12 Lessons from My Epic "Zibby-verse Tour"
... now that it's finally over. Plus some news!
The Backstory
As I walked down the quaint street in Nantucket in late August, I sighed one of the biggest sighs of my life. It was over.
I’d come up with the idea for “the Zibby-verse Tour” the previous December, on some rare downtime from work and the kids. What if I structured the tour for my debut novel Blank a little differently? I thought back to touring for my memoir Bookends.
While some events had been well-populated, others had been…. wispy in attendance. Okay, fine. One event had three people. Not including the video person.
I wanted to ensure that wouldn’t happen again. But how? Didn’t bookstores and event venues manage all the RSVPs? How could I make everyone who attended an event feel like they were a part of something? Which they were! Anyone who came to an event of mine would be part of what the L.A. Times had started calling “the Zibby-verse.” Could I set an example of how authors should be treated like rock stars… myself?
How fun! I thought. I’ll make friendship bracelets a la Taylor Swift! I’ll give out sunglasses to embody that celebrity staple. It’ll be a tongue-in-cheek way of sharing my message: authors deserve the royal treatment.
So I made a logo of my podcast icon wearing shades.
Then I researched different event websites to see if I could make all my events be in one easy place. (Thank you, TicketLeap.) While some venues wanted full control, most welcomed my help getting bodies into their events.
Once it was all set up, I went a little crazy. I booked 50 stops on the tour. If a city or town wanted me, the answer was: yes. How? I’d figure it out later. It would be an opportunity to meet fellow book lovers, tell them about all the great things we were doing at Zibby Media, and see the country. Minneapolis? Dallas? Why not?!
I had so many tour stops that my friend, author
, even made me a tour t-shirt.
James Patterson, godfather of the publishing industry, tweeted about it .
Even Publishers Weekly covered it.
It was like everyone was daring me. Could I really pull it off? I did.
(For a full visual immersion, here’s my photo album of the tour!)
Here are 12 things I learned that might help YOU:
Involve your kids from the outset.
I hate being apart from my kids, especially as a divorced — now, remarried — mom. How could I do this tour without missing any of my custody time, and with their support?
I brought every opportunity to the (dinner) table. “Hey guys, I was invited to the Tucson Book Festival. What do you think?” Usually they said, “That’s great, Mom! Go for it.”
I’d add the stop to the list. I asked them where they wanted to go. Miami got a thumbs up, as did Asheville. Who knew? I planned all the events around their calendars. When the whole trip was booked, I asked my little ones to draw a map of the United States so they could plot all of my stops on it, like an airline route map.
They forgot Wisconsin, but whatever.
We would then cross the stops off the list, together. It would be a team effort and they’d always know where I was. Plus, they were invited everywhere. It helped.
Book what you can handle.
Okay, this might sound obvious. But one day, I took three flights and did two events. I flew early in the morning (after saying goodbye to the kids before school) to Charleston, SC for a 10:30 am event. From there, I flew to Atlanta for a 6 pm event. And from there, I flew home to NYC. It floored me. I don’t mind flying — and get my best work done on flights —but I pushed myself to a point of exhaustion. It shut me down for days.
It’s okay to spend the night sometimes and come back refreshed instead of depleted.
Find local allies.
Everywhere I booked, I enlisted the help of someone in the area. An old friend from college. A cousin. A Zibby Books Ambassador from when we launched. Someone who had attended a Zibby Retreat. A local author who had been a guest on Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. It made every stop feel social and fun, versus like…. work.
I took time out on every stop to go for that margarita in Houston or that group dinner in Atlanta or that brunch in Denver, because those were the best parts! Connecting with people “filled my bucket” so I could give back to others. It didn’t slow me down. It was necessary to keep me going.
Don’t spend all your vacation time touring.
Touring is fun, yes, but it’s work. I booked my kids’ Spring Break for the tour but when it came time for the week off in June? I was burned out. Plus I needed to work on my next novel. Rest is essential! Book time to recharge.
