Scheananigans with Scheana Shay - Book Tour Diaries – Part 2

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

This week, Scheana is podcasting from the tail end of book tour with her manager, Mark. They delve into life on the road these past three weeks: What went right? What went wrong? What would they do differently in the future? Who overslept causing them to nearly miss their flight to Pittsburgh? How did Mercury retrograde affect various aspects of the tour? And how did Summer Moon troll her mom at the final show in Philly? Plus, what happened to Scheana’s planned tour dates in St. Louis and DC, and how does she really feel about the NYT dagger? Tune in to find out! Follow us: @scheana @scheananigans  Purchase your very own copy of the NYT Best-selling book MY GOOD SIDE at www.mygoodsidebook.com!Episode Sponsors:Download the free Rakuten App or go to Rakuten.com to start saving today.Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit Rula.com/goodasgold to get started.Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to hero.co and use code GOODASGOLD at checkout. Learn more and join using my link. The first 1000 get a $100 credit toward their membership. Visit www.functionhealth.com/GOODASGOLD or use code GOODASGOLD at sign-up to own your health.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. From Vanderpump rules to motherhood and everywhere in between. Warm up the kettle, it's time to spill some tea. Let's get into some shenanigans with Sheena Shea. All right, everyone back, everyone back. Welcome back for another week of shenanigans, as you, I'm sure have noticed. We are delayed getting this one up. I'm going to blame Mercury retrograde because we've learned on book tour.

It's not Mercury in Retrograde. It's just Mercury Retrograde, apparently. I'm still trying to figure that out. But it affects technology, travel, all of these things. And it definitely affected Book Tour. So tried to get this episode recorded in Nashville, ran into some technical difficulties. I have been using this same recorder since 2018 when I started my podcast. Recently, there's been this like data right error thing.

comes up after I do my ads at home and I was like oh it's probably the memory card let me get a new one so I ordered a new memory card put it in the recorder nope won't format not working so I was like oh you know what I have an extra SD card and my vlog camera of course I go to grab the vlog camera yeah don't have the vlog camera left that in the Uber because I was getting my kid out of the car and wasn't thinking about the camera it was the first day she joined us on tour So had to deal with all of that and then it was too late and we had to get back on the road. So we will be back to regular programming here on shenanigans on Friday. But now that the book tour is wrapped, I know any of you who have come to see the shows,

you've seen that adorable, handsome man standing side stage. I reference my manager, Mark, often on this podcast. I have tried to get him to join in. He's always said no. I think it's a being on camera thing. But now that we're just doing audio on the road, I think I've worn him down enough. And he's joining me today to break down our experience on tour.

Welcome to the podcast. Mark, how we doing? I think we're sleep deprived still. Yeah. And I don't think it's just video. It's audio, too, because now I'm going to have to listen back to this episode and hear my voice. And it's going to be, it's going to be cringe. I don't know how you do it. I mean, I don't listen back.

That's how I do it. That's smart. Even though it's not smart because it's against what I tell you to do. I know. He's like, you're listening back to the episodes now, right? I'm like, yeah, yeah, totally. I remember what I said. I don't always want to listen back.

I come in. I go to the studio. I do my job. Whether, you know, we're on the road. I sit on my couch or bed. I record it and then I just put it out there. And then I'm done. Don't listen back.

No looking back. And I don't know. It's kind of like, you know, you don't look in the comment section. And then it's like it never happened. But that's good for mental health. Not always good for business. Correct. Because sometimes we do need, which, you know, we usually tell you what's, you know,

in the comments section filtered through. But sometimes we need to know what's in there, what's happening. So we can address or handle in some capacity. How does that do on your mental health, though, to just, like, constantly read negative things about your client? Not great, to be honest. Are you in the right line of work? Most days, some days. I mean...

Don't leave me. I don't know what else I do. Yeah. Love that for us. Yeah. Okay. But, yeah, there are some days, and you probably get the brunt of that when, like, I'm very short with you on something. And I seem like, you know, maybe really mean or dismissive.

And it's like, no, never actually. Really? Yeah, you've never seen mean or dismissive. Is that sarcasm? I can't tell. No, no, it's not. I can tell when you're stressed. And like even yesterday, I was like, he's probably sleeping or just taking a day off as you deserve.

It's Sunday. I'm at a football game. Like, landed straight from LAX in true Sheena fashion, go straight to Sofi. Send my mom and summer home. And, of course, a nice Uber black SUV with all of the luggage. Had Kevin meet my mom. mom at the house to take out the luggage from the car to take it in because she can't do that. And I'm not going to ask the random driver to like bring the bags in.

