Sloane Crosley celebrated her second book–How Did You Get This Number, from Riverhead–with a party last night at the Spotted Pig.
She wore a fetching strapless dress, carried a flashdrive of music from a friend (which she threatened to use as a switchblade, or maybe a Taser), and urged guests to try the deviled eggs distributed throughout the room (like Easter eggs, sort of, she said).
When Moby arrived, he greeted her like an old pal. David Schwimmer also put in an appearance: He was overheard outside the party saying that he had only come to retrieve his girlfriend, which he swiftly did. He wore a hat pulled low, presumably to shield partygoers from the glare of his celebrity.
In general, though, the boldfaced names skewed more internet-famous than I Love the Nineties. Lockhart Steele (Curbed), Alex Balk (The Awl), and Jessica Coen (Jezebel) all came. As The Observer caught up with Crosley, ur-Gawker Elizabeth Spiers sat across the room, threatening to share embarrassing stories.
“Is this a free book party?” asked Steele, prompting a half-serious dispute with Coen over the ethics of getting friends’ stuff for free. Shouldn’t you be willing to support their efforts, Coen wanted to know? Steele said he just wanted a copy with Crosley’s signature and her number. Crosley liked this idea: for the last book, she’d drawn cakes when giving autographs, but the recipients tended to think the pictures were little houses or something.
Drawing is not among her talents, but throwing parties is no problem. The Vintage/Anchor publicist assessed the gathering with a practiced eye.
“I underplayed the ratio a little,” she said, explaining the bustling-but-not-oppressive crowd on the restaurant’s second floor. If it had been someone else’s party, she’d have invited 30 percent more people than she expected to actually come. This, she noted, was the same factor by which one should overstate Bookscan figures.
How did it feel to be promoting her sophomore collection?
“You don’t take lots of pictures of the second baby,” said Crosley.
But she swore she did not mean this in a negative way! She wasn’t jaded or anything. Besides, there are advantages to having a bestselling debut (I Was Told There’d Be Cake) under one’s belt. The Times, which had “ignored” her first book, paired this one with Emily Gould’s for a review in last Sunday’s paper. And while others objected to the pairing, Crosley claimed not to mind–it wasn’t like the paper had panned one and loved the other, after all.
Her only reservation was the large, glinting cuff bracelet she wore to the photo shoot.
“I look like I’m She-Ra, Princess of Power,” Crosley said.
