Hey John, I pre-ordered a copy of “The Fault in Our Stars” around a month ago. When I saw your tour dates I noticed that you were coming to a town near mine but it says you have to buy a copy there. Is there anyway to get around this?

Friday, December 2, 2011

mealsymi asked: Hey John, I pre-ordered a copy of "The Fault in Our Stars" around a month ago. When I saw your tour dates I noticed that you were coming to a town near mine but it says you have to buy a copy there. Is there anyway to get around this?

There is not a way to get around it. (I mean, you can easily cancel your preorder and reorder from the store; that is kind of a way around it, or you can just own two copies, or you can think of the $18 as a ticket price that includes a free book and poster. Those are ways around it, I suppose.)

Here’s the thing: I like bookstores. I want to see them continue to exist.

For many years, bookstores have hosted and supported nerdfighter gatherings, often at great cost to them. (These things are expensive to put on, for a variety of reasons.) When an independent bookstore hosts an event, and then I sign a bunch of books that were bought elsewhere, the bookstore loses money, something that bookstores can no longer afford to do. (That said, I’ll of course sign any and all copies of my books you bring to events.)

So the cost of admission is the price of the book, but to be clear, that money is not going to us. We want this tour to help bookstores, to contribute to their survival, and to remind everyone that bookstores can put on rocking good times.