Music City Sellout!

This past Saturday, the Professor book tour made a fantastic stop in Nashville, Tennessee at the fabulous East Side Story bookstore.  We came with two boxes of books, and left with none, selling a total of 43 copies of The Professor!  Another sold out day for the tour!

It was my honor to share the day with Nashville author Tom Wood, whose fictional true crime novel Vendetta Stone is a unique and thrilling story set in the streets of East Nashville.  In fact, several key scenes in Tom’s book occurred just steps from where the signing took place.  It was great talking books with Tom both before and after the signing, and Tom had a great day as well, selling numerous copies of Vendetta Stone.  If you haven’t picked up your copy of Tom’s book, be sure to make it your next purchase–you won’t be disappointed!

This was my first trip to East Nashville, and the Five Points area where East Side Story is located is unique and wonderful.  Lots of shops and local restaurants dot this area, and the foot traffic on this absolutely perfect day was heavy and constant.  Chuck Beard, owner of East Side Story, hosted the event, and I can’t say enough good things about Chuck or his wonderful store. Eclectic, original and awesome are adjectives that come to mind when describing both Chuck and East Side Story.

We had several special visitors for this event, including my Aunt Margie, who lives in the area.  So great to see her again!  Also, my old friend, Tom Castelli, a college running mate of Will Powell’s (the inspiration for “Powell Conrad”) dropped by with his lovely wife, Kristen.  Dixie’s friend, Kim Dedmon, also came and stayed for almost the entire event, helping us take pictures and enjoying the beautiful day.  Dixie’s college friend, Jason Holleman, came by with his kids and we also ran into Jenkins Hardin, whose brother Wesley is a friend of our’s in Huntsville.  Another surprise visitor was my brother, Bo, and his wife Amy, who came up for the day to take in the sights and sounds of Nashville.  Amy runs the on-line fashion magazine, My Scoop, which has locations in Nashville, Birmingham and Jackson, Mississippi, and I appreciate her and My Scoop’s promotion of the event on social media.

Also stopping by were Paige Crutcher, southern correspondent for Publisher’s Weekly.  I actually signed my first advanced copy of The Professor for Paige back in New Orleans in September at the SIBA convention, and it was an honor to sign a copy for her husband Marcus, who is a digital design and marketing guru in Nashville.  In addition, it was fun talking books with Michael Turner from the Nashville Writers Meetup blog, who helped us promote the event as well.

Finally, Dana Schroering with HTV was present for the event, shooting some live film for the segment on me coming up soon from HTV, which will air in over forty hospitals throughout the southeast.  Dana interviewed me on Friday at Cummins Station, and I cannot wait to see the segment!

Additionally, special thanks to Roy Burkhead, publisher of the 2nd and Church literary magazine, for doing a promotional feature in the week prior to the event.  In that regard, thanks always to Julie Schoerke and my fantastic publicity team at JKS Communications.  Julie and her colleague, Grace Wright, were present for the entire event, working the crowd for the duration.

After the sold out event, Julie took us all to a celebration dinner at the Lockeland Table restaurant just down the street from East Side Story, where Dixie and I enjoyed a fantastic meal with Chuck Beard and his wife Emily, Marcus and Paige Crutcher, Roy Burkhead and his wife, Leslie, and Julie and her friend Brent Miller.

All in all, it was a fantastic and memorable trip to the Music City.