One Month of Flawless The Book [#19]

The tour ended on Flawless' one-month birthday. A heartfelt thank you for giving it such a warm and loving liftoff.

Hi hi!

With Jean Lee at NPR HQ in DC, for the big public event put on by Council of Korean Americans, hosted by NPR and with bookstore partner Politics and Prose.

After concluding the epic 12-city tour in my hometown of Dallas, I got back into my normal rhythm of momming hard and took the girls to Lake Arrowhead, and then Yosemite. After seven weeks on the road, I have laryngitis. My voice finally gave out, just when I was about to get back to the regular rhythm of podcasting and participating in Flawless interviews from the comfort of home.

Womp womp.

So I shall express myself in writing! I am feeling intense gratitude. There are SO MANY PEOPLE and ORGANIZATIONS to thank after the five-week tour and all the events and all the food!

Dr. Pepper ribs following the final book talk of the tour, in my hometown of Dallas.

I’ll shout out the thank yous in the early blogging day way, with a listicle:

A month of Flawless, in numbers…

87 press appearances

17 total in-person book events (13 public, 4 private)

… in 12 cities (two of those in LA because we repped the East side and West side)

16 conversation partners: Hannah Bae, Ailsa Chang, Rachel Swaby, Chris Vognar, Madeleine Brand, Mina Kim, Kara DeLost, Hyeok Kim, Lady La, Cristela Guerra, Jean Lee and Kris Boyd.

15 in-kind sponsors at parties: Suntory Whiskey, Starbucks Coffee, Ving Vodka, Spitfire Strategies, Co+Mrkt, DPR Engineering, Intertrend, Glow Recipe, Vervet Sparkling Cocktails, Aruhi Catering, Manzanita Grove Vineyard, Three Gems Tea, Spicewell, Dewy Monday, Wei Good Food.

11 organization/institutional event hosts: NPR, LAist (KPCC), KCRW, KUOW, WBUR, KERA, The Asia Foundation, The Korea Society, Council of Korean Americans, ASU School of Law, Korea Economic Institute.

10 bookstore partners: Yu and Me Books, Village Well Books, Elliott Bay Books, North Figueroa Books, Brazos Bookstore, Sausalito Books by the Bay, ASU Bookstore, Porter Square Books, Politics and Prose, and Interabang Books.

Three video guys: Luke Gresback, Matthew Nguyen and Rishabh Trivedi

Two publicists: Emily Canders and Katie Freeman

Two social media editors: Drew Zandonella-Stannard and Rachel Pick

One bag handler: Rob

One marketing rep: Isabel Rosedas

One lost item: My airpods!

And a partridge in a pear tree. I feel like I’m forgetting something, so if I forgot you, CALL ME OUT.

Latest Press Nuggets

Austin Chronicle feature on Flawless, how beauty standards have gotten so cyborgian thanks to social media algorithms, and how beauty discourse intersects with women and LGBTQI struggles for bodily safety, autonomy and liberation.

A review and more in the Globe and Mail.

Boston Globe feature on Flawless

A lovely write up in Vox’s Best Books of 2023 (So Far)

How to Be A Better Human conversation with my friend Chris Duffy

An hourlong conversation (with call-in guests) for KQED’s The Forum

An hourlong conversation (in front of a live audience) for KERA’s Think with Kris Boyd

Local TV segments in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Portland and Seattle.

Reader Notes

It is touching and gratifying to hear from individual readers all over the world. I’ve read some of your reviews that show how closely you’ve read Flawless, which is a gift. Someone sent me a photo of the book on display in Kuala Lumpur.

This is the paperback international edition, which I’ve never met in real life!

An Australian reader sent me this touching note via Instagram:

Gah so kind!

What You Can Still Do

Talk with your friends about the book. Request it at your local libraries. Send me photos of Flawless in the wild. Share these discussion questions with your book club or other people’s book clubs.

Online reviews! They make the book more easily discoverable. If you're a member of Goodreads, pop that review in Goodreads! This will be really helpful for the bibliophile community and book discovery in general. And here's the Amazon page. So long as you're logged in, you can write a review today. 

I have MORE EXCITING NEWS to come, it’s just not all worked out yet so … stay tuned. In TV news we called these “teases”…

Your vocally challenged correspondent,

Elise