Wow, you really choreographed all that pretty well. I did. I did. I timed it so perfectly that the flight landed, even 20 minutes early, got everything in the car called a second Uber, got to SoFi with five minutes to spare before our friends were pulling up at the exact same time. Could not have timed it better if I tried. I did try, but it just like worked out so perfectly. Well, I mean, good work. I mean, I woke up briefly yesterday morning. I want to say it like 7 a.m.

And I already like saw like, I didn't open it up because then it would like show red and then I would forget to go maybe go back. But I saw like I already had several texts from you. Which nothing was important to be answered to immediately. I'm like, it's Sunday. It's a day. But I'm like, while I'm thinking of things, it's like third quarter. I don't know.

They kicked the ball. It reminded me of something. I think it was where you were flying back from New York. Yes. And so you're on the plane probably like, you know, just. And good. Send those things through when you were thinking of it. But I was like, I'm not dealing with this right now. Just know that like when it's, you know when it's like, and I mean, it's never like life or death. But it was just little things. Yeah. That I was like, ooh, and then what about this? And then, oh, I just remembered this. And then once they start coming through. But whenever we do that sometimes, it's like, then when you start responding to me, it's like, bath time with summer or something where she's just like, mom. And I'm like, now I can't be on my phone. And then it stresses me out because I'm like, shit, now he's responding. But.

No, no. We need to probably get better about finding the right time of day to, like, have all of our communications. After 9 p.m., I've been, like, saving my messages now because, as we know, I am on my phone a lot. I do have a lot of friends. I do try to check in and keep up with as many people as I can at all times. But there comes a time where, especially when I'm a mom, I got to set my phone down. I, you know, it's like I'll run to the bathroom and I'll check an email really. quick if I know there's something coming through. But I try my hardest not to be on my phone when I'm just spending time with her. And then especially at bedtime. And then it's like if she sees me on the phone, then she wants to be on the phone. So I've been trying to just respond to people after 9 p.m. And when it's my friends in Central Time, East Coast, if they're already asleep, cool. You can respond to me tomorrow during the morning. Rinse and repeat, I'll respond to you after 9 p.m. That's a good plan. And I respect your motherly hour.

or hours, like in the evening. Yeah, I've tried to catch up on housewives last night. I fell asleep. I thought I already watched episode four of Orange County. Then I start episode five, and I'm like, I did not watch episode four. So now I'm like behind and confused. We have so much content to catch up on from the past three weeks. But book tour was the priority.

It was a very successful book tour. Made the New York Times bestsellers list. Not once. Three times. Three times. That's crazy. And you're an international bestseller. Did you tell the podcast that?

I did not. International bestseller, Canadian bestseller. Like what? That came out of nowhere. I know. I don't think we did any, I'm trying to, I don't think we did any press in Canada. We did. No, we wanted to.

But we're playing to eventually like try and like do something in Canada. But it goes to show that there's enthusiasm for your story and the book. and that you didn't buy that enthusiasm. Correct. And we are going to get to that in a little bit. But before we do, I want to go back because you've never been on the pod. How we met, how long we've worked together. Because this all came full circle on book tour for us in Austin.

So we met in 2014 through a mutual friend who was a client of his at the time, Christy Carlson Romano. For those of you who remember the voice of Kim Possible, even Stevens. She played Wren. And she came to my show in Austin, moderated the Q&A. But it was such a full circle moment for us because the three of us haven't hung out in forever, you know. And she's been in Texas for many years now. Yeah. We're both moms now busy.

But that was so fun. So fun. We had such a great night. Yeah. Yeah. And I haven't seen Christine a minute. And like she's always such like just a ray of light and just so pop. positive so fun like yeah such good energy and she was totally the 27s crush when they were kids so

they're just like oh my god ren stevens is at our show it was wild yeah yeah no we like we forget i feel like it was that was that it sir i think the first time we actually no it was villa blanca i don't remember that i just i remember it was it was table 34 i remember i remember it was like i think christie's husband's like graduation from a f i from like film school and like I was there and like you and Shay were there that's when I first met you guys and I think we first were chatting because your wedding was coming up then I think I think it was like two months away or something like that I think we were just chatting I was like oh who were you doing your wedding exclusive with and I'm like what's an exclusive

so then I think to bring even more full circle because you interviewed with him on book tour but I think then I reached out to Evan Real oh yeah and was like hey like are you like are you in he said yeah we're already doing something and then i think we're just through bravo something in book and i was like no she needs like at least a cover chip blah blah blah and like you know and he made it happen so you you got that so yeah so we have been but the first time i remember meeting you was in new york on watch happens live oh because i was working with joyce from beverly hills at the time that's right and i was there with her on i mean i was there in new york with a different client at the time yeah and then it just it just it just

