Book Launch Bonanza

I had briefly entertained the idea of a book launch when The Magic of Jack was published at the end of February but fleeting thoughts of me, my book and an empty room made it unappealing. I really wasn’t sure whether people would want to come and join me. It wasn’t until a very close friend of mine asked me whether I was going to have a book launch that I thought about this in more depth. She reminded me that it was the perfect opportunity to thank friends and family for their support and it was this that made me come round to the idea. I decided I wanted to hold my book launch at a pub in my village, a popular place located very near to my home. I wasn’t sure whether the pub would be keen on what I was trying to do but they were very encouraging. We put a date in the diary for two weeks time which left us very little time to drum up interest – but we went at it full ball. I had lots of leaflets printed to let people know about the event and left them at places like local salons, the local schools and at my venue. My girls handed leaflets out to all of their friends at school and helped me advertise on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The day of the launch arrived and all I seemed to hear about were people that couldn’t make it. Covid was doing the rounds again which knocked lots of people out, others were on holiday and others already had plans – we had tried to throw this together at short notice and so this was understandable. But I started to worry about whether we would actually have anyone turn up. To put on extra pressure, I had invited another local company to join me who sold children’s activities and I worried that if nobody turned up to the book launch it wouldn’t have been worth their while. The morning of the book launch was incredibly busy for which I am very grateful because occasionally I had an awful feeling that my book launch wasn’t going to go as well as I had hoped. We turned up at the venue, set up and waited for people to arrive. I stood next to my table to talk to the first people that approached and began to tell them about my story with nervous apprehension but they seemed genuinely interested so I began to relax. In no time at all the room was full of people and chatter and each time I looked down at one of my books to write a message to an expectant little child, my tummy had butterflies. All these people had come to help me celebrate my publication and not only that, people were buying more copies of my story that I had bought along with me. The children loved the little chocolate mice I had wrapped up and handed out and my cupcakes topped with my book cover printed on edible paper went down a treat. Friends and family congratulated me and bought me cards and flowers and others showed genuine interest with their questions about how my story came about. Before long it was time to say the words I had prepared before finishing with an extract from my story. I stood before the room and spoke as clearly as possible making sure that I thanked everyone for all of their support. Suddenly I felt overwhelmed by the turn out and I could feel the emotion taking over, particularly as I spoke about how inspirational my children are to me. I managed to keep my composure (just) and finished with the final paragraphs of my story. It was then I took the time to mingle and thank people individually for coming along, a celebratory glass of Prosecco in hand. Although I had not intended to have a book launch I am so pleased that I took the opportunity to do so because it was the loveliest afternoon, more than I could have hoped for. I felt incredibly proud of The Magic of Jack and felt I had done the book justice by celebrating it’s publication in this way. And so it got me thinking about my next book launch … bigger and better are the words that spring to mind!

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