Book Tour x2
/I have now been to two book tours in Chicago. Both were totally different, but equally incredible!
Book Tour #1 —
“Girl, Wash Your Face” (GWYF) by Rachel Hollis
Date: Sunday, January 28, 2018
Location: Evereve, Oak Brook, IL (Near Chicago)
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK:
GWYF is what I would consider a “self-help” / personal development book. Those types of books are what fills most of my bookshelves! It’s what I typically gravitate too.
You see, I had been following Rachel Hollis for several years on Instagram before she wrote this book. I was in awe of her work and attitude on life! She made me laugh. She made me cry. She dropped truth bombs across her social media platforms. And when she wrote GWYF, I knew I needed a copy.
Even better?! I actually got 3 copies of the book! (Why THREE copies, Ashley?!) Oh, I’m glad you asked :)
You see, Rachel reached out to her Tribe (Internet community) to get a group together that would help launch her book. I became part of that launch team! That meant I was sent a digital copy of the book ahead of time, in exchange for writing an honest book review. There were also a couple hundred folks that would receive a hard copy (what they refer to as an “Advanced Reader Copy”). I was fortunate enough to be selected for an ARC. After reading the book, I wrote my book review.
Here’s what my review on GoodReads said:
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK TOUR:
Just when I thought being on the launch team was SUPER RAD, Rachel and her team shared there would be a book tour for GWYF! Oh. My. Gosh. I was pretty much fan-girling because I would finally get to meet my “Instagram inspiration” Rachel Hollis!
With her book tour, she picked 6-10 cities across the US and for the most part, did her tour BEFORE the book launched. That meant that most of the people (I was an exception) had NOT read or received the book ahead of the event. There was a ticket price associated with coming to her book event (I think it was $50 / person). However, you did get a copy of the book, cookies + adult beverages, a shopping experience at Evereve (plus 15% discount) and of course, you were able to meet @MsRachelHollis and get your book signed!
Oh, and Rachel likes themes. So each of her book tour locations had a “dress theme”. The Chicago stop: GOLD!
I invited my BFF Alex to come with me! She was also on the Rachel train, maybe not “as much” as me, but still enjoyed her work. Alex’s Mom lives in NWI (Northwest Indiana) so we met at her house before driving over to the event. We stopped at Portillo’s (if you’re from Chicago area, you already know!) and got lunch before continuing the journey to our exciting evening ahead!
Leaving lunch, I clicked on the address from the digital ticket and we were on our way to Chicago! We were getting closer (so our GPS showed), but when we pulled up to where we thought we should be, we ended up at a mobile home park…..”WHERE ARE WE?! There’s no way Rachel’s book tour is here.”
After some frantic digging, I learned that Apple Maps took us to the WRONG location — It took us to 437 Oakbook DRIVE. Not 437 Oakbook CENTER! We drove an entire hour north PAST where the location actually was. Jiminy Crickets! We hopped back in the car and headed back toward Chicago…..arriving to Rachel’s tour an hour late!
While we missed her talk, we could still meet Rachel and get our books signed! Our numbers in line: 94 and 95, out of 100. Hahah. Rachel stayed though, until she met every single person there!
I remember her saying that people had asked, “Don’t you get tired of this?” And she made a comment that she’s been on the other side, when no one has came to her book tour. And she will stay as long as it takes to meet every single person. Because they are the reason she is here!
Driving home that night, I thought how perfect of a night it was. Even with it’s little imperfections <3 It made my heart so happy and definitely gave a story to share! Haha!
I even got my book and goals notebook signed by THE one and only, Rachel Hollis!
POST BOOK TOUR:
Just a little side story:
Long ago (10 years ago), Rachel set a goal that she would become a New York Times Bestseller. She had already written three fiction books and two cookbooks. And she was bound and determined to make the list with “Girl, Wash Your Face.” She promoted the book SO MUCH through her online community, in a way that made you WANT to buy her book. Not pushy and not "slimy.”
When her book released on February 6th, she waited to get the news. She ended up finding out that she didn’t make “the list” and though disappointed, wrote a long post, thanking everyone who had worked so hard to try and help achieve her goal with her. She promised she would be back to try again with the next book. One day, she WOULD become a NYT Bestseller!
Well…..On April 18th (2 months and 2 weeks after the book released), Rachel received some very exciting news! She made the list!!! She didn’t even realize it was possible to make the NYT Bestseller list AFTER the book was out. But she did it!!!
It was super cool seeing + being a part of her journey.
If anyone is an inspiration, it’s that woman! She doesn’t just talk about her goals. She commits to them and makes them happen, time and time again! Since GWYF, she’s also released another book, “Girl, Stop Apologizing.” And what do ya know! Another NYT Bestseller!!! Just amazing!
Book Tour #2 — “Where the Crawdads Sing” (WTCS) by Delia Owens
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2019
Location: The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL (Near Chicago)
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK:
You know how I said personal development books are what’s usually up my alley? WTCS is anything but that! It’s a fiction novel that I “randomly saw on the end cap at Barnes & Noble and the cover looked appealing.” I’m honestly SO grateful that it did, because I did a quick flip and went to the counter to purchase. The book lived up to it’s book cover — it drew me in and I read this book in 6 days flat. That’s how good it is!!!