coincided with her being on Watch Happens Live with you. Uh-huh. And you guys had a press date. I don't think you guys were together, but we were like, our schedules were kind of like aligned. So I don't even know if we went to lunch together. I think so because usually on those press days, they try and coordinate it where it's like I've had that with like Shep before

and we end up at, um, what is it, Del Friscoe. Yeah. Yeah. That was also funny because that was the only time I'd been to Watched up and Slive with you, even though we didn't know each other at the time until a few weeks ago. way. Yeah. What? I had never been with you because I'd never been in New York with you when you were in Watch Shop and live. That's crazy. It's really crazy. I've done that show like 37 times. So many times. I mean, I guess yeah, you saw some of the BravoCon ones in Vegas, but that was in New York

because they had, they don't fly reps out and it just never worked out that I was there when you were. I was like, that's kind of funny. I loved how that worked out. It was like, literally could not have timed the book better if we actually tried. It just happened. that what six months ago we announced summer 2025 yeah july we knew the date but the actual date of the publication like july 22nd hadn't been announced right away but we knew when it was coming out and then finding out when the valley was going to premiere doing the math and we're like oh my gosh that's the same day as the finale of the valley yeah we had no idea when same tuesday not the same week the same day it was weird so weird and the fact that zach and brittney were in town doing

watched it happens live my event ended early enough that i was able to go and pop over see them surprise andy he was so excited with the book yeah that was just the whole the whole trip was wild i can't believe it's over i can't believe we survived that mid leg with the five nights back to back i'm exhausted just talking about it hold on we're going to take a break and then we're going to get into some more of the details of tour. We'll be right back. All right. So if you enjoy shopping, then I have the perfect thing for you.

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each other for over a decade, we've never spent so much time together. I mean, this was three weeks. I was kind of worried about that. I'm not going to lie. Wait, seriously? I was like, we like, you know, this was like putting us in a pressure cooker. We were basically on amazing race together. Yeah, I know. No. and literally I swear I like it takes a lot for me to get actually like angry and upset but if the second time because you slept in my bag didn't make it on the plane the blood was boiling a little bit that I was just like I'm texting him all morning he's not responding I'm like you know he was with a friend from college last night maybe they met back up for breakfast he's not answering I don't want a bug but I'm like I got to go my bag has already not made it from awesome to Boston because it just decided it wanted to go to Detroit. So I'm in airplane clothes for one show. I thankfully was smart for the rest of tour and put an outfit in my carry-on. But of course for that leg, I didn't, which it was fine.

It worked out. It was a fun story to tell. But being in dock boots for like 48 hours straight, not my travel boots. Because you had to borrow that shirt from Matthew in Boston. Yes. And that led to me getting recognized in 7-Eleven. That's right. So after the show, I was in 7-11 and getting, like, snacks across from the hotel, and two girls stopped me.

And they're like, great show tonight. I was looking around like, who's here? And I was like, you're talking to me? That's crazy. That's so funny. But then they were like, asking me, you're like, is her shirt from J. Crew? And I was like, I don't know. Yeah.

Can you find out? Because those two girls met working at J.Crew and they thought your shirt was J.Crew. They were like, we're 99% sure. And so we called you. And you're like, I don't know. I had already given it back at that point. I think he said it was from frame, but we'll never know. Something.

Yeah, we'll never know. I've given it back, but. But yeah, that night then, I don't know what happened. Like, what was Boston? Was that our five days in a row? Was that day three? That was day three. Yeah, we had Salt Lake, Austin, Boston.

I mean, in theory, it was a good idea. We're trying to maximize our time. That way you could, like, you know, not be away from summer for too long of a stretch. But in practice, we'll never do that again. No. I mean, it did work where it was, you know, we got five cities and five nights. I got time with my daughter before and after. That was great.

But it was like... But that schedule was, it was basically we would wake up probably like five or six a.m. Because we have to make an early flight to get somewhere we'd be in the flight. The whole flight would be working on like the changes we need to make to the show. Yeah, what worked? What didn't work? What should we change these questions? Should we add a new game?

We have a special guest for this city. so we need to, like, find a way to incorporate them in some way. So then we'd land. You'd go straight into glam. Sometimes you'd also have press then we'd have to, like, do. And then we'd go straight to the venue. I didn't even have time to shower sometimes. And I remember just having a feeling when we were in Salt Lake.

