Okay, here's what I always envisioned as a "book tour:" Fancy hotels, expense accounts big enough for a steak dinner every night, adoring fans who flock to your signings, a hair and makeup team--and, well, you just have to show up and let the awesome book you just wrote speak for itself.
Not so for us first-time authors who are still climbing up the ladder. LA trip aside, if we were going to get a "book tour," we were going to have to make it happen ourselves. But, luckily we had the help of Joselin's sister, the amazing Hilary Griffith, a PR guru in Columbus, Ohio (Joselin's hometown). Hilary worked her contacts and got us a spot on the local morning show, Good Day Columbus. We were pumped--the biggest city in Ohio and we were going to be its stars!
Well, let's just say, the trip started off on a less-than-glamourous note. I spent about 14 hours in the Newark airport trying to get on a plane (because of a 1 hour storm. What's up?) before actually getting to the great state of Ohio (and sadly, missing the spa day we'd planned). And Joselin discovered she was missing a main component of her planned TV outfit because of a minor dry cleaning fiasco. You should have seen us in Target (the only store open on Sunday night in Columbus) trying to find a replacement cardigan. Luckily, Joselin thought up a plan C and we amped up for our appearance.
Monday morning arrived quickly and after a quick stop for some much needed McDonald's coffee, we made it in perfect time (7:30 am) to the Fox 28 studio. We were led to a break room by the production assistant, who then told us he'd be back in 15 minutes to usher us to the set for the interview. Inside, I freaked out a little. "So, what exactly are we going to be talking about?" I asked him. Yep, that's right. They were just going to throw us on set without any prep. Is that what you would have envisioned? Me neither. Hey, we wrote a book on this stuff--we know it. But I like to be at least a little prepared. He rattled off a few things from his notes and left the room.
15 minutes (and a little brushing up on the book's content) later, we were on set, putting on microphones and being told we'd be on the air in 10 seconds...
...in all, we think it went well. There were a few "Oh we shoulda said..."s in there. And I wish we'd been asked a better variety of questions. But we were happy about it--especially, that they kept mentioning The Good Girl's Guide To Living In Sin throughout the show!
That night we had a book signing at Barnes & Noble right next to the Ohio State campus. We got a bit lost getting there--Joselin says the city has changed a lot since her days there--but luckily Midwesterners are nice and we got some quick directions. Being late to your own book signing really isn't cool. It was a good turnout considering there were no classes in session, and some of Joselin's former high school teachers even showed up. Fun stuff. Afterwards, we celebrated with some of Joselin's old friends at a local watering hole. We really felt accomplished after one busy day!
On Tuesday, we had a little time to kill, so we headed to the Ohio State Fair. It was a big lesson in things Midwestern for me--sculptures made of cheese, cow milking, log rolling (I never knew what this was before) and even a giant Smoky the Bear that spoke (and, I think, was trying to hit on us...)
After a quick shower, we were back in a bookstore, this time, a B&N in the posh neighborhood of Easton. We got there early this time, but realized there had been a bit of a miscommunication... the manager on duty thought there'd only be one author and that we weren't doing a reading. She'd just set up a small table for signing near the door, and we anticipated a big crowd from Joselin's family and friends alone so that just wouldn't do! I was a bit worried that we wouldn't get it all together in time, considering I had to hop a flight at 8 pm--and it was already 6. But we kicked it in to high gear. Joselin distracted her peeps--and I helped the store staff move chairs to create a discussion area upstairs. We got it done and it was a successful event! While Joselin did more distracting, I signed all the store's copies of books and sneaked out a bit early in order to catch my plane. There'd be no hanging out in airports on my way home!
All in all, the tour was less than glamourous--but fun nonetheless. To check out more photos from the Columbus trip, go to our Facebook page. While you're there, please join our group!
I'll be posting the video of our TV appearance here on the blog, so check back soon!