I honestly needed a “break” from what Justin likes to refer to as my “self-help” collection. I’m all about personal development, but sometimes, I think your brain needs a break from it. And WTCS did just that for me!
The book tells the story of a murder mystery and a celebration of nature. The way Delia wrote the book was super captivating to me, because the chapters flip back and forth from different years. It tells the story of Kya growing up nearly alone in the marsh, and also brings in pieces of the murder of Chase Andrews. I held my breath until the very last page, when everything was revealed. It kept me on the edge of my seat, begging for more, more, more.
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After I finished the book, I made a post on my Instagram account. You see, one of my goals this year is to read 12 books. This would be the very first book I finished and I was documenting the experience!
In doing so, I tagged the author and stumbled upon her social media accounts. It was then that I learned that she was actually about to go on tour for her book, and what do you know, there was a stop in Chicago! I knew I just *HAD* to go!
(Only this time, I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, and I would double check to make sure I had the correct address! LOL)
The interesting thing about this book tour, that was different from the last one I went to, well…there were a couple things:
This book tour was at an independent bookstore (Which makes sense since it is, well, a book! Rachel’s was at Evereve, a clothing store, that she partnered with for her book tour).
This book tour occurred way AFTER the book was published. (A gentleman who worked at the bookstore said how unique the tour was, because it’s happening months after the book was released. I’m guessing many of the book tours are BEFORE / AS the book is released, similar to GWYF. WTCS has actually been on the NYT Bestseller list now for 32 weeks and counting. It was on the 31st week <7 months after the book was published> that I saw Delia on her tour.)
From what I could tell online, this tour was FREE. (I wasn’t sure if I needed tickets, but when I went the day of, no tickets were necessary! After talking to the manager at the bookstore, he explained that this book tour was unique because the book had been on the market for so long (as mentioned above). A lot of times, they will have you buy the book for your signing order, but since this book had been out so long, it operated a little differently. When people arrived, they gave you a “signing group” which was a little different than Rachel’s where you got a # of what order you’d go in to get an autograph. It worked similar to Southwest’s boarding groups (A first, B next and C last). They kept the lines moving and honestly, I don’t think I waited more than 10-15 minutes to meet Delia (being in Group B). I did feel compelled to buy SOMETHING from the book store for hosting, so I bough a super neat, felt, hot air ballon bird house….I’m making a birdhouse tree in my backyard! Like my Grandpa has in his!)
The audience was a bit different! (I would consider it an “older” generation — when you looked in the crowd! The GWYF tour was made up of primary women, probably in their 20s, 30s, 40s. That being said, I met some FABULOUS people at Delia’s book tour and had some really fun + interesting conversations. Let me tell ya though….older people are SHOCKED when you tell them you drove from Indy (3.5 hours away). Their reactions, “Just for this?!” Yes, “just for this!” Whereas at Rachel’s tour, a ton of people made the lengthy road trip!)
Q+A (One thing I really liked that Delia had was a Q+A forum. It was fun to hear the questions people had and listen to how she responded to them. This could be something Rach did, but since I missed that whole section, who knows! Haha.)
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
One thing I was specifically fascinated with at the book tour was learning more about Delia as a person. You see, with Rachel, I had already been following her on social media and I knew much about her life.
Once I finished WTCS, I started following Delia on IG and Facebook. But I honestly didn’t know much about her as a person until book tour day. The reason I was so fascinated about hearing her background, because I realized just how much it shaped her novel. A couple reasons why:
Delia explained when she was a child, her mother would encourage her to REALLY go experience nature. To go way out, “where the crawdads sing.” When I heard that, I gasped. It’s crazy how things in your life come full circle!
The novel took place in the outer banks of North Carolina. When Delia was young, her family took many vacations here, so she was very familiar with the setting. She didn’t have to do a ton of research on the location, really, because of the experiences she had during her younger years.
Delia lived in Africa for 20+ years. She explained that while it was a phenomenal experience, she did feel quite lonely and isolated during that time. She missed “her people” back in the “States.” I definitely could feel a similar parallel with the main character she developed, Kya.
One of the most outstanding facts (in my opinion), that this is Delia’s first ever fiction piece! And it made the New York Time’s Bestseller List. Not an easy feat to accomplish! While it was her first fiction story, she did have a lot of experience writing from the research she did as a scientist. Her and her husband, Mark Owens, actually co-authored several publications. She told us while it was different writing, that prepared her for writing this book. As well as reading!
It was also fun learning that Delia sold the rights to her book to Reese Witherspoon, to produce her book into a movie! I am PUMPED to see the movie, after now reading the book. Most movies I’ve watched that were based on a book, I’ve never read the book first. So that will be the cherry on top!
In Conclusion,
Like I first mentioned, these two book tours were very different from one another!
But it was intriguing that, though different, they were also very much alike.
Both book tours were in Chicago (Ha, given!)
Both women used their life story to shape their books.
Both women wrote in the early AM hours to get their book written. Writing is not their full time job.
Both women produced books that were P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L!
I would DEFINITELY recommend attending a book tour, if you haven’t had that experience yet! It was SO fun to not only take a road trip, but to get to know the author more + the book on an entirely different level. Plus, you can *usually* meet the author, as well, and get your own copy of the book autographed. Truly an incredible experience!