And that was night one of the second leg, the five nights in a row tour. And that morning, I was like, I don't know why. I feel like it might be a little rushed when we get to Austin. So I showered that morning. thankfully because by the time we got to Austin the flight was delayed whatever it was and glam was seriously standing outside of my door ready to go so I'm like and that room very cute hotel citizen M or whatever it was like the Moxie hotel if you all have ever stayed it was like a closet it was smaller than my studio apartment everything just in one tiny little

room so I got glam outside the door I'm like I can't even shower and we did it we do the Austin show, go out with the band and whatnot. But then, yeah, the next day was Boston, and the luggage didn't make it. Then we go to Pittsburgh, Atlanta. And then... Yeah, and then in Boston that night, like, because, yeah, my best friend from college... Oh, yeah. Like, she lives in Boston.

I hadn't seen her in a while. You know, we had a lot to catch up on. And then, you know, the people from the OCD Foundation are all based in Boston, so you hang out with them afterwards. And I still had, like, a relatively early night. I don't know what happened. I just, I remember, like, going to my room, I sat down, and then all of a sudden, it's whatever time it is.

You woke up. And you're like, and you're calling me and you're like, are you ready? And zero percent ready. And I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm coming. And I'm just like, the car is here. We need to go. I need to check my bag. And I'm like still wearing my clothes from last night.

Like, I didn't know where I was. Yeah. I'm just throwing things in my luggage. Like, it was like we couldn't even really unpack for those five legs. We get there. I open my bag. I put my clothes on and then it's like, we go to the show, we go out after, we come back, I wash my face, I zip back up my bag, we leave the next morning.

And that day, when we got to the airport, I forget what airline we're flying. I usually fly Delta. One flight was jet blue, a couple are United, a couple are southwest. Like, we're all over the place. So whatever fucking airline it was, we get there. I go to check my bags and they go, sorry, you missed the cutoff window. I'm like, what do you mean? I miss the cutoff window.

And they go, well, it's 40 minutes before your flight. I'm like, cool, well, I have 44 minutes before my flight. So that's approximately four extra minutes. It should be able to check. And the guy was like, sorry, the window's already closed. And I'm like, Mark, how much money do you have? He, like, scrambles up like $12 from his pocket from last night and gives it to the guy. And he was able to get our bags on.

So it all worked out. Yeah, worked out. Bag made it. But we didn't know until we landed if the bag was going to make it. So thankfully, at least for that flight, it was only going from Boston to pick. Pittsburgh and my sister was going to be there when we landed. So if I needed to borrow anything, we're the same size. Yeah. But yeah. So you were nervous to spend that much time together because of me. Maybe that's the wrong. It was like a pressure cooker. Like, how is this going to go?

It's good. We're going to be stressed. You know, we haven't been in like, we've been in stressful situations together for sure. But yeah, you know, we're out on the road. And there was also just we haven't toured before. So. That was so new. I mean, at first, like, by the time we got to Austin, I remember saying to the boys, and this is only after being in New York for a few, like, days, and then Chicago, home to L.A. for a couple days.

Salt Lake City. The second I get to Austin, I was like, y'all, I don't know if tour life is for me. I know we've talked about touring before, but, like, I only had the one show last night and just the little things. I was like, I'm exhausted. And then, honestly, by the end of that five nights, Okay, like maybe never again, maybe have one day off in between.

But then just like getting back on the road and stuff, I'm like, oh no, tour life is for me. I could totally do this again. Well, I think because it wasn't even like we went into that five-day stretch, like rested and relaxed because we had, I think we spent like, what, four nights in New York to start off with. And that was like doing press, the 92 Y, like the bookstore signing, then flew straight to Chicago. But also like those four days, even though there was no free time, the free time, you know, which was the sleep time. We were working on trying to figure out like what the live show is going to look like

because we weren't just doing like a typical like book moderated Q&A. We're doing more of like a podcast live type of show, more interactive audience participation games. Which I wasn't even aware of until a few weeks ago. I thought I was just going to bookstore signings. And they're like, oh no. So it's like a live show.

And I'm like, wait, what? Excuse me? So what are we doing? But it worked out. we worked out the kinks in Chicago and Salt Lake. What bits didn't work? Chicago for show, then came right back to L.A.,

landed. We had one day here, but it was two events and then press in between. Yep. Azusa City Library. Early flight to Salt Lake the next day. Grove, Salt Lake City, plane, bus.

All the things. All the things. And people did not find the humor in my Lady Gaga sound TikTok where it was like, no sleep, plane, club, another club, whatever. They're like, stop complaining. Then don't go on tour. I'm like, I'm not complaining. It's tongue and cheek. It's literally like a sound on TikTok. I'm on tour. Complaining about

being busy and working is something you will never hear me do. I may complain that I'm tired, but I just have another Celsius or a shot of espresso. Like, I'm good. And you might like complain for a second, but like you always rally. Yes, absolutely. So I was like. But that's very normal. Yeah. I thought that TikTok, we spent so much time. in every city getting a different clip and for people to just think that I was complaining. I'm like, you guys, not you guys, my listeners, but like those people are the problem. But, okay, let's take one more quick little break. And then we've got a couple more things to get into this week.

