Reinventing the book tour with Wishbone Kitchen.
Why try to create a viral press moment, when you can bring the viral moment on tour?
Good morning everyone. I’m really excited to dig into Pee-wee as Himself when I get home from dinner tonight. I heard it’s excellent. I went on Middlebrow podcast last week. The boys told me it’s doing numbers. I can’t stop looking at King’s spring menu. Free letter today!
Today’s letter includes: Staud’s $28mm fundraise, how
and re-invented the book tour, a dispatch from Memorial Day weekend at The Surf Lodge, Sofia Coppola’s music video career, and the wedding guest dress of the summer.
I rarely get FOMO, but last week when
invited me to see Barry Diller in conversation with Anderson Cooper, and I already had plans… I found myself distracted all night at an event downtown, wondering what was being said at the 92Y uptown.Nobody in this city is programming conversations with old intellectual white guys in this city like 92Y. But that’s not what this is about. It’s about book tours. And sensing when something is happening in a room that you’re not in.
“With each show, we found our groove and on-stage dynamic, that was one of my favorite parts. The audience would do the wave with their books, we’d break out in little dances, and the cocktails got stronger on each stop.” -
When an author goes on tour to promote a book, they have this limited amount of time morph themselves to a given platform (interview, late-night show, podcast) and encourage people to whip out their credit card, and swipe it to buy another book. The task becomes to show new parts of themselves, which I think can be especially hard for people who are somewhat public to begin with. The influencer-style viral interview — Hot Ones, Chicken Shop Date, Theo Von — often produces the most viral moments of the book tour. It wakes a celebrity up from their press junket, and shows them to the world in a new light. Sometimes funnier, or more clever, or more relevant to viewers who had never heard of them.
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So if you know Hot Ones becomes the most viral part of a celebrity’s press tour, what would it look like to bring Sean Evans on tour with you? This is a format that
, also known at Wishbone Kitchen, experimented with on her most recent book tour. The chef-turned-influencer-turned-author brought superstar trivia host, , around the country with her to ticketed book tour stops.I reached out to Meredith and Natalie to find out more about how the partnership came about, and how the project went.
MEREDITH: “To me, most book talks feel like the author and their co-host talking at each other while the audience simply watches. I wanted these talks to feel like we were all sitting at the same table and chatting together. With that said, I didn’t want the subject matter of the talk to solely revolve around myself (nor the book). The people who took time out of their week and money out of their pocket to come out and support the book don’t need to hear me explain my life story or how the book came to be — they’ve heard all of that.
Ten or twenty years ago, these talks were the first time the audience was hearing directly from an author. But my audience already knows me, my dogs, my past jobs, my favorite foods, my favorite pair of jeans, and even my mental health struggles. In lieu of the typical book tour, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to, for lack of a better word, yap with my audience.
I wrote this book knowing many people who follow me don’t cook very often. So I wanted to create a tour that, like my book, would be fun, regardless of whether or not you cook. Natalie, my co-host, was such a perfect fit for the tour. We connected instantly when we met last fall for the first time. She also happens to be an incredibly talented host of her own trivia show The Big Silly Trivia Game where she discusses niche pop culture references, which my audience also loves.
I’ve controversially said that food can be the least important component of hosting a good dinner party. The same foes for a good book talk. Now that’s not to say it’s not necessary — it definitely is. But what’s more important is making people feel welcome, excited, entertained, and seen. To keep things fun on tour, we incorporated live elements like an on-stage cocktail demo, Wishbone Kitchen trivia led by Natalie, and plenty of Q+A. There were also small things like having everyone turn to the page in their books while discussing a recipe so they could SEE it while I discussed it.
For signings, I partnered with William’s Sonomas. They have an on-site test kitchen and were willing to do live recipe demos. I also had a custom back drop made using the design of the book end pages so that everyone’s photos felt extra special. I feel a personal responsibility to ensure everyone is having a good time and leaves happier than how they arrived. And I really hope this tour accomplished that.”
