Paula Deen’s Savannah Style Virtual Book Tour August ’10

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Join Paula Deen, author of the home and garden decorating book, Paula Deen’s Savannah Style (Simon & Schuster), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in August ‘10 on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Paula Deen

She is the quintessential American success story, a best-selling author and a television show host, a tastemaker to the stars and to the everyday housewife and family. She is Paula Deen, a down-home, strong willed mom who overcame personal tragedy, long odds, financial and physical challenges to carve one of the most effective and wide ranging entertainment brands that exists today. A brand that is idyllic, inspiring, fun and very much American.

For all her success, the Albany, Georgia native has remained very grounded, in part due to her down home Southern upbringing. She married her high school sweetheart, became a young mom to two sons, and appeared to be living the life she desired, before a series of tragedies, from the death of her parents and the failure of her marriage to a prolonged battle with agoraphobia changed the course of her life forever.

However out of those changes came the success that laid the foundation for the Paula Deen of today, someone who inspires millions through her regular appearances on Oprah, cooks for world leaders, is a best-selling author, and is seen concurrently on three shows running on The Food Network.

The one constant in Deen’s life has always been cooking. It was a staple of her young upbringing, and when times became difficult it was what she knew and could turn back to. In June of 1989, with a $200 budget and the help of sons Jamie and Bobby, she became “The Bag Lady,” creating a home-based meal delivery service in Savannah, Georgia that started the rise. From there, Deen moved to preparing meals at a Savannah Best Western, and followed that five years later by opening her first restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in Savannah.

The popularity of the restaurant led Deen into publishing. Her 1997 cookbook, The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook, gave her growing fan base the opportunity to try Deen’s recipes at home for the first time, and led to her first appearance on QVC, which took the brand from regional to national and began a stretch of consecutive New York Times best selling cookbooks. The growth continued unabated, and in 1999 USA Today food critic Jerry Shriver named The Lady and Sons International Meal of the year.

Deen’s success in publishing, where she has sold over eight million books, then translated into the magazine world, and Cooking with Paula Deen, her bi-monthly title, launched shortly thereafter, growing to a circulation of over one million.

Not to be outdone with print and restaurant success, the Deen brand then moved to television. “Paula’s Home Cooking” premiered on The Food Network in November of 2002, to huge audience success, and spawned her second show, “Paula’s Party” in 2006. Today Deen has four shows running concurrently on the Food Network, including the latest, “Paula’s Best Dishes“, which launched in 2008.

The next evolution of the brand took place in March of 2008, when Meyer Corp launched the line of Paula Deen signature cookware, bakeware, kitchen tools and accessories both online and at retail, continuing the immersion experience for the brand with consumers.

In 2009, the Deen brand underwent further expansion with an added group of quality strategic partners. Wal-mart launched a new, exclusive line of affordable baked goods, while Smithfield, Kaleen, Nitches, Meyer, Universal, B. Lloyd’s, GOBO, Harrah’s, Quality foods, International Greeting and Cooking.com also began new or expanded partnerships in a host of categories. A compete digital relaunch, the expansion of special edition publications featuring both herself and her brand partners also came into play, making sure the Paula Deen name stayed fresh, relevant, and timely with a growing and more diverse consumer.

Even with the continued expansion, and more planned on a global level in 2010, Paula Deen has remained true to her fans, viewers and readers that look to her name for style, taste and inspiration in the kitchen and the home, all reflective of a climate where quality does not have to be sacrificed due to a challenging economy.

Her latest book is Paula Deen’s Savannah Style.

Visit her website at www.pauladeen.com.

About Paula Deen’s Savannah Style

With its lush gardens, stately town houses, and sprawling plantations, Savannah is the epitome of old Southern style, and who better to give you the grand tour than Paula Deen, the city’s most famous resident and anointed Queen of Southern Cuisine?

In this gorgeous, richly illustrated book, Paula Deen shares a full year of Southern living. Whether it’s time to put out your best china and make a real fuss, or you’re just gathering for some sweet tea on the porch at dusk, Savannah style is about making folks feel welcome in your home. With the help of decorator and stylist Brandon Branch, you’ll learn how to bring a bit of Southern charm into homes from Minnesota to Mississippi. For each season, there are tips on decorating and entertaining. In the spring, you’ll learn how to make the most of your outdoor spaces, spruce up your porch, and make your garden inviting. In the summer, things get more casual with a dock party. Sleeping spaces, including, of course, the sleeping porch, are the focal point of this chapter. In the fall, cooler weather brings a return to more formal entertaining in the dining room, and in the winter, attention returns to the hearth, as Paula and her neighbors put out their best silver and show you how they celebrate the holidays.

