Are Book Launch Parties Worth It?

This post was first published here on April 26, 2012.

Left is Sally, a friend I sold my first book to in 2006. Seated
is Bill, an old friend (91 yrs to be exact), then me, Morgan
Mandel, to my right is Rosemary, a grammar school friend.

I'd grown complacent with putting my romantic thriller, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, on Kindle and other electronic media; but still, whenever I ran into certain friends, inevitably they'd ask when was my book Launch Party.

Well, that proved print books were still in demand, at least in certain circles, so I bit the bullet and got my book published through CreateSpace, not an easy task to accomplish.

I checked the proof when it came in, found some errors to correct, so sent off for another. When everything looked all right with the book, I placed larger orders.

With books in hand, it was time to set up the party. Here's what I did:

1. Reserved the venue - Arlington Heights Historical Museum - five weeks in advance
2. Ordered banners, lawn sign, postcards, a promo tee-shirt, plus rack cards from Vistaprint.com - five weeks in advance
3. Printed out announcement postcards and mailed them to friends and relatives - A few weeks before
4. Sent e-mails to other friends and also phone calls - a few weeks before
5. Sent invite on Facebook - week before
6. Had the DH reserve the services of the nephew to help carry the books on the launch day - week before
7. Sent announcement to paper - week before (Should have sent sooner, but forgot)
8. Sent another reminder on Facebook, which also went on Twitter
9. Lined up a smattering of my prior books to bring with, plus other promo, along with the new items I'd purchased and serving plates, serving utensils, cups, paper plates, plastic utensils - week before
10. Got cash box ready, with enough singles, fives, and tens for change - few days before
11. Put pens in purse for signing, also found Post-its and postcards for those who wanted special autographs, found the sign-in book - few days before
12. Sent another Facebook reminder - day before
13. Purchased food, soda, apple juice, ice - day before and day of
14. Grabbed some different outfits from my closet, couldn't decide which to wear -  day before
15. Wrote check for rental of the venue - day before, and spoke to manager there again about setup
16. Wrote note to remember to bring the new books in the other room - day before
17. Charged up iPhone so I could use its camera - day before
18. Figured out what to wear and got ready for the signing - day of
19. Hauled everything over with help of DH and nephew - day of
20. Started decorating - only half an hour allotted, so I never got to put everything up, even with the DH and nephew helping, because people started coming in
21. Busy signing and talking, while the DH took in the money, took photos on the iPhone featuring each guest. For each book purchase, the buyer received a raffle ticket.
22. Held raffle for tee shirt, which featured covers of all four of my books.
23. Before I knew it, it was 3:30. Distributed some of the leftover food to my brothers while we packed up to get out.
24. Took leftover food, my serving items and the rest of the books home and unpacked. Fortunately, the book boxes were lighter than before!
25. Put a photo album on Facebook about the event.
26. Fell asleep on the couch watching TV - That night
27. Finally, the next day -  I tried to figure out if I made money or broke even - I seem to be ahead. Sold 30 books, but did expend money to get the author copies printed, the room rental, food expenses, Vistaprint items. The total order amount can't be tallied yet, since one friend broke her hand, ouch, and wants three books later, two friends are on vacation, another couldn't make it, but wants a book.

Was all that work and expense worth it? I say, Yes! I got to see friends and family I hadn't seen in a while. Books were bought. The buzz will go out. Word will get spread.

And, one of the biggest rewards of a Book Launch Party - author validation! It's a heady feeling to know everyone who came there that day wanted to buy my new romantic thriller, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse.

Forever Young: Blessing or Curse is on Kindle or in Print.

Excerpts & buy links for all of Morgan's Books:
MorgansBookLinks.Blogspot.com/

Experience the diversity & versatility of Morgan Mandel. Romantic Comedies: Her Handyman & its sequel, A Perfect Angel, or the standalone reality show romance: Girl of My Dreams. Thriller: Forever Young: Blessing or Curse. & its Collection Sequel: the Blessing or Curse Collection. Romantic suspense: Killer Career. Mystery: Two Wrongs. Twitter:@MorganMandel Websites: Morgan Mandel.Com & Morgan Does Chick Lit.Com.