Notes from THE EDITORS Book Tour

Conversations with readers from Dallas to London—and everywhere in between.

Readers have certainly kept me on my toes during The Editors book tour. More than once, I’ve had to scratch my head and admit, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

At my hometown event in Dallas, one attendee asked if I’d prefer the book to be adapted into a two-hour suspense movie or a four-part Netflix series. The video footage suggests I blurted out, “Whatever pays more!” But let’s imagine a parallel universe where I instead offered a sophisticated answer—something about how one of the pleasures of writing the novel was getting inside the characters’ heads, and how, for that reason, the book might remain the richest way to experience the story.

When I made a stop in St. Louis, a reader asked whether the characters had differing views on Infopendium, the global, crowd-sourced internet encyclopedia central to my novel. I said yes, and hinted that you can pick up their perspectives based on how they refer to it: “the encyclopedia,” “the project,” “the website,” or “the movement.”

Then in Washington D.C., Andrés Martinez, editorial director for Future Tense at New America, asked about the unique challenges and opportunities of covering Wikipedia/Infopendium in both nonfiction and fiction.

• Nonfiction (Journalism)

  • Opportunity: Wikipedia editors tend to be very forthcoming sources. Despite the stereotype of them being shy, I’ve found they enjoy explaining what’s going on behind the scenes.

  • Challenge: The sheer volume of information in an article’s edit history can be overwhelming. You have to step back and find patterns or else it’s just information overload.

• Fiction

  • Opportunity: So much room for dialogue! The editors are always debating one another, which really allows their voices to shine through.

  • Challenge: Bringing these characters out from behind their keyboards and into the same room with one another. I had to get creative as a novelist to stage some face-to-face conflict.

At the London event at Newspeak House, the most common question was about when the book would be available in the UK. My publisher is in the process of negotiating UK, European, and international publication rights, but that might not be finalized until next year.

In the meantime, there’s a workaround: I’m now offering signed copies of The Editors with options for both US and international shipping. 😎

As you might have noticed, I’m having way more fun than I expected sharing videos from the tour. If you’re interested, please follow along on my YouTube channel for more updates!

All the best,
Stephen