Sunday 13 February 2011

Back to the Book Launch

Just because I'm under the weather doesn;t stop time to the launch ticking down. And with the difference between soft launch and national release, the horrible question of the book launch event raises its head again.

I would have been begging MurderOne if they were still open on Charing Cross Road. They were genre, I was a steady customer, and they are very much missed. They are still open online here, but it isn't the same.

It's right on the fringe of Forbidden Planet's range. Oddly my dead-genre novel is too mainstream for a company I often buy from.

Waterstones are keen - frighteningly so - but do not have a cafe, so I am not sure of the logistics for the "Party" part of launch party. I also can't afford to pay them to stay open or do a private opening.

Foyles? I did consider it, but my research went along the lines of: check it anyway, note the competition, note the price *Choke* look elsewhere.

Blackwells? My book is not academic, and in Central London there's not a lot of parking.

I did consider a pub and sandwiches, since if it gets snowed in again there are options, but fortunately my publisher had a better idea.

They are attending Salute, one of the largest wargames and militaria conventions in Europe, for their games line and book collectables. The book was going to be taken along anyway for trade connections. We're going to expand this: since Fire Season features a rather large, if grounded, bomber and fits the attending demographic, the book will be getting its national launch event there.

Oddly this works quite well. The distribution and review network should have the books on wider (possibly national) distribution at the start of April. This also means they can keep building publicity up towards the 16th April.

On the other hand, if you'd told me the book-launch would be in London Excel last year when I started this project, I'd have been stunned. Actually, I still am.

No comments:

Post a Comment