Bestselling author John Grisham -- who has more than 300 million books in print -- is doing his first bookstore tour in 25 years, to promote his new book, Camino Island -- whose protagonist is a bookseller.  And he is turning it into a free podcast.

Grisham will be visiting 13 book stores around the country, and at each one he is speaking with a different author -- including Ann Patchett, Harlan Coben, and Jon Meachem.  At his first stop, he brought along his literary agent, who recounted how -- when he was still an editor for a major publishing house -- he bought the rights to the book The Firm.

Grisham is also speaking with the manager of each bookstore he visits, to highlight the role of bookstores, particularly independent ones, in keeping book culture alive.

You can hear the first podcast, from Grisham's visit to Northshire Books, in Manchester Center, Vermont, and sign up for future ones, here -- or get the iTunes version here.