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slash good as gold or use gift code Good as Gold 100 at sign up to own your health. All right. So there is something I wanted to address

on the podcast because unfortunately we weren't able to make it to St. Louis and D.C. on this tour. For... Yeah, and I'll jump in there on like St. Louis.

Because that was... Yeah. The reasoning was more so like a personal conflict on my end. Yeah. Which then, you know, you'd take the brunt

of, but to give some backstory, like, the timeline's all, like, I don't know if this was two weeks before, the week before the St. Louis, but maybe two weeks before, my dad was, had a heart surgery scheduled in Nashville for that same day as the St. Louis show, which then we were going to be in Nashville the next day anyways, so I talked to you about that and said, like, I think I need to be there, but then I can't be at the St. Louis show. And then, you know, it's just you and I on tour. So if I'm not there running the show with you, then it just doesn't really work out too well. And my sister's on her way to Majorca that same day. So she couldn't run the audio and stuff

for the show. I have no idea technologically what I'm doing. I think you're still figuring it out too. 100% learning as we go. I mean, I still know what I'm doing every time that like the intro video I had to play it. And it's like always has the play button there to start. And I like can't get it to go away quick enough and you know, but like eventually one day we'll get it off figured out. But you obviously needed to be with your family that day. Yeah. And, you know, so that was like a discussion we had to have and, and you're very, like, gracious about that. Then, you know, like a few days before when he was scheduled to have the surgery, like they ended up postponing it two weeks. So I probably have to go back

to Nashville, I guess, next week again, because I guess they needed two anesthesiologists and they only had, you know, one that could be scheduled, something to that effect. Yeah. And I guess a little more backstory there has you've been in this process with us yeah for you know his you know this health struggle for a little bit now but back in march there was a really you know serious gravely serious medical event where he had a cardiac arrest yeah and this is his overall diagnosis he has a rare form of multiple myeloma and from that like the amyloids basically are like little proteins is the same thing that like people all from my understanding that like people with Alzheimer's have the proteins that like break down your brain. And so he has like that. And it just basically

cycles through his blood because it's like a blood cancer and kind of just deteriorates his organs. Yeah. And so the first thing that people usually pass away from his disease is usually a cardiac arrest because of how it, you know, the cancer affects his heart. So he had had a cardiac arrest in March and you got a call that he had passed away. Yeah. I got a call from the emergency room and they told me that they were, you know, taking him off or they were stopping CPR and they were asking for permission to do so. So yes, we were told that they couldn't revive them. Yeah. Mark texted me and was like, I have to go. I have to get on a plane right and my dad just passed. And I was like, oh my God. And then 30 minutes later. I don't even know.

It was maybe like an hour later. I'm not sure. But then I was on when I was in the Uber on the way to the airport, my aunt called me, or she called me right before I was in. I was like, I'm just about to get an Uber. I'll call you right back. And then I called her back when I get in the Uber. And she says, well, it turns out like after they stopped the CPR, like, and that had been going on for like 30 minutes, but he came back somehow on his own. You know, it's still unclear how that happened. Yeah. He just was fighting through, I guess. Um, wasn't his time. And so he, they were like, but they didn't, you know, still think that he would come back from that. Just his heartbeat came back.

Yeah. He was back in sinus rhythm or something without effect. But they thought, you know, he's likely going to be brain dead, not knowing anything. So still get home. So, you know, it's, you know, that's been a long saga, you know, this whole, this whole time. So he still did have doctor's appointments and that same day in Nashville. So, like, that was, at least I was there that day early to be able to go to, because I had never been able to go to his, like, his hematologist's appointment with him.

You know, you're not his wife. You're his son. and there's different questions and whatnot. And so I was so glad that you were able to not only be there for him, but that they were then able to come to the Nashville show. Like that was such a treat. I haven't seen them in so many years. Yeah, probably since we first started working together.

I think like... Your dad said it was a Skechers walk. And I'm like, what was that like... Yes, I remember that. But that was forever ago. The Strand, is that what it's called? Yeah. That was like pretty soon after working together, I feel like.

