How to Host a Successful Book-Launch Party

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

I now have a date and venue for my book launch party!  It will be happening on June 11th, at Town Tonic Cafe (Christchurch), from 7-9 pm.

For those of you in New Zealand, make sure you attend, and invite everyone you know!  And for those of you elsewhere in the world, stay tuned for the results of my first-ever book launch.

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According to Writer’s Digest, here are a few things you have to do to make your book-launch party successful:

Set measurable objectives

That means setting sales and attendance targets, as well as media presence targets.  I hadn’t even thought of inviting any media persons before now, but that might be a good idea.  I have no idea how many people I can expect to turn up.  I’ve ordered 200 copies of the book, though I’m intending to use most of them for the book tour following the launch party.  If 100 people attend, I’ll be thrilled.

Connect book, event, and audience

This means targeting the party theme to the book’s audience.  Well, I’m not quite doing that, since the audience is young adult and Town Tonic is a swanky cafe (plus we’ll be serving free drinks), but hopefully this will still build buzz for the book and get people to pass the word along to more suitable readers.

I’ll try to tailor the book launch party for the second book to a more fitting audience; at the moment, I hardly know anyone who fits in the YA group!

Employ social network 

I’ve been doing this by creating a book launch page on Facebook and advertising it on this blog…my following isn’t the most impressive, given that I haven’t been blogging for long, but it’s worth a try.  I’m more likely to use in-person advertising.  This weekend I’m planning to send my partner to the Christchurch Farmers’ Market, where he can snag as many attendees as possible!

Court local media 

Again, have to work on this one…I’ll give you updates about how successful (or not!) this is.

Create a fun atmosphere 

This has been a big focus for us.  Town Tonic is a lively, suave cafe, so it’s already a great atmosphere for any sort of party.  We’re also playing with the idea of getting live music.

Offer incentives

Again, something very important for us.  As an unknown author with a small social circle, I can’t rely on my name or book as motivation for attending.  So we’re going to have free drinks, snacks, and door prizes, which means no one will walk away empty-handed!

Make buying easy 

Since we’re at a cafe, we can use their register for credit card and Eftpos purchases, which certainly simplifies matters.  We might even be able to use the cash in their register to make change…

Rally your party guests 

This last factor is all about giving your guests a way to help you spread the word. That includes asking them to write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, post photos of the party on facebook, and tell their friends about the book.  I’ll probably include a “call for reviews” as part of a bookmark that comes with their purchase, and I’m planning to collect emails through the door prize sign-up.  That way I can email everyone to remind them!

I have to think of a good photo op that would motivate people to post photos after the party…any ideas?  Let me know in the comments below!

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P.S. If anyone is wondering how this ties into my hobby-based marketing scheme (remember, I’m trying to use cooking, travel, photography, and crochet to promote my book), it does in several ways!

1. I work at Town Tonic (my book launch venue) as a chef during the daytime
2. Some of the door prizes will include crocheted things
3. We’ll be making mulled wine for part of the free drinks

So there you go!