The Morning After the Night Before . . .

And breathe . . .

Yesterday, I had the most amazing experience as my debut novel, The Adventures of Katie Button, was released to the world ( or at least felt like it). My publishers, Crooked Cat, organised an online launch party, I organised a real party, I baked a cake and even had a short piece in the local newspaper. I appeared on a friend’s blog, another friend offered free copies, and of course there were the shares, the comments and cake. Plenty of cake. Funny how most of it appeared to be chocolate. And of course, lets not forget the boots; purple and glorious!

As successful and fun as the launch party sounds; and it really was amazing, there’s a few things I would do differently.

• Holding my own real party on the same night as my virtual party seemed a good idea. You only have one debut launch day after all. And this should be celebrated to the fullest! But my attention was split. I wanted to interact and join in the fun with my virtual launch as there were many people who made the effort to come, post and comment. I loved their enthusiasm. I loved their wit. I loved that everyone entered into the spirit of the event and got Katie Button. My interaction, into the evening was sporadic because I was interacting with real people at my party. They too got Katie Button. We had purple cocktails,
  
  Katie Button cakes and they kept asking me to do a reading! I ignored that one. I think I struck a balance between the two but I think it may have been even better if the events were on different nights so I could devote my all to each one. Which brings me on to . . .

• I should have been far more organised. In fact, I should be more organised in every aspect of my life. But that’s just me, living in the moment, day to day. Hardly plan ahead or think carefully about said plans (see #1). For example: I left it late to order my notebooks for launch.
  
  A little piece of me died as I pressed ‘confirm order’ when the P&P was more than the actual books! I hardly ever pay p&p. Hubby has Amazon Prime and if shopping anywhere else, I usually spend the required amount to get free p&p. And everytime I check my bank balance, I see that transaction, reminding me of the waste, the disorganisation. Grrrrr. Another example was the lack of thought for baking. I made a cake for work and wanted one for my party. Did I make two at the same time? Nope. I stupidly thought I’d have time on the actual day of the launch. Of course I didn’t. When I got home, I was responding to all the wonderful comments on my launch page. That took some time. And before I knew it, people were arriving. Which brings me to  . . .

• The next time I have a book release, I will try and fit it in during half term so I am not working. As much as I enjoyed sharing my news with my colleagues and the kids, I was missing out on all the fun of the launch. I felt I needed to be there, be part of my own party. interacting with the people who were making an effort. I saw all the  notifications building up onto my phone but was unable to do much about it until I had snatched moments called a break (which isn’t really a break when you’re preparing for the next lesson and marking). Work was brilliant! It kept my nerves at bay ( I lost it a few times, letting out the odd squeal of excitement) and loved the kids telling me their mum’s had already ordered it or were going to. But I was late to my own party (online). How much of a diva am I to be late to my own party!

Gee, this showbiz life style is catching already! Lot’s of love and thank you everyone for making my mixed up, busy, zanny awesome day so wonderful!! xxx

Links

The Last Krystallos, Lisa Shambrook  has an interview with me. She's a fantastic writer and dear friend. Visit her site for a read and to see her books and flash fiction. 

http://crookedcatpublishing.com/ My wonderful publisher where you'll find fantastic authors.

Amazon UK  for my novel, The Adventures of Katie Button

Facebook my author page is growing. Why not be a part of it. :-)

Amazon UK