Research flight paths, like, really well.
The only events I canceled were a three-day period of time with two stops in Virginia, one in Kansas City, and another in Indianapolis — which I accidentally booked in the wrong geographical order. Sometimes you have to say: it’s impossible. But better, don’t book stops without direct flights in a time period that’s basically physically impossible — and certainly don’t do it during a time you could actually rest and recharge. (See above.)
Connect the attendees.
I tried doing this through shared friendship bracelets, my own event website, and by welcoming many “guests” (as I called them) personally. Of course, at one stop at the Bedford Playhouse, I went up to the people in the audience as they waited for my talk with
to start, shook their hands and thanked them for coming. As I walked away, I overheard one woman say to a friend, “Who the heck was that?”Get ready to post.
I viewed every stop as an Instagram opportunity. A reel. A story. A collab. It was all material. A stop at the Mall of America? Yes. I was bringing my audience along for the ride, posting what I would want to know and see about every place I visited. I approached the tour not as a way to simply sell books, but to engage my community. No stop could possibly be a waste.
Stay organized.
For every stop before the tour started, I worked with Alex on my team and spread everything out all over my living room floor. Then we made piles for every stop: bracelets, sunglasses, cocktail napkins, a gift for the event venue, a gift for the moderator. Sometimes we sent things ahead. Other times I had little packages waiting for me in the corner of the living room. As the stops went by, the boxes dwindled. I still forgot things occasionally, but at least I did my best at the outset.
Say thank you.
I brought small thank-you-gifts to every venue (a turquoise book that said: ‘Every bookseller deserves a BLANK book.’ Hahaha). And I hand-wrote a thank-you-note. I even shipped custom gifts ahead of time to all the moderators on the tour. Don’t forget to do something for everyone who helps. It makes a difference.
Pick great tour partners.
I planned almost all my events to be “in conversation” with another author. It’s more fun that way! (Cut to: me at the podium in a country club in San Diego thinking: now what?) Moderators don’t have to be authors. They can be podcasters, bookstagrammers, librarians, or PTA moms. Think: community!
No crowd is too small.
Anyone who comes to your event and buys your book is a miracle. Seriously! I know there are authors out there who sell millions of copies and have lines around the block. But that isn’t the case for most of us.
The goal of the tour isn’t quantity; it’s quality. Are you reaching book lovers in a town who know everyone and will spread the word? Even if there are five of them, it’s worth it!
Remember that every single book sale is huge. It means someone out there is willing to take a risk on you, your innermost thoughts and feelings, your creativity, and give your work hours and hours of their precious time. It’s a gift you can’t take for granted. If you get caught up in the numbers, you might see, say, 20 bodies, But you aren’t seeing the 200 hours of reading. You aren’t seeing 20 people with their noses in your book on their couches when they could be doing anything else.
Every reader is a gift, so treat them that way.
Plan better.
The Zibby-verse tour ended after my signing with Elin Hilderbrand at Mitchell’s Book Corner in Nantucket on August 21st. Now, my tour for the anthology I edited and published On Being Jewish Now, which comes out October 1 in ebook and audiobook and November 1 in paperback, just started last Friday night, September 13th.
Yeah, I didn’t exactly give myself a ton of downtime.
This tour will be different because it’s mostly made up of private community events and not public ones. But I need to remember the things on my list (and you should make yours):
Custom postcards with QR code to distribute
A sign of the book cover (make one at Staples and bring an easel)
A sign-up sheet for your mailing list
Bookmarks to let everyone know about your other offerings/books
Gifts for the hosts and moderators (gah! need to order these!!)
Anything you could give out to unite the audience and have more fun!
News
My tour for Overheard, my next novel, will kick off on that book’s pub day: October 1, 2025!
Will I go to as many places? I’d like to say I’ve learned and that the answer is “no.” But saying “yes” is so much easier. Stay tuned.
