Start promoting your book launch early ( a month or so ahead is not too soon) and encourage people to save the date.
Promotion
Posters and leaflets are cheap if you print them off yourself on your computer. Search online for examples and make sure the date/time and place are clear. Relatively inexpensive if you get them professionally printed too.
What should they contain?
A picture of you – the author, plus your book cover and some details about the book. your author picture is best if it reflects the type of book you are writing. So dark shadows and blurred focus suit mystery and thrillers but softer focus and colours suit romance. Non-fiction show ‘expertise’ in your topic. So serious and professional or warm and friendly depending on the topic.
Include the venue, the date and time of your launch, add an RSVP option such as an email address. If you want to keep your own email private you can create an email address for the event You need the RSVP to try to calculate how many people will attend your launch. Both for room size and for catering purpose
Publicise on Facebook, Twitter and any other networks that you have, groups, clubs and societies.
An enticing blurb can’t hurt either-here is the blurb for Fire & Ice
Olympic ice dancer Blaise Daniels partner has just called it quits leaving her with no chance of competing at the Winter Olympics. Determined not to give up on her dream, she travels to Norway to meet legendary skater Kristoffer Erikson. After a bumpy start, they connect both on and off the ice. Their partnership seems assured, but why do they both start having dreams of a mysterious Viking past? Can an ancient love be rekindled, or will an old tragedy complicate their present? https://www.daisylanepublishing.com/romance-1
Also available through Amazon, Book Depository, Scribd and online retailers.
If you ask your local library may allow you to display a poster and leaflets there, and some local business may display a poster too. My hairdresser was happy to and he came to the launch and bought a book.
Media
If you have any media contacts now is the time to call them, local media can be surprisingly helpful. Remember that journalists are people too, and have column spaces to fill. Cold call if necessary (I did) and ask if they would be interested in your book Have a prepared script in case you freeze or babble. My call resulted in a photo and a write-up in the local paper.
Look for opportunities to tell people about your book. Many writers have blogs, ideally, you should be following a few, ask if you can be interviewed and try to schedule the posts as near to your book launch as possible. Offer to return the favour and host them on your blog.
You do have a blog, don’t you?
Who to invite?
Even the best book will not appeal to everyone, so you need to think about your target audience. Who will your book appeal to? A football memoir would perhaps best be launched in a sporting club or sports bar. A beauty/fashion guide would need a very different venue.
I did think about launching my book Fire& Ice, which features ice skating at an ice rink. It would have been fabulous PR, maybe gaining me news coverage but my target audience would have had to travel a distance and so would I. Not to mention the potential cost of hiring an ice rink on my tiny budget.
Who should you invite?
Family and friends, it goes without saying – we all need a cheer squad.
Dignitaries Invite the mayor, your local councillors, your state and federal Members of Parliament. They are receptive to invitations in their communities, as it helps both their profile and theirs.
I invited our local mayor, our state MP and two local councillors, all of whom attended my launch. Go ahead, they can only say no.
Advance readers.
If you had advance readers, who got a pre-launch copy of your book. Invite them along to the launch
Groups.
Did you belong to a book group? Invite them!
A yoga class then invite them!
A gym, or sports club ask them anyway.
Any group that you belonged to will have people who may be interested in your book. It doesn’t hurt to ask. You are giving them an opportunity to be an early reader of a new book.
In part four I will cover the final details to make your launch a success.
Sonia Bellhouse- Author. 