My Weekly Recommendations
My Weekly Recommendations
(Taylor Swift Style’s Version) + NEW BOOK TOUR DATES
I have been a published author now for several days. How?! This book was waiting to go out into the world for so long and now she is. You could say she’s a girl on a mission, ready to fly.
In preparation for this book’s release, I’ve been lucky enough to get to talk to some wonderful people about it. I hope you’ll take a look at some of the conversations I’ve had in the past few weeks in support of this book and that they hopefully (if you haven’t already) give you a reason (or two) to possibly order in these final hours of the first week of sales.
But first! A gentle bestseller reminder …
As you’re aware by now, all books sold during the pre-order period and during the first week of release count towards the first week of sales, which then get aggregated into the bestseller list. That first week sales window? It closes TODAY, SATURDAY OCTOBER 12 @ 11:59p. There are only so few hours left to potentially make an impact in the success of this book and if it lands on the bestseller list at all.
In publishing, October is a competitive month. I know the non-fiction field has been thick with some incredible writers bringing books they believed in and loved to you. It means so much that you’d consider buying Taylor Swift Style for yourself or for someone in your life. I do genuinely think it’s the perfect gift for any Swiftie. Some books are form, some are substance. I wrote it, I know, but I really believe this book is both. The packaging is stunning. The photos are numerable and gorgeous. But it’s the words … The commentary. The captions. The love that went into describing and analyzing this fashionable journey. It’s robust, to say the least. I hope you feel it when you read it. I believe in the power of community, I always have. It’s why I created a blog in the first place - to find other people like me who might just be interested in the things that I was interested in. A niche within a niche. A fandom within a fandom. I wanted to write a book on a topic many might deem frivolous or silly and I wanted to give it the beautiful, adoring spotlight it deserves. Our interests matter. I love that Swifties have given credence and power to Taylor’s art and I just hope you see this as an extension of the care and thought and belief that her art is worth the time spent analyzing. I think it would be a huge upset for this book to land on the New York Times list and I believe we can do it.
There are so many incredible deals still on including Amazon (30% off!), Target (10% off + Buy 2, Get 1 Free), and Barnes & Noble. I so appreciate your support.
TO READ
Town & Country (Emily Burack and Adam Rathe). This list of “The Best Books To Read In October” includes memoirs by Ina Garten and Al Pacino as well as the latest from The Atlantic correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates (I loved The Water Dancer). And Taylor Swift Style is just THERE. ALONGSIDE THESE OTHER TITLES. Emily notes, “As we enter holiday shopping season, it's a fantastic gift for the Swiftie in your life.” I hope this Swiftmas at least one of you gets to say “You get a copy! And you get a copy! And you get a copy!”.
People (Kelsie Gibson). I’m so grateful to Kelsie who *immediately* understood the assignment when it came to seeing the fate of this book coming out on its 13th anniversary. Kelsie also did an additional follow-up Chiefs-centric piece HERE. Grateful for the additional love!
US Weekly (Grace Riley and Aileen Bergin). When I spoke with Aileen she couldn’t believe how I’ve managed to become such an expert in Taylor’s style that I Cassandra’d “Cassandra”.
PopSugar (Sarah Wasilak). Does anyone else absolutely just love the nosy nature of those “what’s in your bag” features? Doing this “Expert Edit” felt like the equivalent of that. It lists all the fun things I liked to have on hand in the writing process of this book and also general home comforts.
Billboard (Rebecca Milzoff). I loved chatting with Rebecca recently - she asked so many thoughtful questions and herself had some fascinating takeaways on how she perceives Travis using his style just as intentionally as Taylor does (her knowledge and attachment about/to him felt clear to me and it comes with the territory of being a lifelong Eagles/Jason Kelce fan - I can always tell!). I loved when she called Taylor Swift Style “a fascinating, often surprising lens into this additional layer of Swift’s creativity for anyone watching the artist’s continuing evolution.”
Kansas City Star (Lisa Gutierrez). For some local colour ahead of my stop at the Heartland Book Festival in Kansas City (which happens to be today), I spoke to Lisa from the paper and chatted all things TSS origin story as well as some Chiefs game day fashion - naturally.
Taypedia (Hannah Yasharoff). A Taylor Swift-centric site that takes an encyclopedic-approach to documenting her updates? I am there. I loved this portion of the piece: “I wanted to make this book as a testament to the visual half that codified every era and made all of these moments memorable. … I think the one thing that unites Taylor Swift fans is that there’s no detail too small. I hope that all of this extensive research gives it the gravitas and the attention it deserves, because it’s carefully thought through by her and it should be carefully deciphered by us.”
The Kit (Sarah Laing). I was prepped ahead of time that Sarah would be a thoughtful, quality interviewer and was delightful to experience her reputation accurately precede her in real time. Even the opening ‘graf on this piece sets such a warm and deeply entrenched fan-forward scene: “On Sarah Chapelle’s vanity, there’s an empty, dusty (by her own admission) bottle of Taylor Swift Wonderstruck perfume. Gold-capped and festooned with charms, it’s a shade of lavender those in the know would immediately recognize as “Speak Now purple.” Swoon!
+ Publisher’s Weekly (Carolyn Juris). Taylor Swift Style got included in PW’s Holiday Gift Guide 2024 in their “Illustrated & Art Books” section. It was gratifying to see TSS noted specifically for its depth with “this compilation of 200 photos [delving] into the deeper meanings behind Swift’s sartorial choices.” TSS was also included amongst some other TS titles released this year. I love that Taylor is her own literary genre now!
TO LISTEN
Books Are Chic. Courtney is a lover of anything “chic” - as goes the title of her podcast. It felt only right that someone who wants to celebrate anything literary and elegant or stylish was the perfect place to have a conversation about a fashion book like Taylor Swift Style. A book which is, undeniably, v chic.
Swiftie School. Reagan is such an enthusiastic light in the Swiftie community and I appreciated how she catered her energy and questions to me and the ethos of TSS (Read: A pull back from the honk honk beep beep clownery she loves to indulge in). She was such a thoughtful interviewer!
Hits Differently. A lot of fun was poked at here as we chatted TSS origin stories, our least favourite Taylor songs, and the ethos of critically kind. Molly and Ryan were such delights and I’m so grateful to them for letting me go deep (aka yammer on endlessly … as I do).
Lauren Lipman. We’ve floated in one another’s social Swiftie circles for literal years - “meeting” Lauren on Zoom felt like a long time coming. We ran out of time when chatting but could have gone for hours. Some great q’s traversing the process of TSS and how we got here today.
A fun reminder …
The Taylor Swift Style book tour recently got extended! Based on YOUR feedback. It was so important to me to meet TSSers where they are. I took your requests seriously (the data was extrapolated into a spreadsheet!) and I not only wanted to head to cities where many of you are concentrated but also support the local, independent bookstores that so many of you recommended and love patronizing. Thank you for your suggestions and for participating in the tour extension poll.
I’m so excited to be hitting up the following cities over the coming months:
💚 Saturday, Nov 2 | 6:30PM ET || Head House Books in Philadelphia, PA. RSVP HERE.
💛 Friday, Nov 8 | 7PM CT || Neighbor Books in McKinney, TX. UPDATE: SOLD OUT
💜 Saturday, Nov 9 | 6PM CT || Vintage Books and Wine in Austin, TX. RSVP HERE.
❤️ Tuesday, Dec 10 | 6PM MT || Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ. RSVP HERE.
🩵 Wednesday, Dec 11 | 6PM MT || Tattered Cover in Denver, CO. RSVP HERE.