NATALIE: “We genuinely had so much FUN on this tour. Maybe it’s the matching Capricorn sun signs and the love for Bravo, but the second we kicked off the first tour we were in such a flow. With each show, we found more and more of our groove and on-stage dynamic, that was one of my favorite parts. The audience would do the wave with their WBK books, we’d break out in little dances, and the cocktails got stronger on each stop.
It was also magical to see Meredith’s community IRL across the country, they’ve been so closely involved in her journey— it’s so fun to celebrate her and this book. As her co-host, it was about highlighting all the fun nuanced moments and stories that make up the WBK universe, not just the recipes. Surprising her with new pop-culture trivia questions (a la Big Silly) at each stop, chatting about her tour looks, and scampering through the 500-750 person crowds quizzing girls on WBK trivia facts was everything and more. Oh also our pre-show energy converted into silly TikToks was a blast and a half.”
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Depending on who you ask, The Surf Lodge can be described as heaven or hell. The popular Hamptons bar is located in the middle of Montauk, and is known for their expensive bottle service, long lines, and live music performances. Last night, I texted a 20-something-year-old Montauk local about her experience at the bar over Memorial Day weekend.
“There were no lines for me, but my best friend runs the door. The men who were there could be described as… old guys wanting to give European but just looked sad. It was the same group of men that I used to see there four years ago doing the same thing they were doing four years ago. The secret about Surf Lodge is that the deck is 60% the same people every weekend, and 40% random people. It’s a small community
I definitely didn’t fall in love, and I hope my ex (who was there with his new girlfriend) didn’t either.”
I asked her if people planning their Hamptons vacations should go to The Surf Lodge.
“Is it worth it? Probably not. Should you go? Probably yes.”
I asked what gets someone turned away at the door.
“So many things: looking stupid, not being willing to pay, being ugly, showing up at the wrong time, a bad outfit.”
Good luck out there, everyone!
Earlier this year, WWD reported that womenswear brand Staud was looking for investors. Last night, they closed a $28mm fundraise. Nice.
Amanda Hesser, the co-founder and executive chair of Food52 stepped down. If you were looking, there were signs. Like when Hesser joined Substack in March (someone pointed out to this morning that she has 700k+ subscribers, which I’m assuming she migrated over from…somewhere). And when Food52 took over $80mm from Chernin in 2021. Per AdWeek, “In March, it cut 40% of its workforce, whittling its headcount from 140 to 90, and initiated the process of shuttering the Portland, Ore. factory in which its subsidiary brand, Schoolhouse, manufactures many of its products.” The food media space is absolutely fractured, and it will take someone with a tremendous amount of energy and patience to try to piece together or a build a new type of magazine. In the meantime, Americans seem to be gravitating towards individual personalities who publish restaurant criticism and recipe content.
David Fincher. Spike Jonze. Michel Gondry. Plenty of Hollywood directors got their start in music videos, but it’s always exciting when you see the roles reversed. Sofia Coppola directed the new music video for her daughter’s viral hit, A-Lister. If you’d like a taste of her directing style, you can revisit Phoenix’s video for Chloroform, or The White Stripes’ video she directed in 2003 for “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself”. Be careful if you’re at the office, it involves Kate Moss and a pole.
Your social media manager is probably underpaid.
’s new survey of social media marketers dropped yesterday.Hailey Bieber’s Rhode is investing in international expansion.
I have a hunch that we’re going to see this mirrored Tory Burch dress at a lot of weddings this summer.
Adam Friedland isn’t your secret Cum Town crush anymore. He’s made it big time. This season on The Adam Friedland Show, he sat down with Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker, and former NBA player Blake Griffin. His interview with Anthony Weiner premieres in 6 hours.
“This Guest Lecture is such a flex, Emily.” - a comment on yesterday’s interview with New York’s mayoral candidates.
The Tory Burch dress uses shisha mirrored embroidery, which originated in South Asia in the 17th century. I love Tory's revitalized brand and design approach from the last few years, but if you want to support South Asian designers who have been using this approach in contemporary styles, try abacaxi: https://www.abacaxi-nyc.com/shop/shisha-baby-tee
A book tour really is one of the best places to make friends in the wild. Lots of solo people with shared interests and often some downtime to mingle. I went to a talk with the Malai ice cream owner for her new book and it was such a good crowd