34 NOVEMBER 2019 http://www.writers-online.co.ukJane Wenham-Jones
advises a new novelist
to celebrate her success
with the launch party of
her dreamsH
uge congratulations on publishing your first novel,
Rebecca. It is indeed an exciting time – and of course
you are thrilled to bits. I think we all have dreams of
the launch when we are slogging away at a manuscript
and you certainly deserve a glass or two of champagne. So while your
author friend is probably right about the hard sums, she does sound
somewhat lacking in joie de vivre!
Even if you never do it again, I definitely think you should celebrate
your first book in the very best way you can manage! And only you
know what that is.
I held my first launch in a wine bar and invited everyone I’d ever
met. I got the local bookshop to bring along a shedload of books,sported hair extensions the colour of the book jacket and took out a
second mortgage on a dress. Most of the evening is now a blur but lots
of people came, we did sell lots of copies, and I finished the evening on
a table, treating the assembled gathering to a rendition of Madonna’s
Like a Virgin. Happy Days!
However, this was a long time ago – when publishing a novel was
such a novelty in my small seaside town that I made the front page of
the local paper. There are so many books coming out these days that
it is harder to make a splash. But it can still be done. With a bit of
planning, you can have a jolly good time and reap the rewards of a bit
of publicity too, without totally breaking the bank. I have had some
sort of launch bash – however modest – for eight of my nine booksJane Wenham-Jones
My first novel is going to be published next spring.
It will have taken nearly five years from concept
to finished, printed book and I am very excited
at the thought of finally seeing my work on sale.
I have always dreamt of having a launch party
with champagne and speeches but an older, much-
published friend, has rather put a dampener on this.
She says that launch events rarely make a difference
to the PR, and that the financial outlay for a party
will never be recouped in books sales. I am with a
very small publisher so I realise I would have to foot
the bill myself but I am willing to do that within
reason. As my own thinking is that any publicity is
good. As I am an unknown, would a bookshop be
willing to let me use their premises or would they
send someone to sell books at a venue? I know my
friends and family will turn up but how could I go
about getting anyone else to come?
REBECCA SMITH, CorkLet’s do
launch!