Paula loves getting a peek at her neighbors’ parlors, so she’s included photographs of some of Savannah’s grandest homes. From the vast grounds of Lebanon Plantation to the whimsically restored cottages on Tybee Island, you’ll see the unique blend of old-world elegance and laid-back hospitality that charmed Paula the moment she arrived from Albany, Georgia, with nothing but two hundred dollars and a pair of mouths to feed. And she isn’t shy about giving you a window into her own world, either. From her farmhouse kitchen to her luxurious powder room, you’ll see how Paula lives when she’s not in front of the camera.
Packed with advice and nostalgia, Paula Deen’s Savannah Style makes it easy to bring gracious Southern living to homes north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Here’s what Pump Up Reviewers Have to Say!

Packed with advice and nostalgia, Paula Deen’s Savannah Style makes it easy to bring gracious Southern living to homes north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

–For the Love of Books

Paula Deen’s Savannah Style is one big, beautiful book filled with out-of-this-world photographs of not only Paula’s own home, but some of the finest homes in Savannah. From the charming front porches and gardens to the elegant dining rooms and libraries, there is a decorating style that will appeal to most anyone’s taste.

— Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Savannah Style is beautifully illustrated from cover to cover, inside and out. It is filled with rich and vibrant photos that depict a full year of Southern living in the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. Paula and Brandon Branch, her decorator and stylist, share how to bring Southern charm and specifically Savannah Style into any home. There are tips on decorating and entertaining based on the four seasons and the focus is on making yourself and others feel comfortable and welcome into your home. There are photographs from Paula’s homes as well as other homes throughout Savannah.

— Redlady’s Reading Room

With its lush gardens, stately town houses, and sprawling plantations, Savannah is the epitome of old Southern style, and who better to give you the grand tour than Paula Deen, the city’s most famous resident and anointed Queen of Southern Cuisine?

— Cafe of Dreams

Watch Paula Deen at the Delaware State Fair this summer!

Paula Deen’s Savannah Style Tour Schedule

Monday, August 2

Book spotlighted at Literarily Speaking

Tuesday, August 3
Book reviewed at 4 the Love of Books

Wednesday, August 4
Book reviewed at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Book spotlighted at Paperback Writer

Thursday, August 5
Book reviewed at Redlady’s Reading Room
Book spotlighted at Book Tours and More

Friday, August 6
Book reviewed at Cafe of Dreams

Monday, August 9
Book reviewed at You Have How Many Kids?
Book reviewed at Review From Here

Tuesday, August 10
Book reviewed at Book Reviews by Buuklvr81
Book spotlighted at The Crypto Capers Review

Wednesday, August 11
Book reviewed by Taking Time for Mommy

Thursday, August 12
Book reviewed by Marta’s Meanderings
Book spotlighted at The Writer’s Life

Friday, August 13
Book reviewed at Confessions of an Overworked Mom

Monday, August 16
Book reviewed by Bermudaonion
Book spotlighted at Personovelty

Tuesday, August 17
Book reviewed by Lit and Life
Book spotlighted by Marilyn’s Musings

Wednesday, August 18
Book reviewed at Colloquium

Thursday, August 19
Book reviewed at Bookin’ With Bingo

Friday, August 20
Book reviewed at Chew & Digest Books
Book spotlighted at Dish on Diva Desserts

Monday, August 23
Book reviewed at The Book Faery Reviews

Tuesday, August 24
Book reviewed at RBC Library
Book spotlighted at The Hot Author Report

Wednesday, August 25
Book reviewed at The Book Connection

Thursday, August 26
Book reviewed at Acting Balanced

Friday, August 27
Book reviewed at Thoughts in Progress

Paula Deen’s PAULA DEEN’S SAVANNAH STYLE VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on August 2 and end on August 27 2010. Please contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com before July 15 (or until the tour fills up) if you are interested in reviewing her book or click here to use the form. Because of Paula’s hectic schedule, this is a review/book spotlight only tour. Thank you!

Update: Paula’s tour is now finalized. Thank you to all participating bloggers! However, if you would like to run a book spotlight instead of a review, email Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com. I’m sorry but we cannot send books out for book spotlights at this time, but you’ll get huge traffic and big smooches from us! Thank you!

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Aiken Brown, SON OF A SOLDIER

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Miri Leshem-Pelly, SCRIBBLE & AUTHOR

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Shami Stovall, KNIGHTMARE ARCANIST

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Bacon Press Books

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Lee Papa, TEMPLE OF ALL KNOWING

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Karen-Anne Stewart, ASH TO STEELE

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach