A week ago today was my virtual book launch. It was both exciting and scary. Exciting because it was a launch for my book and not someone else’s. Exciting because it was a launch for my book and not someone else’s. I’ve been to others launches. But being the center of the launch was surreal.

I don’t have the sales figures yet because my book released on the 15^th. But I think the launch did bring more interest in my novel. Paige Boggs, my marketing guru thought it went well.

Be Proactive

I decided to be proactive in advance. I’ve read lots of blogs from successful authors to start garnering interests early. I posted some trivia facts about Secrets and Charades and things I’d learned from my research on my author page every Monday for seven weeks. Then I post the whole group as a post the day before the launch. Then I composed seven trivia questions to post on my launch. Some were true or false. Others were multiple choice questions. You could check the facts before answering or just guess. Of course, I had to post the answers at the end of the party so those who answered the trivia could grade themselves.

Every commenter was placed in my drawing for a variety of things. I gave away one paperback version and one kindle version of my book and amazon gift card and stuff related to my story.

I posted about each item and how it related to the story. And I cut and pasted the trivia questions so I had more time to comment to commenters.

The last portion was a Q &A for me. People actually asked me questions—amazing. My friend and fellow-author John Turney kept everything pretty lively with his silly comments and fun questions. Having veterans of launch parties attend helped keep the discussions lively.

People hung around at the end to see who won what prizes.  Paige has a randomizer thingy that choices winners. The winners were pretty excited. And it seemed everyone , whether they stopped by for the whole two hours or for a few minutes had fun.

Those from my stage crew who could attended were among my guests and they brought along their friends.

Benefits of the party

I noticed this blog has picked up some more traffic.

More people have their curiosity piqued about the book and are talking about it with friends.

I’ve been notified by those who attended or just saw the announcement that they had ordered my book.

After the party

Now I’m busy with the help of my amazing husband sending out prizes to the lucky winners. Note to self. Postage is a real downer.

Have you ever attended a launch party? What did you think of it? Have you hosted one? How did it go for you?

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