Yeah, that was like season three or four. I just remember because my parents like don't know much about. about like celebrity culture and they have like just rare like people that they like you know that they that they that they that they like be like oh my god to assess over but Tommy lasorta was there who was like I guess the Dodgers like general manager or something and my dad was like I'm like I have no idea who this is but he still will talk about that yeah oh I love that but I don't know if I told you what happened in the waiting room at the doctor's office no so I'm from like a like three hours north of Nashville and I over here in the one in the waiting room this woman she

mentions like the county where I'm from and like the township where I grew up in within that county I'm like mom I did you hear that I think she just said XYZ yeah they're from like you know our hometown and so my mom like asked them like oh did you guys just are you from and they were like yeah we're from you know the same place and the woman was there with like her dad who had just been diagnosed like the week before and you know they were you know coming from for like, you know, expert opinion, you know, with the same, you know, doctor, my dad goes to. And then, you know, we're kind of putting the pieces together, like, oh, like, who do you know, like, who do you know in common?

Eventually, the woman asked, like, what's your last name? It's my mom says her last name. And the lady just, like, has, like, a laugh to herself. And she's like, I know exactly who you are. And we're like, oh? And then she's like, yeah, you had the dog named Heidi, right? The miniature snows are named Heidi. And we're like, and that's a childhood dog that I had.

growing up and she's like because she had dated the neighbor across the street's son so she had like met Heidi and that inspired her to get a miniature schnauzer and name it Heidi really yes so this woman random woman were meeting like you know three hours away in the Vanderbilt yes in the waiting room that is so crazy had named her gotten the same breed of dog that we had and named it Heidi but that's not even the the funny part oh okay so And this isn't something we speak about in the family. Oh. So Heidi had, I think we got Heidi when she was like around like three or four.

Another neighbor across the street was an elderly man. And it was his dog. And he had passed away and his kids. And Heidi was like the neighborhood dog. Like she had free reign, you know, went everywhere. So everyone knew her. Yeah. And I think his kids like were just like, oh, she'll be more comfortable staying in the neighborhood.

Ask my parents if they, we would just like adopt her. So we did. But she was, you know, never could be tan. like never could be like house broken or you always wanted to like break out because she was you know used to like being able to explore and have free reign of the neighborhood yeah so she was always like breaking out and at some point you know my parents I'm trying this was like a few years later and she was like kind of like my dog slept with me every night and one day she just wasn't there and so I asked you know I I don't remember how old I was then maybe like 13 14 and I was like

asked my parents like what happened you know where's Heidi and they're like oh she passed away Oh. So, you know, very sad. Fast forward a year and a half. There's a, in my hometown, we have this fall festival. I mean, like, first week of October every year. Okay. Which is like a big day.

It's like apparently, allegedly the second largest street fest of United States behind Mardi Gras. At least that's what they say. I mean, maybe at some point in time it was. Maybe it is still. Okay. And there's like a pet parade on Saturday morning of the fall festival. The dog is in the pet parade?

Well, we'll get there. So they were having a local, like student council, people from the high schools, judge the pet parade. So the category I was assigned to judge was like, boy, no pet. So I was not judging any pets. But I was, they were bringing all the winners on stage. You know, and I was like one of the judges. So I was on stage as like the winners come by.

And all of a sudden I hear like, like, I don't know, some name like little Joey and Heidi. And I'm like, oh, Heidi. But, you know, just thinking because it's the same name. Yeah. I look over. That was my fucking dog. No way. And she sees me and she starts running to me.

And I see my mom standing there in the audience. And I'm like, a year and a half later. Probably a year and a half, two years later, yeah. Where was she? My parents are like, oh, we don't know. Wait, what? Yeah. So the dog ran away.

They lied, said she passed away. I guess. And then she just came back in a talent show. Yeah. What the fuck? I mean, she was at least a winner. Do you think your parents gave her away? Yes.

Oh, was she a bad day? dog? She wasn't a bad dog. She just was a dog that couldn't be tamed. Oh. And, you know, she couldn't be housebroken. Gotcha. Tried every way to like house to house break her. And then she also would just break out of the house, like dig underneath the fence. And so they're always just like worried. So I think it just, I think they found someone that was like more suitable for like her needs. Uh-huh. So what happened after the show? Like did you meet the other owners? You're like, that's my dog? No, because they were like, went away and I asked my parents and they, they just kind of of like avoided the topic.

So what did your parents say the other day? We didn't bring it up. I'm going to ask your mom. It's one of those things where they just kind of like, you know, it's one of those awkward parent things where they don't address. Interesting. So what did your brother think? I don't know if he, I don't know if he really cared.

Maybe he cared out. It wasn't really, it was more of my dog. She slept with me. Yeah. Like he wasn't really attached to her maybe. And just, oh, she passed away and you're like, okay. I'm trying to think, I must have talked to him about it at some point. but I don't remember.

