Throwing a Book Launch Party
Posted on September 21st, 2011
Yesterday, I hosted a launch party for my debut novel, The Caldarian Conflict. I invited virtually everyone I knew within a 50-mile radius to come to the signing event hosted at a local Rochester MN attraction, the Plummer House. Overall, it was a huge success from my standpoint, with sales exceeding expectations.
As such, I want to share what I learned with others and record what happened so I can hopefully repeat the success next time.
Since my own book launch was the first I’d ever attended, I had little information to go on when my wife and I planned this event. Brenda found lots of ideas, and we talked about a lot of different options. What follows is a list of decisions, why we went with it, and what I think about it now.
Attracting attention
There were lots of things to consider as we marketed the party. We tried lots of traditional marketing, like:
- The Minnesota Writers Alliance newsletter included us in their event list and included an excellent article about me.
- The Rochester Post Bulletin was kind enough to mention the launch party not once, but twice in the days preceding the party
- Robin Wolfram, one of the anchors for KTTC, a Rochester TV station, interviewed me and helped get the word out about the party
Beyond that, we carefully considered what things would draw people to our party. For example, we knew that these things would help people say “yes” to coming:
- Book signing
- International Talk Like a Pirate Day theme (more later)
- Location (Plummer House, more later)
- Pirate costumes!
- Seeing my 3-month-0ld son (hey, it’s for a good cause)
- Door prizes
- Family friendly
- Food!
With all of these reasons to say yes, who could say no? 🙂
Location/timing
Timing was pretty easy. After I’d written the first couple of chapters of my novel, I knew I was going to finish. I set a target completion date of September 19, 2011–which is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Since my novel has a pirate theme, it was a perfect fit.
The pirate theme allowed us to have a second reason to celebrate the day: if nothing else, we could have a Pirate Day party. This helped create another reason for people to say yes to coming. Plus, since it related to the theme of the novel, we were also pulling in the target audience likely to be interested in the novel.
The location was more difficult. Originally we wanted something located downtown so we could maximize parking ability, random walk-bys, and the likelihood that people could find the place. After looking at prices and a couple of options, we were concerned about the costs. Thankfully, Brenda came up with the option that the Plummer House and grounds could be rented for significantly less than any space we’d looked at.
There were several other advantages of the Plummer House that we discovered:
- Though it’s a local attraction, few locals ever make the time to go up there (it’s situated at the top of a large bluff). This created an attractive draw for people who might have been more neutral.
- The Victorian feel of the house melded well with the pirate theme of the novel.
- Since we held the event on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, we suggested that people wear pirate costumes. The more remote location helped save people any embarrassment they might have felt about walking around in costume.
So, in short, the location and timing was a big win that helped this event succeed.
Giveaways (door prizes, etc.)
To avoid hurting sales, we didn’t want to use giveaways that included the novel. Brenda did a wonderful job creating lots of different door prizes, including this one:
It included some cashews, a pair of mugs engraved with the title of the novel, and a copy of The Pirate Primer, so the winner could learn how to better talk like a pirate.
Other door prizes were targeted for children and teens, with special consideration given to each age group. Being new parents, we wanted to make the event as family-friendly as possible.
Also, we had lots of little gift bags, special bags for the first ones to arrive, and a free eye patch. My talented mother also created custom-made bookmarks for the books.
We received a ton of positive feedback around all the giveaways and ideas designed to keep the party a positive experience.
Overall, the giveaways were a definite win.
Decorations
Brenda found a plethora of pirate-themed decorations from Amazon, Oriental Trading, and others. We may have helped keep some of these businesses afloat in tough economic times.
While we found lots of things we liked, we overbought. Due to time restrictions, we didn’t use all of the things we purchased.
Also, for every item we put up, we extended our tear-down time at the end. When I release my next book, assuming we do a party, I’m planning to take a minimalist approach to decorations. Not only will this reduce costs, but it will also help save us time in setup and tear-down.
In summary, while the decorations were cool, I think we overdid it. It’s an opportunity for us to improve for next time.
Food
We purposely bought much more food than we thought we needed. We had a few friends volunteer to make things for us, and a talented friend of ours volunteered to help make some fancy hors d’ourves. We had shrimp on guacamole and crackers, salmon on a custom blend of herbs and cream cheese, and many other seafood-themed snacks. For the adults, we included rum balls as a tasty dessert.
