Book Tours: Hell or Helpful? Author's Snark Ignites Debate

As First World Problems go, the awfulness of the author’s book tour is hardly a novel one. Yet a recent column in Salon by “Go The F*** To Sleep” writer Adam Mansbach on the horror that is the under-attended bookstore appearance provoked a notably strong response, both among those who sympathized with his plight, or at least found his description of it worth a chuckle, and among those who were less than amused.

To the latter, many of whom work in the book industry, Mansbach displayed a lack of graciousness…