In the Et Alia Press “Book Launch Tuesdays” series, writer Charlotte Maya shares experiences and advice about launching her first book from six months before publication date to its first birthday.
The Book Launching Adolescence
My pub date book launch featured a great venue, an independent bookstore, an enthusiastic moderator, and designer cookies. It was a rainy February night in Los Angeles, so it was entirely likely that my husband and I would be there with a handful of soggy friends, a disappointed bookseller, and several dozen beautifully decorated and individually vacuum sealed cookies. Until about 10 minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, I had no idea whether we’d host a dozen people or ten times that. We ended up with over 100 people, most of whom I knew personally. Only a few books went back to the store. Sadly, not one cookie came home with me; I heard they were delicious.
I think part of what made the event a success was that I had invited – via in person conversations, text messages, personalized emails, and social media posts – anyone who had encouraged me along the writing journey, which is to say, pretty much everyone I know living within a 50-mile radius.
I had a second event at another local, independent bookstore over the weekend. If anyone had told me they couldn’t go to the Tuesday evening pub date book launch, I invited them to the weekend book event. About 30 people showed up. Almost all bought at least one copy of my book; several bought two. Book launching felt a little bit like adolescence: the big event felt like a homecoming night, or a quinciñera, watching my book celebrate with music and a tiara.
Other events felt like watching my beloved and beautiful teenaged daughter sitting home in old sweats on prom night without a date, instead watching Friends reruns with her little brother. About a month after pub date, I held a book event at a favorite local restaurant and gourmet food market. The owner had hosted a successful book launch and signing just a few weeks prior, and she and I thought it would be fun to have a book event for Sushi Tuesdays. She and I both posted on our respective social media channels, and quite a few people mentioned that they would come. Even so, I spent the entire hour sitting by myself, with a stack of books, and iced tea, and the most delicious molasses cookie — not too sweet, soft on the inside. After an hour, another friend stopped by with books she had purchased elsewhere for my signature.
Quite a few folks from the West Side of Los Angeles asked me to plan an event closer to them. They had not ventured into the rain on the Tuesday pub date for Sushi Tuesdays and still wanted to support me and my book. Long story short, only a few people showed up to that event (one of whom had already been to the first event and bought a copy of my book for the stranger next to her in line at the cash register who had just moved to LA the day before – welcome!), although I did get to meet my fabulous publicist in person, which made the hassle of driving across town during rush-hour worthwhile. Still, it kind of felt like watching my sweaty, dusty, bruised teenager walk in the door with his football bag slung over his shoulder after losing a playoff game to a crosstown rival. I know that mistakes and losses are great teachers, but I still wish I could save him from the pain.
Launching a book was a fantastic excuse to visit some book-loving friends on the East Coast who coordinated venues, books, and more booklovers. This feels to me like the heart of book-launching. It’s about relationships. Relationships between friends, relationships between writers, relationships between books and readers. You just never know how people find the books they love. Often, it’s the simple recommendation of one person to the next to the next.
Long before my memoir existed in trade paperback form, when it was still an idea, a few scribbled note cards, and a handful of blog posts, I stood in the school’s library shelving books and thinking that even though I love to read, I would never read all the books in this well-stocked library. That there are so many books and so many tastes, it’s no small miracle when readers find books they adore and books find their way into the hands of readers for whom that specific story resonates. It reminds me that every time my memoir finds its way to one reader who loves it, it is no small miracle, not unlike the thrill of witnessing a glance pass between my gawky, sweet teenager and the prom date falling in love with him. All I ever want is for my kid is someone who loves them.