touring for this book, but when the tour is done, that'll be the end of it.