How to launch a book
Lost Ark Dreaming has been out in the world for over a month now.
I was just telling a friend yesterday about how loved I’ve felt when it comes to this book. Not that I haven’t felt loved and supported with my previous books, but LAD, I think, is the most community-backed work I’ve ever published. It was borne of community, shaped and sharpened by community, and now elevated, supported and held up by community. Whether it’s my agent (big up, Tamara Kawar!) and publishing team (big up editors Eli Goldman and Jonathan Strahan, and publicity team led by Saraciea Fennell) or the local community that showed up for me during the book launch (big up ArtEngine, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Perfect Books, Club Saw, La Bonne Cuisine and the English department at University of Ottawa), or every single blurber, reader and reviewer who has taken time to thoughtfully engage with my work: big up, I say!
Speaking of book launches, this is also the first local book launch event I’ve done since launching David Mogo in Lagos in 2019. I spent a lot of time planning and executing this one—it was, in essence, a party—and during my search for ideas, found that there’s not much practical advice on book launch party ideas and how to put one together (an in-person book launch, which differs in approach from a virtual book launch).
So I’ve decided to convert my book launch event recap into a sort of 7-step How-To. Here’s how to launch a book.
Decide specifics and budget early on
I knew, from go, that I wanted a non-bookstore event. I’ve done a bunch of bookstore events, and while I absolutely love bookstores, I wanted something different this time: a more informal event for local friends and family (the semi-formal book reading & interview format would still be a part of it, but only a tiny portion). The vibes I had in mind were “chill kickback party with games and prizes,” which meant there’d be food, drinks, prizes, a good hosting space, etc. And I wanted to do all of this on a free or almost free budget topping out at $500 (Canadian dollars) max..
This is the first thing you want to do with your book launch: decide what you want, and what you can afford in both time, energy and other resources, finances included. In doing this, you want to consider every little thing, as small as:
the cost of parking ($10 flat);
audio/visual stuff ($0; came with the space, but that doesn’t always happen); or
what you’ll wear on the day (I bought a new shirt and pair of shoes, but I can’t tell you what they cost, haha).
Here’s some more stuff (in addition to the above) that cost me some of that $500:
Open bar tab for all attendees: $300 (ended up spending only $267 or so; people don’t always drink as much as you’d think when it’s free)
Cheap stationery for the games (pencils, paper, chalk from the dollar store): <$30
Bookstore gift cards (for game prizes): $80
Bookmarks for all attendees: approx. $100 (for about 150 copies from Vistaprint)
Food: $0 (the event space offered to cover the food with their provincial funding, which was somewhere between $300-$400; they refused to tell me the actual amount!)
Total amount: $487 (sans cost of clothes)
You also want to consider what kind of help and support you’ll get from others, if you’ll have any. While I did most of the planning myself, I have an executive assistant on retainer who executed a bunch of tasks. My spouse also helped with preparing the games & prizes, and the host space staff helped with organizing food and drinks and shepherding the day’s events. You may not have all this help, so consider what is possible based on your needs, and what isn’t.
Secure collaborators
Sequel to what I mentioned above: once you’ve decided what you’d like to do, see if you can secure collaborators. Since I wanted to do most things for free, I reached out to a bunch of local organizations to figure out if they’d be interested in partnering with me.
Event/host space: Here, I initially reached out to the Ottawa Art Gallery, who was happy to waive event space fees for me as a local artist. However, I eventually settled for working with ArtEngine, another local arts organization within the same building, as they had a much more versatile and more kid-friendly space (I expected there to be a few kids at the event, mine included). The directors, Remco and Ryan, were quite enthusiastic about hosting me, and being an organization with experience working with local visual and performance artists, they had all the resources AV, lighting, space, etc) to accommodate my needs. Most importantly, they also didn’t charge me anything!
Food & drink: In the same building as ArtEngine was a bar/club (SAW). We approached their bartender to ask if they could set up a small bar two doors down. They were open to it, and bam, bar sealed. For food, we reached out to La Bonne Cuisine, a local chef who’d previously worked with Club SAW. He was familiar with the space, and the food (West Indian cuisine) had rave reviews.
Bookselling: My local indie, Perfect Books, was more than happy to come by and set up a table at the event for those who wanted to buy my books. We ended up using their gift cards as prizes for the game’s winners.
Conversationalists: Because I still wanted a bit of a Q&A, but didn’t want the same-ol’-same, I decided to switch it up: rather than have 1 conversationalist ask me 4 or 5 questions, I had 4 conversationalists come up and each ask me 1 question. I also didn’t select them from my usual artist or academic circles; rather, I put together a motley crew: a guy from my soccer team, my colleague’s partner who works in government, one of my former undergrad students, and a local friend I made when I first moved.
Games: My spouse & I designed the quiz games, prepared the materials, printed and cut them, and put them into little envelopes for each attendee. Ahead of the day, I workshopped the games with a few friends to ensure they were airtight.
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The grand prize game went like this: Every attendee received an envelope that contained a “passport” and some stickers, indicating which floor/level of the Pinnacle—the fictional tower in Lost Ark Dreaming—you were assigned to (see photo further down this post). Your job was to meet as many people from other “floors/levels” as possible, and gather as many stickers as possible, to secure your place in the big finale. This game was designed to get the room mixing, chatting, talking. An 11-year-old kid got the highest number of stickers because, well, kids are adorable and everyone wants to talk to them!