THANK YOU to everyone who showed up to a stop on the Zibby-verse Tour, moderated an event, hosted me, showed me around your city, or spread the word to your community. It was all worth it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Where I Went (in order)
Elm Street Books: New Canaan, CT signing
Barrett Bookstore: Darien, CT signing
Private book club event: Greenwich, CT
Bedford Playhouse: Bedford, NY with
Books Are Magic, The Strand, Shakespeare & Co UES and UWS, The Corner Bookstore: New York, NY signings
Girls Write Now: New York, NY with
Susan Shapiro’s Salon Event: New York, NY with
Newtonville Books and Thistle & Leek: Newton, MA with Hanna Halperin
Athena Books: Greenwich, CT with
Saltwater Bookstore, Beacon Hill Books, The Bookshop at Beverly Farm and Belmont Books: Signing
P&T Knitwear: New York, NY with
Virtual: The Write Review with
andVirtual: A Mighty Blaze with
The Literary Society of the Southwest: Phoenix, AZ with
The Tucson Book Festival: Tucson, AZ with
, and other panelists, plus afterparty book clubScarsdale Library: Scarsdale, NY with
and Joanne Lippman (coverage)Jill Daniel’s Happy Women’s Dinner: Palo Alto, CA with Rachel Michelberg
Alt Summit panel: Palm Springs, CA with The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs
Brazos Bookstore: Houston, TX with
Hey Mama Summit: New York, NY panel
Conversations on the Page event: Houston, TX with Cindy Burnett, plus a second private event
Zibby’s Bookshop: Santa Monica, CA with
The Agency: Pacific Palisades, CA with
and Melanie GoldbergerBooks and Books: Coral Gables, FL with Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches: Palm Beach Gardens, FL with Jane L. Rosen
The Palm Beach Bookstore: Palm Beach, FL with
Barnes & Noble: Bridgehampton, NY event
Virtual: Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center with Dani Shapiro
Virtual: Women Reading Aloud with Julie Maloney
Friends of Delaware County Library event at Jeni’s Ice Cream, North Market: Columbus, OH
Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop Keynote: Dayton, OH and introduction to Anna Quindlen’s speech
Parnassus Books: Nashville, TN with Elle Evans
Mom 2.0 Summit: Nashville, TN with
She’s Got Issues event: Pikesville, MD with Jill Smokler with the Ivy Bookshop
Planet Word event: Washington, DC with Meghan Riordan Jarvis and Politics + Prose
ModernWell event: Minneapolis, MN with
The Los Angeles Public Library Gala: Los Angeles, CA, featured author plus small group dinner speaker the night before at private home
Asheville, NC Zibby Retreat with
, Denise Kiernan, Kelly McMasters and othersVirtual: Women’s Media Group with
LA Times Festival of Books: Los Angeles, CA with other panelists
Charleston Library Society: Charleston, SC with Victoria Benton Frank and Stacy Willingham with Buxton Books
Virgina Highland Bookstore: Atlanta, GA with
School event: New York, NY with Ingrid Fetell Lee
Book Club Picks with Virtual Appearances: Matzah Book Soup book club pick, Friends & Fiction Book Club pick, TinyABC Book Club with “SokysGirl”
Additional Book Clubs: First for Women magazine Book Club pick, Anneliese’s Book Club pick, Hermiston Public Library Book Club pick
Montclair Literary Festival: Montclair, NJ panelist
Books and Greetings: Northvale, NJ with Alisyn Camerota
Booked Chesnut Hill: Chesnut Hill, PA with Kyle, hosted by two friends
Sephardic Community Center: Brooklyn, NY with
Virtual: The Spirit of Story event
House of Speakeasy Literary Cabaret: New York, NY
The New York Society Library: New York, NY
Interabang Books: Dallas, TX with
