The time it was about the other side of a tour

If you’ve ever gone to one of the Fierce Reads tour stops, more than likely you’ve seen Molly Brouillette.  She’s a publicity manager for Macmilan and probably one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.  When I saw her during the latest Fierce Reads tour stop in San Diego, Michelle and I were briefly catching up with her.  Somehow we got on the topic of getting Molly’s side of the tour and she agreed to do an interview!

So, without further ado, let’s welcome Molly to the blog!

1. Please give us the details on your job.

In a nutshell, my job is to help people find out about Mac Kids books (picture books through young adult). This can range from securing reviews and features in traditional media outlets to setting up blog tours to planning (and attending!) author tours and festival appearances. There’s a lot of variety but the gist of it is that I get to talk a lot about books, which I’d probably be doing even if I didn’t get paid for it!

2. Now describe your job in 5 words.

Fun. Rewarding. Chaotic. Nerdy. Awesome!

3. Describe a typical day while on tour.

Well, it’s not nearly as glamorous as it may sound! We usually wake up early, head to the airport where (if we’re lucky) we have enough time to grab a quick, usually unhealthy breakfast before flying to our next city. Upon arrival, there is usually a short period of downtime to check into our hotel and nap/relax/catch up on email before we head to our event. We precede every event with a blogger interview and follow each panel with a signing and when crowds are big, they can last quite a while! If we all have energy after the event, we try to have a nice dinner together, but sometimes we are exhausted and end up ordering room service by ourselves. Then the next morning we wake up and do it again!

4. Can you tell us the absolute best and the absolute worst that has happened while on tour?

The best is really any time I get to see fans getting really excited about meeting their favorite authors- the Austin Teen Book Festival last year was a particular favorite event because there were literally thousands of teenage fans and they were all crazy excited. I overheard two girls get in a fight about Mal vs. The Darkling in the bathroom, and I witnessed a very adorable love connection between two adorably awkward fans of Ann Aguirre’s Razorland Trilogy. It was heartwarming, even if it did make me feel about 100 years old!

The worst… I got pulled aside in the security line at the Albuquerque airport last fall and had to undergo a really extensive search in a back room by a gruff woman named Officer Trout. She was actually really nice, but wouldn’t tell me why I’d been detained, and the whole process took so long that I came thisclose to missing the flight. The authors had gone on to the gate, but they’d confiscated my cell phone so I couldn’t communicate with them and I was panicking that they wouldn’t get on the flight. She did let me out just in time, and finally informed me that my HAND LOTION had somehow set off their sensors as a possible explosive. Still not sure how that happened but needless to say, I don’t bring that lotion on tour anymore!

5. Who has been the most fun author to work with?

Oh, that’s like picking a favorite child. Impossible! I don’t know if YA authors are just generally awesome people or if Macmillan has just gotten really lucky, but every author I’ve toured with has been fantastic in a different way. Anna Banks never fails to make me giggle at her inappropriate jokes. There is no morning too early for an airport heart-to-heart with Emmy Laybourne and Leigh Bardugo. SA Bodeen can throw down football smack talk with the best of them, even if she IS a Green Bay fan. Jessica Brody is the #1 best person to go to Target with in the world. Ava Dellaira inspires me with her perfectly-themed outfits for every city. Leila Sales can really spice up a car ride with a Matchbox 20 sing-along…I could go on and on. The bottom line is, getting to know these people whose writing I so admire is the absolute biggest perk of this job.

6. What is your must have when traveling? Do you have a plane routine?

Snacks!! There’s nobody in the world that’s immune to becoming ‘hangry’ so I always try to have an arsenal of snacks with me on the road to keep everyone’s blood sugar pumping. My personal favorite is salt & vinegar chips, but I also try to bring healthy snacks and sweets to make sure there’s something for everyone.

As for the plane, we actually try not to have everyone sit together- when you spend this much time traveling in a group, you have to grab ‘alone time’ when you can. I don’t want anyone to feel pressure to chat when they’d rather be reading, sleeping, writing, etc.

7. What is your favorite part of your job?

Seeing fans, particularly kids and teenagers, get excited about reading. I’m immensely jealous of today’s teenagers- there was nothing like the Fierce Reads tour when I was growing up, and there certainly was no online community of YA fans like there is now. For some reason, most of my friends weren’t huge readers and I always wished I had more people to talk about books with.

8. What’s coming up for you?

Next week is San Diego Comic Con, where I’ll get to hang out with Leigh Bardugo, Ann Aguirre, and Marissa Meyer! After that, I have a little break before the two legs of Fall Fierce Reads will be here before I know it- I can’t reveal where we’ll be going yet, but it’s going to be a blast.

Speed [ish] Round:

1.What three things would you take to a desert island?

Books! A toothbrush! Sunscreen! (Boring, but I’m very dedicated to oral hygiene and also very fair!)

2. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

Torture! But I’d have to go with my all-time favorite, Gone With The Wind. Scarlett O’Hara is kind of a hot mess, but I love her dearly.

3. Who are your favorite swoony boys?

Michael B Jordan and the guy who plays Bennett on Orange is the New Black! HE-llo! Or for book boyfriends, I’m all about Sturmhond from the Grisha Trilogy and Niko from Monument 14. Sturmhond is just so charming and witty, and the latter reminds me a lot of my real-life boyfriend (who should probably get a shout-out among all this swooning).

4. Favorite Darcy: Colin Firth or Matthew McFadden?

Firth forever!! Not even a question!

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Huge thanks to Molly for taking the time! You can follow her on Twitter for more shenanigans.  Make sure you’re checking out the Fierce Reads website, Twitter and Facebook page to get the scoop on all of the awesome things!