Creative Minds Never Sleep
Just like a carefully orchestrated stunt scene in a movie, a book launch needs planning, detailed planning, to provide the most sensory packed experience for your potential readers. If you want people to take notice and read your novel, you're going to have to satisfy their curiosity and you're going to have to WOW them.
Marketing leading up to the launch allows an opportunity to boost the discovery of the Author, aiding in creating a certain buzz about the new novel, the title, the artwork, the synopsis and then effectively opening the possibility of selling copies.
The book launch, however, allows the reader into your world, your movie scene, giving them the reason you wrote the novel.
For me, it was to inspire and entertain, to express myself, and allow my creative imagination to flow, and this is what I wanted the reader to see.
At a book launch, your readers must feel part of the world you created. Take them on a journey of discovery by giving them an opportunity to get lost in a world of reality that is not their own.
The trick is to meet their expectations, then do something that totally blows your audience away.
The Unexpected.
Authors are a strange breed. They’ll demonstrate limitless creativity in their manuscripts, but when it comes to the launch, they shy away.
The 'Official Book Launch', is the one chance you have to get it right, it only comes around but once. You have to create an impact that keeps people talking for weeks or even months about how cool it was.
By taking the lead in setting up the event and putting in the necessary hours to create and establish a presence , you help forge connections and the success of the launch.
But what if there's a hiccup? What if something goes wrong? How do you handle it?
Every Author should have a Plan B, C and even a plan D (Just to be sure). By ensuring the smooth flow of the launch, even when unforeseen circumstances arise; you are prepared, calm and willing to adjust your event to prevail over the unexpected.
Luckily, most writers are extraordinarily creative and by putting their heads together, it doesn't take long to devise alternate plans of action.
For me, the experience of the unforeseen didn't create a whirlwind of havoc, instead, it created an opportunity for myself and some of the best creatives in the business to lock heads and come up with a plan to blow my readers away.
The Unexpected - The novels did not arrive due to a Force Majeure. An act of God, in this instance being Cyclone Debbie and the aftermath of flooding issues.
When is a book launch not a book launch - when the books don't arrive making it merely a Launch.
My novel is fantasy YA genre and my tag line is
In a world where nothing is what it seems...
And by adhering closely to this, a collective of creative brains were able to come up with an extraordinary way to alleviate the problem.
A seemingly simple solution to an impossibly major problem started with...
A Riddle leading to a treasure hunt. Solve the riddle to receive the novel.
The book you seek hides in plain view, go, there, and collect your due. The book you purchased,will alight in your hand, signed with my magical brand.
Take this note, one week must pass, walk through the doors of dark glass, into the cool interior, and find therein, me, holding court with my fair brethren.
A Speech (in part)
Author! It is an amazing feeling to say that. Today is the culmination of blood, sweat and tears, or in fantasy terms glitter beards, unicorn sacrifices and late nights with little sleep with my editorial demon. When I say I've had an emotional roller-coaster of a time, I'm not joking...
Does anyone know what Force Majeure means? It is the unforeseeable circumstance that prevent the fulfillment of a contract. Like a war, or a riot, or an act of God. Like cyclone Debbie. A force majeure doesn't excuse non-performance, it only suspends it for the duration of the event. That means I still owe everyone, holding a voucher today, a signed copy of my novel...
Supportive family, friends and community
Click on the photograph to watch the slideshow
Everybody loves a happy ending to a good story. And after receiving a phone call from the Courier this morning, I can inform you, with great jollity, that the novels will be arriving today.
See you at the MICC Library from 9.30am - 12.30pm to receive your signed copy of The Halfling.
Melissa H North xx