Tattered Cover speaker: Denver, CO + private brunch event
Two private book parties: New York, NY
Madison Street Books: Chicago, IL with
plus Chicago Zibby Petite Retreat with events at the American Writers MuseumMontage Resorts: Laguna Beach, CA signing
Warwick’s: San Diego, CA with
Booked for Lunch, a Warwick’s Event: San Diego, CA
Ocean House: Watch Hill, RI with Deborah Goodrich Royce with Bank Square Books
BookHampton: East Hampton, NY with Joselyn Takacs
Sag Harbor Bookstore: Sag Harbor, NY signing
Elements Fitness: Sag Harbor, NY signing with Swan Huntley
Bridgehampton Library Fridays at Five: Bridgehampton, NY with Fiona Davis and Clare McHugh
Cynthia Rowley event: Sag Harbor, NY with Emma Rosenblum
Private club event: Southampton, NY with Perri Peltz
Zibby’s Bookshop: Santa Monica, CA with Lisa Barr
Southampton Arts Center panel: Southampton, NY with Swan Hunley, Audrey Bellezza, and Emily Harding
Shelter Island Yacht Club: Shelter Island, NY with Swan Huntley and Finley’s Fiction
East Hampton Library Authors Night: East Hampton, NY
Nantucket Atheneum event: Nantucket, MA with Elin Hilderbrand
Mitchell’s Book Corner signing: Nantucket, MA with Elin Hilderbrand
TV Appearances: Good Morning America live on publication day; ABC-7 with Sandy Kenyon, CBS Book Club with Mary Calvi, CBS Columbus, Good Day DC, Pix-11, NY1, Tamron Hall Show
Coverage: Bustle, The Skimm, GMA, Oprah Daily, USA Today Bestseller, Town & Country, Romper, Hadassah, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Palisadian-Post, Quest, The Ethel, Hindustan Times, New York Magazine’s Look Book feature, Editor’s Pick Amazon, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, Harvard Business School Alumni Magazine, Yale University Alumni feature, The Palm Beach Daily News, the Columbus Dispatch, Moms Matter, Newsday, East Hampton Star, James Lane Post, Spotlight Hamptons, Arizona Daily Star, Afar, BookBub, New Canaan and Darien Magazine, First for Women Magazine, Social Life Magazine, Dan’s Papers, The Literary Edit, Southforker, Atlantic Ave Magazine, Joy the Baker, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Times Style section, Fox28 Columbus, LitHub, Tablet, Thrive Global, 27 East, Forbes, Hamptons.com, plus dozens of podcasts like Dedicated with Doug Brunt on Sirius XM!
I actually can’t believe I did all this.
THANK YOU, everyone!!
RECAP:
20 States. 47 Cities/Towns.
Arizona
Phoenix, AZ
Tucson, AZ
California
Laguna Beach, CA
La Jolla, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Pacific Palisades, CA
Palm Springs, CA
Palo Alto, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Colorado
Denver, CO
Connecticut
Darien, CT
Greenwich, CT
New Canaan, CT
Florida
Coral Gables, FL
Palm Beach, FL
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Georgia
Atlanta, GA
Illinois
Chicago, IL
Maryland
Pikesville, MD
Massachusetts
Belmont, MA
Beverly, MA
Boston, MA
Marblehead, MA
Nantucket, MA
Newton, MA
Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
New Jersey
Montclair, NJ
Northvale, NJ
New York
Bedford, NY
Bridgehampton, NY
Brooklyn, NY
East Hampton, NY
New York, NY
Sag Harbor, NY
Scarsdale, NY
Shelter Island, NY
Southampton, NY
North Carolina
Asheville, NC
Ohio
Columbus, OH
Dayton, OH
Pennsylvania
Chesnut Hill, PA
Rhode Island
Watch Hill, RI
South Carolina
Charleston, SC
Tennessee
Nashville, TN
Texas
Dallas, TX
Houston, TX
Washington, DC
So happy you came to Minneapolis! We’ll take you shopping at the Mall of America anytime!💙
xo
Best day of the Zibby-verse tour for me!! ❤️❤️❤️