In the same envelope was a list of 15 books I’d bought this year, but I’d only finished reading an undisclosed number. The game was to guess any one book that would fall in that category. The winner was to be someone who (1) guessed a correct book; and (2) had the highest number of stickers amongst all who’d guessed a correct book.
As you probably surmised, the 11-year-old kid won it.
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Between each of my 4 conversants, we had short quizzes. Everyone had a pen and paper, and 10 seconds to answer whatever question I asked. Quiz ranged from trivia about my book publications to word anagrams to questions about book titles.
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Grand prize got a $50 bookstore gift card; quiz prizes were $10 per winner.
For the quizzes, we chose random winners via separate raffles featuring all who got each answer correctly.
Prepare a list of resources required
Once the above things have been decided, make a list.
I’m not kidding. A list will be your best friend. List every single thing you can. I sectioned my lists into three: a list of items (and who will prepare and/or bring them), a list of people (that need to be there for specific tasks, e.g. changing the music, manning the bookstore table, or being in conversation with the author, etc) and a list of activities that need to be carried out when and where (introduction, reading, games, break for food, book signing, etc). I also maintained a list of whom I needed to pay (bartender, bookstore, etc) amongst other things.
Lists, lists, lists. Set them up however you wish, but having them is essential. It’s very easy to forget things.
Assign everything
In the same way as above, never leave a list item hanging. Someone needs to be responsible for something. Who will turn down the lights when it’s time for your mood-lit reading? Assign someone. Who will collect the raffle tickets, shake the bowl, pick the random winner? Assign someone. Who will curate the event playlist and set it up on the day? Assign someone. Will there be visuals? Microphones need checking and attending to? Seats need to be moved around? Trash bins in specific locations?assign someone.
In my launch event, we had a separate room for the kids to hang out in. It had a wall that acted as a whiteboard, which meant the kids could spend all day writing all over the wall. We went to the dollar store and got sidewalk chalk of various colours, and my spouse handed them out to the kids while the event was ongoing. We placed pencils, blank papers and envelopes for the games in a central location so anyone could pick.
Someone needs to be responsible for everything, or things fall through the cracks.
Promote (or don’t)
I opted to keep my event a more local thing, so there was no point making broad advertisements on social media. Rather, I sent private emails to a bunch of folks I thought might be interested, from local artists and arts organizations, media, friends in the neighbourhood and from other interests, etc. The bookstore and hosts posted adverts on their websites and social media, but I only sent out an invite in my newsletter. We ended up with a full room of over 60 people, which was more than sufficient for my needs. If you’re looking for a smaller, more private event, then keep the promotion similarly muted.
However, if you’re looking for much more public engagement with your book launch, here’s what you can consider:
Make a persuasive poster or flyer. Many times, I see book event graphics simply stating the author and book. Unless you’re a mainstream known name, or already have avid followership, no one wants to attend a random author’s book event. What you want to do is present the book as an object of interest: highlight what it’s about, what other books it’s like, its most gripping themes/ideas/concerns, etc. And if the event will have other fun or interesting stuff (e.g. games, trivia, prizes, etc—food & drinks are winners too), include that. Basically, sell it to the viewer.
Publicize on social media…and elsewhere. Don’t just make cool graphics and videos for socials or your newsletter. Consider putting up a poster or flyer at your local indie bookstore. Ask other local businesses (e.g. the coffee place where you write) or places of interest if they’ll let you do the same.
Consider a virtual participation component. For those with large online followerships, consider adding a virtual book launch component. Perhaps, you can livestream your event and engage with those who show up with Q&A, games, prizes, etc? There are many ways to do this.
Be sure to specify that it’s not a private event (or that it is). Because my event was so curated (and more importantly, catered), I had some walk-ins confused as to whether they needed an invitation to participate. Don’t be like me. Clarify ahead of time.
Test-run everything
Each attendee received an envelope containing the gift and games.
On the day of, go in a couple of hours early and run a short rehearsal of proceedings. You may do this alone or alongside your host (or your whole crew, if you can). Trust me: you will catch a bunch of things you didn't know needed attending to. It was during our test rehearsal that we found out the Powerpoint slides meant to rotate quotes on the screen weren’t set to advance on their own. We had to reset the slides on the spot.
If you can test all aspects of your event, do so. Technology more so—of these, audio is the most crucial. If you’re using microphones, ensure they’re working well. Nothing kills the vibe of an event more than tapping the mic and asking, “Can you hear me?”
Day of: have fun
The proud winner of the grand prize.
If you’re like me, it’s very easy to get caught up in the anxiety about everything running smoothly that you forget to enjoy yourself during the event. Luckily, this time, past me placed a good deposit for future me by handing out all the key stuff to capable folks. I was able to sit back, have a laugh and chat with everyone present. There was good talk, good food, good vibes. I still hear people raving about it till today (especially that 11-year-old kid with the $50 bookstore gift card).
Remember: a book launch is still about you and the good, hard work you’ve done to put a book into the world. Allow yourself to be proud and bask in it. It’s one of the few joys we get to have as authors today.
Lost Ark Dreaming is available wherever you buy your books. Before you buy, feel free to read an excerpt or listen to my radio and/or podcast appearances. You may also read print interviews at Clarkesworld & Dragonfly, or the story of how this book came about.
Buy: Print (US) | Print (UK) | Print (Nigeria & WA) | ebook | Audio
