The Book Launch, Part Deux
When we last left our heroes, I had scored the major coup of scheduling my book launch at the best indie bookstore in Los Angeles, Vroman's. I had a date and a time, which left me with two tasks:
1.Making It Special
2. Getting People There
To my mind, #1 was the key to #2, and #2 was vital. Back in the days that I was promoting my marathon book, I had one extremely long day sitting at a bookstore under a sign with my name, face, and book cover on it, surrounded by stacks of books… and not a single person. Worse than the embarrassment was the Tantalus effect: I had nothing but time, I was surrounded on all sides by books I was dying to read… but I had to make a show of looking welcoming to every customer in the store, on the chance that they might take pity on me and come buy a book… or at least offer me a snack. (It's hungry work sitting at a table all day.)
That said, I had no illusions about who I wanted to get there. The minute I floated the idea of a book launch party, my editor, internal and outside publicists, and manager all said the same thing: don't expect the public to come racing. Book signings don't typically draw huge crowds. There are all kinds of exceptions: authors with long track records of brilliance (someone like Laurie Halse Anderson), or authors who already have a fan base outside writing (I had the pleasure of hanging out with Hilary Duff at one of her Elixir signings, and the throngs clamoring for her were incredible. I actually wrote a guest post about the experience at the time).
No, I wasn't expecting the huddled masses yearning to breathe free pouring into my book launch party. If I wanted to fill Vroman's — and I really, really wanted to fill Vroman's — I'd be filling it with friends and family. This isn't a bad thing: the shocking truth about a book launch is that it happens when you're looking the other way. Populazzi was supposed to come out August 1, 2011. Online retailers started shipping it July 19th, and my nationwide network of spies started seeing it at bookstores shortly thereafter. At no point in those two weeks did a horde of fans sweep out of the stands, hoist me onto their shoulders, and parade me around a football field as champagne corks popped and confetti fell from the sky.
Weird, I know.
And while I maybe didn't expect my book launch to be exactly like Peyton Manning accepting a Lombardi trophy, I did expect something — some sense that a seismic shift had occurred in the fabric of my life. I mean, I had a real, live, hardcover book out on the shelves! This was monumental, wasn't it? Shouldn't something in the universe acknowledge this?
Well… no. It's not up to the universe to acknowledge it; it's up to us as authors. Did I want to sell books at my book launch party? Of course. But even more importantly, I wanted to mark the occasion in a memorable way, surrounded by friends, family, and anyone else who wanted to join in the celebration. This brought me back to my two goals: Making It Special and Getting People There.
Making It Special meant making it a party: food, drinks, and music. I asked Vroman's in advance: could they accommodate a groaning dessert table? Could I serve wine? Could I crank tunes in the middle of their store?
Yes, yes, and yes.
I love Vroman's.
The food came from three places. If you've read Populazzi, you know Tastykakes play a major symbolic role, so I had a huge assortment of the Philly snack cakes shipped out for the occasion. In addition, my friend Syrna did me the huge honor of donating fresh baked cookies and dessert bars from her bake shop, Schmerty's Gourmet Cookies. Finally, I approached a mom at Miss M's school who recently started a custom-sweets business, Sweets by Sarah O, and ordered cookies that looked like the Populazzi cover.
Getting People There? You've already seen the letter to friends and family I sent out in mid-July. I also blogged about the signing, did a Facebook Event page, and Tweeted about the thing like wild. Vroman's publicized it as well — the party was on their online calendar, there was signage in the store, and they joined me in tweet-fest.
Finally, even though I wasn't counting on the public at large to storm Vroman's for a copy of my book, I wasn't writing them off either. My amazing publicist Crystal Patriarche made sure the launch party was in every local paper, I placed it on Jen's List (a popular list of events geared towards L.A. moms), and a friend at Macaroni Kid Pasadena placed it in their newsletter.
Now all that was left was the event itself… which I'll get to in the next post. 
In the meantime, I'd love to know… do you go to book signings? And if so, how do you find out about them? Personally, I usually find out by word of mouth, but I've also gone to two events because I saw signs outside the store. One was for Adriana Trigiani, with whom I'd worked on a TV special ages ago; the other was for Moose, ak.a. Eddie from Frasier. Nothing against Adriana — she was fantastic — but I must admit I didn't have to sit on my hands to stop from launching myself at her, the way I did with Moose. Now that was an author who pulled a crowd.
