10 Tips for a Book Launch Party

One year ago today my YA sci-fi book Deleted was published. A couple weeks later I held a series of launch parties. One in my home* in San Diego, one in Provo, Utah where many of my friends live and one in Salt Lake City where I grew up.

Oh my goodness, it’s hard to believe that we got together with so many people indoors without masks. Wow! There was so much we took for granted back then. Now, fingers crossed, it looks like the world might be opening up in a few months and I thought some other authors might like to get some ideas for their own launch parties. With that in mind I made a list of 10 things I’m glad I did or wish I did at my launch party.

1. Throw a party! I’m with a small publisher and though I am quite pleased with how my book is doing, but it would be fair to say book sales are not making me wealthy. I definitely did not sell enough books at my launch parties to pay for the food, decorations and favors at each event. I knew that would be the case while planning these parties and set a budget for myself that I would be okay with expecting to make no money. I know not everyone has the extra money to do this. But most can afford to throw some sort of party. Just think of your launch party as a birthday party or baby shower, both important but not money making ventures. At times while prepping, I did wonder if it was self-indulgent to plan three big parties to celebrate the launch of my own book. But when it was over I was so happy I had those events. There are a lot of surprising negatives about publishing but the joy, support and love I felt at all of my launch parties were HUGE surprising positives. Also, I think the image and buzz from those parties did help sales beyond the parties themselves. And hey, I’m using images from them still.

2. Have a color theme. Using the books cover as a guide we did a black, white, red and hint of gray. The invites told people to come dressed in black and white or red. If they did their name was entered in a drawing for an Amazon gift card. The color theme was awesome! I loved how everyone matched in photos.

3. Send out real invites. I believe in invitations, not just eVites. I think they really set the tone for a party and get people excited and always result in higher attendance. Also, publishing a book is a big deal and a special invitation to the people who I felt truly supported me on my journey felt important to me. Since Spex—thought activated eyeware that function like smart phones in the future—are an important element to my book. I sent out invites that looked like glasses.

4. Have good food that ties into your book. We served carne asada fries, key lime bars and brownies because they are all mentioned in Deleted. Also, my friend made this spectacular cake.

5. Share photos of party prep to build excitement. The week before the party me and my friends helping me shared pictures to get people excited. Also, because I had three parties, the photos posted from each party helped build excitement for the next party. My third and final party had way more people than I expected and so many of them said they came because of photos from previous parties.

6. Have a photo back drop. This gives your guests something easy to post about your party. I couldn’t afford to print a backdrop so with the help of some amazing friends I made a paper one.

7. Keep social media in mind. Create a hashtag for friends to use and make sure they know about it. (Mine was #deleted2020.) Also, have some visually stunning items that make people want to post images from your event.

8. Have a question and answer session. This was my favorite part of every single party. Guests wrote questions for me and at a set time I answered them. Try to keep this to about 30 minutes or less. You don’t want to bore people. Also, be sure to share it on social media.

9. Ask for reviews. At the end of each question and answer session I thanked everyone for coming and begged, pleaded for reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. Most people don’t know how important reviews are to authors. But once you ask them, especially after you’ve fed them good food, they are happy to help. I got a LOT of reviews this way. At future parties I would also ask people to consider suggesting my book for their book club.

10. Practice your signature. At my first launch party when I sat down to sign my first book, I had this moment of panic. I had no idea what to write. If I were to do it again. I would have come up with several cute phrases to sign in books and practiced my signature

* I had my parties at private residences for various reasons. For my next book launch I think I would do a mix of bookstores and homes.

If you have any more party questions feel free to ask in the comments below.