The Book Launch of Stone Angels

Yesterday was a brilliant day. Thank you Darkstroke Laurence & Steph. I live in a village of just over four thousand people. Soon it will double in its size as more houses are built. My friend Ana and I post lots of landscape and wildlife photos on our village Facebook page taken while out walking the numerous public footpaths around the village. Over the years we’ve been posting our photos we have gained a following.

In February, I had a novella published in which I loosely based the main characters on my lovely neighbours and good friends, Joan & Dave. I posted about this book on the village site as Dave and Joan are well known and it gain a few sales. By doing this, I also promoted the fact I was published writer living in the village. The local reading group (which I didn’t know about) took an interest and asked if they could order nine copies of the books from the publisher. A local WI member also reached out to me as they were always on look out for speakers. ( unfortunately Covid19 put a stop to this marketing opportunity)

[image error]

Anyway, back to yesterday. I decided to post a photo of my newly framed Stone Angels book cover poster, a copy of Stone Angels, a glass and a bottle of champagne on the village Facebook page. As the site doesn’t allow selling, I knew I couldn’t add Amazon links and my wording had to be carefully chosen otherwise Admin would remove my post.

I decided to open the post by saying that I was now officially a novelist as my first crime novel Stone Angels was being launched by my publisher today. As I had planned to do a book launch garden party, at my home, but because of the Covid19 it was cancelled. I was going to invite the village to a book signing (this was all true) but instead I hoped they would join me on Facebook and rise a glass to help me celebrate the launch of my book.

And they did. To start with villagers congratulated me, then a young man posted a link to Stone Angels on Amazon. I politely thanked him, and asked if he could remove it because I was worried in case Admin removed the post. The young man did, but what happened next delighted me. Anyone who asked “where they could buy the book,” he would popped up and say Amazon. Someone ask if it was available locally and did I have any copies to sell. I told them to message me and a young lady bought a copy for her mum from my home.

By the end of the day I had received nearly two hundred comments and likes on the site. Quite a few said they had purchased the book, or were looking forward to reading it. Also I was able to keep them in the loop as the day panned out. When the publisher posted about my novel reaching the number one slot, in real time I was able to relay the news to everyone following the post.

All in all, I felt as though I was reaching out to real people, making much stronger connections to readers on a personal level as we all live in the same village. Having a physical bond with your readers, I believe will make them more interested in reading your next book. At the same time I was posting on the village site, I was busy updating my own private Facebook page, my Facebook writing group, & Bookshop, Twitter and LinkedIn. Early signs show I made a few sales yesterday which was great. Now I hope those turn into book reviews. At the moment, I have two reviews so please check these out.

Look after yourselves and thank you for reading my blog.