"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." - Walt Disney

Monday, December 3, 2012

Throwing a Book Launch Party (Part I)

Self promotion, platform, social media… these are all terms we hear frequently, but what about the good old book launch? The truth is a book launch can still be a highly effective way to promote yourself and your book – if planned properly.
However, if you are self-published you are at a disadvantage as most chains (Books-A-Million, Barnes&Nobles etc.) won’t carry you. The chains can get their money back on any unsold merchandise from a publishing house, but not from print-on-demand or even some small presses. Subsequently, they won’t order those books and you have to rely solely on the “mom and pop” shops to carry your merchandise.
So, why should you plan a book launch party?
1.    
This post is Part I of a series. Please feel free to share your own experiences, comments and questions about book launches.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Book launches are the necessary business side of writing. I may be giving this more attention in the coming year.

D.G. Hudson said...

Thanks for sharing your knowledge about book launches. Will be back to read the subsequent posts.

Sent you an email, Sylvia, this morning. It's regarding the critique win on a contest in October.

LM Preston said...

You know I do mine online now with Facebook and Twitter. I hope to have an in person one next year at one of the places I'm doing a signing at.

Nicole said...

Great post! I do PR in my day job, and all your tips are right on. :)

Paul Anthony Shortt said...

I love this post. I organised my book launch last month and it was a great night. The store sold out of stock.

Unknown said...

This sounds like great advice for authors!

I just started following your blog and hope you can stop by my page and maybe follow back as well?

www.themakeupmother.blogspot.com