> neither Tom Clancy nor Stephen King have any control over their publishers' marketing departments Are you joking? If Tom Clancy or Stephen King or a JK Rowl

> neither Tom Clancy nor Stephen King have any control over their publishers' marketing departments Are you joking? If Tom Clancy or Stephen King or a JK Rowling-level said "Add Seattle Mystery Bookshop to my next signing tour" it would get done. They might hem and haw about how wanting to do B&N instead, or some other excuses and they might try to talk them out of it, but if the star wants it, they're going to get it. Nobody wants to be responsible for losing the rights to Stephen King's next book. Small authors can obviously go wherever they want, nobody cares enough to stop them. It's the mid-level guys who are under control by the publishers but aren't large/influential enough that they can dictate their own schedules.