It’s been two whole weeks since THE COINCIDENCE OF COCONUT CAKE flew onto book shelves, so I have two whole weeks of experience from which to write this post. Overall, everything went smoothly and I had a blast, but there are a few things I’d do differently.
1. Have the launch party on a different day then the actual launch. I had so much to do on the actual day, that having to be in party mode was an added stress. The people coming to the party will happily wait a few days or weeks to celebrate so save yourself the added tension. In hindsight, I could have spent the day celebrating at home and online, then had the IRL party when I was more calm. Since I didn’t do that, I spent a few sleepless nights catching up on all the emails, tweets, and Facebook comments.
2. Try not to have revisions due anywhere near your launch. Some people are better at compartmentalizing tasks than I am, but having revisions looming while launching my first book was enough to make my brain melt. A few months between the two would be enough time to give each their deserved attention.
3. Do all guest posts as they come in. It seems like you’ll have no problem doing this, but trust me, they stack up quickly. All you need is a little writer’s block on one to back you up. Just do them, send them off, and forget about them until they go live.
4. Schedule more Facebook posts and Tweets. Occasionally, I would schedule posts and tweets when I was especially organized, but once I started having a lot of guest posts floating out there, it would become a rush of retweets. In retrospect, I could have spaced those reposts out if I had scheduled them, giving each post special attention.
5. Build in some off-tech time every day. I mean it — EVERY DAY! And I don’t just mean when you’re sleeping. Take a few hours to hang with your family, read a book, or space out in front of the TV. As time sensitive as we might think our books are, the world won’t end if someone waits a few hours for an email. Debuting a book is exciting, don’t forget to enjoy it.
Great advice! I’ve already planned to do #1 (3 weeks between launch & party) and #2 is handled, so hopefully I’m on track to a less stressful book birthday … 🙂
You’re in good shape then! #1 is a biggie!
Love this post. Need to memorize it. Congrats on what sounds like a busy and successful launch!
Thanks, Abby.
I need to print this and put it on my wall so that starting in March-April next year I might have a chance of not being insane for my May release 😀
Yes, yes you do! Though you will still be insane. 🙂
Don’t forget to add that it’s sheer insanity to follow up your launch party by attending a five-day writer’s conference, where you’ll barely have a free minute to catch up with all your social media!