Wednesday, May 4, 2016

IWSG: The First Ever Bookless Book Launch

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My second book, just released, had gremlins. I'm not sure what brought them on (too many midnight snacks? an ego check from the universe?), but as soon as the book left me and went into production, they attacked. The merciless little critters kept trying to bring down the airplane of my book production, and I kept checking the seats around me to make sure William Shatner hadn't shown up. 
  • First, there was confusion about the launch date
  • Then, delays in editing
  • Then, more delays in editing
  • Then delays in art
  • Then, more delays in art correction

It felt like every time the ball came back into my court, I had to turn the work around at light speed to try and get the process back on time track. I was stubborn about that release date. I had plans for a release party, and, besides, I really loved getting my first book published for my birthday last year and wanted to give myself that present again if I could. 

But we made it! Thanks for some fantastic work from the wonderfully supportive marketing team, we pulled it out in the final lap and the book launched as scheduled . . . as an e-book. The paper was delayed yet again due to problems with getting it into Ingram. 

Me, clutching the one paper copy I was able to get by party time. But check out that banner!
Which led to: The First-Ever Bookless Book Launch Party! I had a party scheduled, sponsored by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library. My parents were coming into town for it. My mother-in-law made cookies. My husband created bookmarks. My daughter learned how to use my phone sales gadget. My banners and signs were printed. But . . . there were no paper books :-(  

Those delays getting the book into Ingram meant that there was no way to get a box of them here in time, despite the best efforts of the publisher and the bookseller I was working with.

When I found out, I just about cried. Okay, I admit it, I cried. I moped for an entire evening. 

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But by the next morning, I shook it off. I guess I'm a make-lemonade sort of gal. 

The point of a book launch party is to celebrate the launch of the book. The people who took time out of their busy lives to come and hear me read and talk about the novel will still buy copies if they were going to. In the meantime, there were pages to share, and cookies to eat. 

How do you celebrate your milestones as a writer? How do you handle it when your best laid plans take a left turn at Albuquerque? 

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This posting is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. To check out other posts by writers in a variety of places in their careers, check out the participant list. This group is one of the most open and supportive groups of people I have ever been associated with. If you write, you should check them out!


If you want to check out my superhero stories, click the covers below. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out two weeks ago!






12 comments:

  1. Can I say I identify with your plight and I was going to say much more. In fact, I did and erased it. I'll just say, I'm sorry, but I think you handled it well! You are a superhero! You took the negative and made it a positive!

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  2. I think you handled it well. (I was lucky enough to be able to go to Samantha's launch party.)
    Life has a way of throwing us obstacles and you did a great job of adjusting your stride. I think it was a great idea to take pre-orders for the paperbacks and move forward with the launch as planned. You handled the printing snafu with aplomb. The cookies were a nice touch too. Who doesn't love cookies and an engaging reader?

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    1. Thanks so much for coming. Looking out and seeing friendly faces always makes this kind of thing easier. And Grandma Jo Ann's cookies are the BEST!

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  3. I had something similar happen when my first book came out, only there were delays with the Ebooks. I think that's the nature of publishing; there are always punches we have to roll with, but it certainly sounds like you handled it well.

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    1. Yes. I definitely felt like I understood that phrase "roll with the punches" in a whole new way.

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  4. I would have cried too if my books hadn't shown up for the book release party my friends threw me. It was just my friends, some family and I, but I at least had the book to show off.

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    1. I did manage to get one copy by ordering it on rush shipping from Amazon, but I couldn't afford to do that for the group. So, we all got to see and touch one at least!

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  5. You handled it with dignity and aplomb. It was a good book launch party.

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  6. How fantastic that you had a full book launch. Congratulations! It sounds like you handled it very well, and you have an excellent attitude about it. I would have fallen apart. I'm more of the life hands you lemons, throw them back in life's face sort :-) I need to work on being more positive.

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    1. Thanks Stephanie. It's definitely not always easy to be positive in the face of adversity. Luckily, I have my family to rant to and once I've blown off the steam, I can put on a better public face.

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  7. Stuff happens and we can either go with the flow or make ourselves sick with stress. You handled things perfectly, lemonade girl. :)

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