For the kids we knew would come, we cooked pizza rolls and chicken nuggets. For dessert, we had cupcakes, cookies, and candy readily available.
Everyone loved the food. A definite win, and something I’d do again. Next time, I might buy a little less, but I’d rather have too much food than too little. A side benefit: my coworkers at my day job got to help me take care of the leftovers. I think they’d declare it a win too.
Costs/benefits
From a strict income/amount spent perspective, a launch party is not likely to be worth it for a first-time author. Unless you’re selling hundreds of books, the income from the party will not cover the costs.
That said, there are many intangible benefits of hosting a launch party beyond selling books. In no particular order, here are some of the benefits we found:
- I enjoyed celebrating the completion of a large project with friends who care and want to see me succeed. We had a great time, and it sounds like our friends did too.
- I found the Plummer House inspirational. There are lots of story ideas lurking within those walls, and I expect I’ll incorporate some aspects of the house into future stories.
- This event is something I think people will talk about for a while. If nothing else, this party offered a great advertising opportunity–I think people will be talking about it for at least a couple weeks.
- We took lots of pictures throughout the night (unfortunately, I don’t have access to them right now, but I’ll update this later with pictures), which we can use to continually advertise.
- We loved the opportunity to have a historical landmark all to ourselves for a full day. What an excellent opportunity to explore!
- I’ve found no other way to feel more like a successful author than to have lots of people coming in to receive my autograph. If nothing else, this made the whole party worth it.
Things we thought of during/after the party
In no particular order:
- Post signs suggesting that people consider buying additional copies for custom gifts
- Make it easy for people to prepay for autographed novels so we could have the books ready and waiting for them
- Let people know that we’ll have plenty of additional copies available for purchase
Bottom line: This is something I’d love to do again. All I have to do is finish writing another book!
First shipment is in!
Posted on September 9th, 2011
I received the first shipment of my books today. Wow, that’s a lot of books.
Pyramid of Books
And I’ll be signing every one of them. Holy cow!
Here’s me standing next to the pyramid:
Proud author with pyramid
And me trying not to knock over the pyramid:
Proud author trying not to knock over pyramid
I’m excited. Now I’m off to go sign them and get them ready for shipping!
First Fan-generated Art!
Posted on September 2nd, 2011
Yesterday, I received the first fan-generated art for my novel from Joan Sween. I think it’s a pretty cool concept, and would love to hear from other fans who want to submit pictures. I’m flattered that someone would take time to create art for my novel and share it with me.
Fan Art by Joan Sween
Daddy’s Little Helper
Posted on June 20th, 2011
Alex decided to help Daddy with revising his novel today. He’s giving a ton of great advice!
Cool to have a little writer helping me out.
That’s it. I’ve had it!
Posted on June 16th, 2011
Alex reached his limit today. Enjoy!
Starring: Alexander as Mount Vesuvius
Posted on June 14th, 2011
Today we took my ne
wborn son Alex to visit our local writers group. Unfortunately, this visit interrupted his feeding schedule, so by the time we got home, he was ready to eat.
I changed his diaper while my wife got ready to feed him. His stomach was a little hard, so I decided to give it a rub as I usually do to help his bowels push everything out.
He let out a few toots, and I figured that was it. I wiped him off and reached for the other diaper.
That’s when he erupted.
A mixture of poo and water shot out like water from a fire hose. Four feet away, the white wall splattered with yellow excrement.
I had no idea a baby could poop with such force, or that my son had such artistic aspirations.
“A little help!” I called. My wife came running down the hall.
When Brenda entered the room, she burst into laughter. “So the crap really hit the fan, huh?”
His changing table, both diapers, and the wall were covered in poo. Somehow, through the carnage, I escaped any serious wounds.
Ten minutes and a whole lot of paper towels later, the nursery was back in order.
My son is teaching us every day that we should approach life with laughter and enjoyment. We’re so lucky to have him in our lives.
Even on a crappy day.
Damn you autocorrect!
Posted on November 17th, 2010
Found a hilarious site in my Twitter feed tonight: http://damnyouautocorrect.com/
I laughed more in twenty minutes than I have in the past twenty days. It’s a much needed relaxation break. Check it out, I’m sure you’ll love it.
As an aside to my writer friends: observe how the messages often have completely different meanings. Think about how you can use similar “mistakes” to comedic effect in your own writing.