You're like, I don't get to see her. I don't get to say bye? Like, she's just gone. Yeah. She passed away. Why don't just say she ran away? Why say she died? I think, because then they would think I would like want to go looking for her.

You would, right? Yeah, I would have made them. I would be like, we're going to go scour the neighborhood. Oh, my God. You know, I would have made it my mission. Oh, R.P. Heidi. So that's why we canceled St. Louis. Yep.

And D.C. scheduling. We needed to find a new venue. So we tried so hard to save D.C. We were trying to pivot to a bookstore signing. Then we couldn't get the books there in time. I was going to personally order on Amazon and have them shipped out there. But then that wasn't going to work out.

They weren't going to get there in time. And even if they did like the bookstores, then would have to agree to like give books away instead of selling them. So it just, it was even until like the day before we're trying to like. No, it was. It was like time to check in for my flight. And I'm like, am I checking in or am I canceling it? And then my cousin, who was supposed to pick me up at the airport in Baltimore, he texted me.

And I was like, okay, look, like this isn't really working out, but I still want to come for the day. Are you still down to pick me up? Like, we can drive to some bookstores, like, maybe do an unofficial meet and greet. And he was like, look, I'm down for that. But I have to tell you, I just, like, woke up and I have a sore throat and a cough. And I was like, all signs are pointing to me not going to D.C. So canceled my flight, told summer I was staying an extra day. She was so excited.

But I was really bummed because D.C. has been on my American bucket list. I get going to the White House like today, maybe not on my bucket list. But there's a lot of things to do in D.C. Like all the amazing museums, just the landmarks. Yeah. So one day. We'll find a way in the not too distant future to like get back there. And I want to bring summer with me.

I think that would be really cool for her. It was neat that, like, our hotel in Philadelphia was literally next to the, like, to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. So cool. You know, that was really neat that we got to go and, like, didn't see that. I hadn't seen that since I was, like, 11 or so. Yeah. No, so that was all really cool, having summer there with that bit of history.

But, okay, so I said I was going to personally order a bulk of books for D.C. It didn't end up working out. Y'all can check my Amazon cart. I didn't do it. The most books I ordered, I personally ordered six books because I got, I don't know, maybe 15 from the publisher. I didn't get a ton to give away. So I had already given those away mostly to people who already bought books but wanted to read it ahead of time. Like I gave one to Kevin.

I gave one to Jared, Janet, people like that. I still need to collect those back. And then I want to go and put them in on our morning hike. There's like a take a book, leave a book. So I want to put it in some of those things. But, yeah, so I had ordered six. I don't even know why I chose six, but it was just like, okay, I just want to. Is that your lucky number?

No, seven would be. So I don't know if it's just I ordered whatever reason. That was my bulk order. Okay. So, and then Brock bought four or five at the Grove signing. At the Barnes & Noble. My mom bought maybe three or four. So for my book tour, I worked with a company called Premier to manage.

to manage book sales at each event. This is something that is really common in publishing. It's how you make sure those copies coming to a signing or a live show that they will absolutely get a copy of the book unless you are in Salt Lake. And I know that has hopefully been addressed by now, but at my Salt Lake show, the books didn't show up. That was not on me. That was totally on the venue.

But this whole thing with the... dagger next to my name. And we did work with, like, you know, independent bookstores where we could for various signings and obviously Barnes & Noble for the Grove, but... Yeah. But for the touring dates,

like those events all were through premiere. So when someone bought a ticket to the tour, if they did it buy a certain date so they could order the right... Because they had to order the right amount of copies, the books for each venue. So if they... Yeah, that's another thing is we weren't even

ordering a surplus books. No, it was the exact. It was the exact amount because it had to be linked to, like, individual sales. Yes. And so they had to, yes, order the right amount of books for each venue. And with the ticket to one of my live shows, it included one copy of the book. And then, I guess, Premier reports each of those purchases individually to the New York Times, other tracking outlets, etc. But there wasn't an additional surplus of books bought.

Every single one of those sales was a real book in a real reader's hand. And I guess the New York Times uses the dagger symbol when a large percentage of books, like the total first week sales come from one outlet and, you know, there's the pre-orders, the Amazon's, all of that. But even when those sales are completely legitimate, this can happen. And in my case, I think like when they look at like the normal like share of like, you know, so many percentage come from Amazon, come from Premier, come from Barnes & Noble, come from independent bookstores.

