What's up, doc?
Touring tips + updates on lil ole KB.
Buckle bunnies,
Hey hey! I’m sending this exactly 3 months since my last newsletter lol. What can I say: this semester had hands!
Anyway, I promised in my last newsletter that I would share some more tips on touring; these should be applicable to writers, musicians, and all you other folks out there who are silly enough to hop on a bus/plane/train/car to try and tell the world about how cool you are.
But first, some updates!
My debut memoir, Pretty, is now available to order here. Please make sure I don’t flop! Preorders are really important to a book’s lifespan!
Speaking of tours, I’m going on one soon :]
RSVP to any of these shows here. S/o to my amazing special guests!
Want another reason to preorder PRETTY? Look at what Kiese Laymon and M Crane have to say about it:
Want a 3rd reason to preorder PRETTY? Here’s a poem that will be in it.
I maybe, perhaps, possibly could have done a visual art show based on my book, Freedom House. It’s up to view at Prizer Arts & Letters in Austin, TX till May 11th. Check out a glimpse of my inner thoughts, people!
I’ve got a new poem published with The Rumpus! It is, to no one’s surprise, about gender.
I went to a protest and wrote a poem about it here (thank you to Southeast Review).
What would you say to an ex — yunno, that ex — in four breaths? Here’s what I would (thank you to The Ex-Puritan).
I wrote a series of poems about a friend who’s passed away. Thank you to The Offing for publishing them.
Check out my pre-tour events (Austin! San Diego! Houston! Virtual panel! Greensboro NC!) here.
The streets are full of unrest. Support protestors at University of Texas at Austin here. Free Palestine.
***
Enough about me (& the ills of the world); I heard you wanna tour! First things first: read the first newsletter I have on touring if you’d like some more introductory stuff. We’re starting this one with my third suggestion, which is:
GIVE YOURSELF PARAMETERS.
I am hoping that, unless you’re Beyoncé, you don’t want to be touring for an indefinite amount of time, nor do you want to end the tour and think “great! I’ll never do that again!” (been there). Here are some questions that you should answer before embarking on said tour:
What is the duration of time that you’d like to be on tour?
Suggestion: start planning 3+ months before you’d like the tour to start.
What are you good at? How can you prove to a prospective client that you’re good at it (website, youtube, etc)?
Suggestion: be good at multiple things (writer example: reading, creating workshops based on your work and/or the work of others, keynote speeches, class visits, etc. Musician example: can perform at birthday parties, coffee shops, clubs, museums, farmer’s markets, etc).
Suggestion: have a website or landing page, WITH A WAY TO CONTACT YOU, that’s up and running.
How low are you willing to accept for each skill set?
Suggestion: ask a few friends who work in the same field what they charge.
Suggestion: fact travel time into these figures.
Suggestion: when possible, get folks to pay for your travel upfront (reimbursement sux!)
What cities would you like to visit? Do you have venue contacts in those cities? Do you have friends willing to do an event with you in those cities?
Suggestion: don’t do a solo show in a place where no one (or not many people) know you.
Is there anyone that can help you with tour management?
Suggestion: be sure that this person can handle one or many of these things — managing your email account, sending you calendar invites so you don’t miss flights/sound checks, booking you plane/bus/train/etc rides, managing your social media accounts
When do you want to get paid? 30, 14, 7 days after the event? Can you make sure that’s in your contracts?
What is your virtual event safety plan? Unfortunately, people be zoom bombing!
What can you reasonably do, marketing-wise, for your events? 2, 3 posts per show?
Suggestion: get familiar with (and choose) a social media scheduling platform (some that I’ve heard good things about: Publer, Loomy, Fedica, Later)
What are your COVID precautions? Despite what the CDC might tell you, COVID is very much out here, and the moment you get it, your tour’s over (at least for 2 weeks), so plan to not get sick!
Do you have someone who can take care of your pets, plants while you’re out of town? Do you want to take a pet with you? If so, how?
What are your tech requirements (mic, mic stand, certain speakers, etc)? Have you written those things out in a tech rider?
This is not an exhaustive list, but it is at least one that can get you started 🙂
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR TOURING SUCCESSFULLY
Request and sign payment stuff (w9, etc) BEFORE the event. One thing you don’t want is for a payment to be stalled out because you didn’t sign papers on time.
Have a late fee penalty. This way, people won’t try to play with you 🙂
If marketing is expected of you, please ask for them to send a flier, description, and RSVP link enough in advance for you to adequately promote the event. Ideal: 30 days in advance. Anything less than 2 weeks in advance is, quite frankly, asking for an event that fails.
Keep up with receipts!!! That includes gas, uber/lyft, hotel/airbnb, car rental, business meals (which is defined by the IRS as any meal you talk business at), and more. You can write all these things off on your taxes.
The worst they can say is no, so ask! Ask for whatever accommodation you need, and ask about the things you want, too.
***
I think that, honestly, I’ve talked enough lol. If you’ve got more touring questions, comment below! So happy to speak with you again, friend. We should do this again sometime.
Love, Peace, & Chicken Grease,
KB