Baby's First Book Tour(s)

reflecting 2 cookbooks later

As I’m writing this my sweet client Lucie just wrapped the last stop of her book tour for Cake From Lucie in France! A tour that I had the absolute pleasure of planning, coordinating and executing and that took us from New York to SF to LA to Charleston, London & France! This was my first season doing full-on cookbook PR but it’s something that really feels like it was meant to be and a long time coming.

I have spent the last 6 years working primarily with food and bev cpg brands on PR, parties and partnerships but really I’ve spent the last 26 years obsessed with food in every way with a deep love and appreciation for cooking and most importantly cookbooks. If you had told little Delaney she’d be part of the process of bringing a cookbook to life she would have been giddy, the girl who would opt for Food Network instead of Disney Channel, who asked for cookbooks for her birthday since she was 7 (if not earlier) and who forced her friends and little sister to play “Iron Chef” and “Chopped” whenever possible, filmed on the iPad of course.

Adding cookbook publicist and cookbook tour producer to my resume has been a full circle moment and feels like the culmination of years of work and a lifetime of wanting to be closer to this world. I just know that little Delaney would be so proud of me.

A little over 2 years ago I found myself working a lot with talent and cookbook authors from the brand side, whether it was gifting product for book photoshoots, pitching them to have my brands included in their launch party or sponsoring parts of their tour, I was finding myself adjacent to the publishing space often. I always understood the power of cookbook launches to elevate my brand clients so it was a no brainer and selfishly so fun for me. I started thinking about how fun it would be to work on the cookbook side too, to help bring those author’s dreams to life and to bring the brand and the talent side together. It was a passing thought I didn’t share because “how would I even get my foot in the door,” I had no clue. Then, with almost spooky timing, 3 different people over the course of a month asked me if I thought about doing PR for cookbooks or told me I’d be good at it. It was the reassurance and green light I needed. Once that happened I started seeing more and more the need for something different in the book publicity space.

Cookbook author friends were being met with huge retainers they could barely afford with results that fell flat or big agencies with big promises and big excuses to match. I saw the need for support beyond media relations, the need for the events and brand partnerships that really make tours pop and for collaborations and press that actually moves the needle for them. I knew that there was an opportunity here to support authors where it matters and to really be their right hand when it came to their book. It’s a huge investment, the biggest moment in their careers and they needed someone who could help guide them through this time. 2+ years of work deserves to be celebrated loudly not just crawling across the pub day finish line. I started casually mentioning to industry friends I was wanting to work in cookbooks and soon enough I was getting on new biz calls with authors and their managers to talk shop, hoping that I’d find the right fit to trust me to bring their vision to life.

Enter, Cookie Club! My first cookbook baby. mallory oniki is a superstar and the sweetest human ever, I truly lucked out. My love of all things sweet treats and our shared Utah roots made it a perfect match. So grateful for Mallory and her team for trusting me with her big moment and for being the best client turned friend and I am so proud of the work we did (and continue to do) to bring Cookie Club into kitchen’s everywhere. If you don’t have a copy yet you need one asap.

But because one wouldn’t be enough I decided that I would help launch not one but two cookbooks this spring, not just the same season, or same month but launching the same day. When my sweet Lucie was sent my way bringing Cake From Lucie to the people was a no-brainer, well actually about 20 discussions later. I hemmed and hawed about how I could pull this off, I talked to friends, fellow publicists, talent manager friends and most importantly my client Mallory before saying YES. It was fast and furious to pull off but we did it and I’m so proud of the noise we made and for Lucie rolling with the punches and trusting me when it mattered most.

I can’t say I am clamoring to take on that same-pub-day challenge again (I felt very Hannah Montana throwing on and taking off my wig running back and forth between events to show up for my girls) and my brain and belly are still filled to the brim with cookies and cake but I am so filled with gratitude for my cookbook girls who trusted me to launch their books and celebrate this huge accomplishment with them. Seeing the response to their books, the people who drove hours to come to a signing, the brand partners who said yes without hesitation and their families show up for them day in and day out was so moving and really solidified that this is the type of meaningful work I want to do more of.

I can’t wait to welcome more cookbook authors into my world with my cpg brand babies and help them make their cookbook rollout dreams come true (there are some coming soon that I cannot wait to share with you!!)

It’s so easy when you work for yourself to skate through to the next project and forget to acknowledge the milestone so I wanted to take a minute to reflect on what my last few month have been made of and most importantly celebrate Mallory & Lucie, some highlights below (don’t worry dedicated posts for both coming to IG soon-don’t forget to snag your copies!).

more to come xx,

Delaney

Cookie Club

Cake From Lucie