Yeah. And when they see like one of those is spiked higher, that's like, you know, dagger, boom, and we had the higher spike because we were working for Premiere on the tour dates. Yeah. And it's like because, you know, so many of my fans came out to the tour, got their books from Premiere instead of a mix of other retailers, I guess the New York Times flagged it. But here's the thing. It's like, would I rather be on the New York Times bestseller's list with a dagger or not be on it at all? Because you were on it without the dagger. Correct. For the audio book. For the audio book, yeah.

And the dagger isn't even a bad thing, which I now know since I've kind of gotten into the lore of the dagger and down the Reddit rabbit holes and all of that. It's just an indicator of sales concentration. You cannot buy your way onto the list. Like the New York Times, they have a full vetting process. They don't count suspicious bulk orders. You know, if you're buying 500 personal books and whatnot, I'm sure that's going to get flagged that it's not an individual sale. My spot on the list came from actual readers showing up, supporting me, wanting to be a part of this journey. And also making the Canada bestsellers list where there were no tour dates. That was incredible because the enthusiasm was consistent for sure. And there was no dagger. I just want to point this out. No dagger on the New York Times list for audiobook.

And I even saw comments. People were like, how many did you buy here? I'm like, how many audible credits? like how, I don't even know how to, I literally, I genuinely used an audible credit that I had on Amazon just so I had an audio book copy. Yeah. And when I was looking back at like pass lists, I noticed that even like titles like, you know, the book we see everywhere, that orange book, the subtle art of not giving a fuck. Yeah. That at one point in time had a dagger by it. Interesting. So, you know, it just, if you do a book tour these days with live events versus just

strictly. Correct. Book tour, book store signings. where, you know, there's a large volume of books that are sold through those events, like you're more than likely that that book title is going to have, get a dagger from the New York Times. Yeah. That's just how they symbolize like, okay, there was some sort of like event that happened around this book this week. That's not, I guess, like standard process for book sales. Yeah. Yeah.

And I just, I hate that people are using this to discredit you in your work. And I hope you don't feel that or internalize that at all. At least it's consistent because they did this. The same thing with Stasi. Yeah. Same thing with Ariana. We know on their bestselling books. Yeah.

You know, and if any of you had actually tried to buy your way onto the list, it would have been flagged and you wouldn't have made it on because they would have disqualified you. Yeah. So I hope people just maybe do more research and understand that better before they just go into the common section spreading negativity and hate. It's bullshit because that's the thing where it's like, and it's all the women out there trying to discredit a woman who put herself out there, told her. her story was so open and so vulnerable, it becomes a bestseller and they're still trying to knock me down. I'm like, maybe people actually just give a fuck and want to read my story. Maybe they relate to my story. Maybe they enjoyed listening to it. As as evidence because. New York Times best selling narrator. That reminds of the last show in Philadelphia. Yeah. Summer made a little sign that said

like New York Times bestseller. And yeah. And she went out right before you did. And we had said like, as a drinking game tonight take a sip every time that this phrase is said. Yeah, how many times was it? I don't, we didn't really keep track but, you know, then it's like summer walking across stage and had her little like sign that she made.

You didn't know that? That's too cute. I heard you guys talking about a drinking game or something. So I just assumed it was going to be something I said, but I had no idea the sign or anything like that. That is so funny. Well, thank you, Mark, for finally joining me. me on the podcast, getting into some shenanigans. Maybe one day, you know, we do this with lights

and cameras. We'll see. But in true shenanigans form, we're going to wrap this podcast up with the jacks hole of the week. And that's going to be all of these people who are literally judging a book by its cover. I saw someone today, they go, you look like Lisa Vanderpump in that photo. Are you trying to be her? And I'm like, what? I mean, look, I really, I love the cover. The more and more I look at it. I mean. And it wasn't the original cover.

Just so you guys know what's on the back of the book, that was the original idea for the cover. This was a secondary option. And once we were trying all of the different things, the formats, the fonts, this just was a stronger option. Yeah, this was kind of supposed to be the back cover. And the back cover was supposed to be the front cover. And the publisher was like, are you guys open to this? And I was like, I don't know. It is kind of a stronger, like, the cover.

But, I mean, it worked out and thank you guys so much for listening, for joining me on tour, for buying the book, reading the book, all of the things. Friday will be back with normal schedule, normal programming, normal podcasting, all of the things. We'll get back into the video episodes later this week. And if you haven't gotten your copy of the New York Times bestselling book, My Goodside yet, you can head to My Goodsidebook.com. And if you guys were taking a drink every time she said New York Times bestseller, then please. No drinking and driving. Yes. All right, guys.

We'll be back with Kiki on Friday. See ya. Thanks for listening to shenanigans with Shena Shay. Tune in next time for juicy updates from the world of reality TV, pop culture, and more. Download new episodes every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever. you like to listen. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest

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