Sunday 26 April 2015

Book Launches
I'm sure many of you will have attended a book launch either on-line or in person and it's got me thinking about how important these are for writers. After all the hard work and the long journey from writing to publication, every writer surely wants to ensure that the book is a success and to present it to as many people as possible. A book launch seems to be a good way of doing that. Through a book launch, we as readers are made aware that there is a new book due out. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are invaluable for informing us of this as well as where and when the event is going to take place. . 

Here are some events which took place in April:

Patsy Collins's 'Over The Garden Fence' on-line launch party was held on 3rd April and the pictures on her blog showed plenty of glasses of bubbly and snacks that we could sample when we attended. We were invited into her garden and the many comments from blog followers joined into the spirit of the virtual event. Patsy also gave us a flavour of the kind of stories we would find in the collection and there was a lovely photo of her garden with Spring flowers in full bloom. 


There is often a theme for the party. I'm sure many of you were tempted to join Samantha Tonge's 'Game of Scones' on-line launch party on April 20th where cakes and scones seemed to be the order of the day. As well as pictures of the book's cover, the photographs of delicious jam topped scones proved too hard to resist together with various other delights including lovely Greek baklavas and even a bottle of my favourite tipple, Baileys.  There were competitions throughout the day, too. As Sam said on her Facebook page, the on-line parties are a special way to make readers aware of newly-published books. Digital authors don't have a physical book to sign as you do if you hold an actual book launch.



  On Thursday evening, I went to the launch of a new short story and poetry journal,'The Lonely Crowd', in Cardiff. I went with two friends, Kath and Gael, from my writing group and you will find an excellent post about the event on Kath Eastman's Blog. I enjoyed hearing the writers read their own work and when I return to the stories and poems in Issue One, it will be their voices that I will remember.


The only book launch I have been involved in so far was that of 'Fifty Flashes of Fiction', the anthology of WorcesterLitFest & Fringe's Flash Fiction competition, last November. I wrote about it in my December 2014 blog and if you click on the link for Linda's Jottings and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see Linda Daunter's thoughts about the experience too. There is also a photo of her reading her winning entry. The closing date for this year's competition was last Friday and I'm pleased to report that I sent in my three entries by the deadline!

Have you ever held a party or event to launch a new novel or collection of short stories? How did you find it? Do you have any tips or advice for anyone who is thinking of hosting one soon? I would love it if you shared your ideas. :-)

Thank you for reading my blog. You may also follow me on Twitter @JanbayLit or on Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page.

9 comments:

  1. Book launches always feel a bit like weddings to me: I go along to support the lovely author (the bride) and they flit around trying to see everyone who's come along and have a chat with them.

    Each book launch I've been to has been different, so I think it's important to try and have the launch you want for your book (within the budget you have!): a venue linked to the locations in the book; playing (live) music that features in the book or a themed cake or other goodies (cookies or popcorn have featured at past launches I've been to) all work well but if you get a great mix of friends, family and people from your publisher there to support to, have wine (and juices for the designated drivers) and say a few words (and maybe read a bit of your book), that's all I think you need for it to be a good launch.

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    1. You make some really good points, Kath. I like your analogy with with weddings. Support for the author is a priority I think. Launches will vary and reflect the personality of the author or the genre of the writing. I love your idea of holding the launch in a venue linked to locations in the book. Parts of my WiP novel are set in Sicily........:-)

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    2. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, Kath.

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  2. Thanks for the mention, Jan!

    Kath's description is spot on. It does feel very like a virtual wedding reception. I'm not sure how much good online launches do in terms of sales, but we have to do something to let people know the book exists.

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    1. Pleasure, Patsy. I think on-line launches and parties do an excellent job promoting new books. I have been introduced to not only forthcoming books but new authors, too, via social media. Sharing current new reviews can also encourage readers to buy the books, hopefully. Thanks for commenting.

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  3. Thanks for the link! Good luck with the Worcester LitFest competition. I haven't entered this year (only noticed the deadline too late!)
    I'm working on a themed collection of short stories with a view to self-publishing it. I've already come up with some brilliant ideas for the launch party - all I've got to do is finish writing the stories, and then work out how to publish them ... !

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    1. Pleasure, Linda, and thank you for your good wishes. I'd love to publish a themed anthology of shorts so I shall watch out for lthe launch with interest. Looking forward to hearing what idea you choose for your party! :-) Thank you for your comments.

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  4. Virtual book launches are such a good way to introduce a new book. It doesn't where you live - you can be involved. And people are so generous about joining in with the spirit of event - for example, if there is a party theme. Lovely Wendy Clarke had a virtual book launch at which everyone was invited to 'attend' in fancy dress with a paper theme, so there were paper hats, paper cups, paper clips - all without the angst and embarrassment of actually dressing up in public!

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    1. I think you've made a good point there, Sue. Everyone can join in and it doesn't matter how far away you live from the author. Wendy's party sounded great fun. Thanks for commenting.

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