I can provide an example of the dangers of "phoning it in." During the mid-90s, I was a fan of Tori Amos (insert homophobic joke here). When she gave a concert in our town of Normal, IL, I was thrilled. I actually arrived at the box office hours before it opened to make sure I got a good seat.

Well, the day of the concert (and a sold-out audience) arrived, and Tori came onstage… completely hungover. Badly. At one point, a stagehand ran up and put some aspirin and a glass of water on her piano, which she took between songs. Her performance was lackluster, and some her high notes were off-key. I left feeling a little pissed off and cheated of my money.

Honestly, I sort of lost interest in Tori Amos after that, and never bought another CD. Frankly, I found her behavior arrogant and insulting. Sure, we were a bunch of yokels out in a cornfield, and we may have paid less for our tickets than folk in New York or LA… but does that mean we "deserved" a sub-par performance? We were still loyal fans, after all.

So if you find yourself doing a reading before an audience you can count on your fingers, DON'T short-change them. Not only will you fail to make new fans, you may unwittingly alienate your existing fans.