What Is a Book Launch?
Authors dream about book launches. Officially, a "book launch" is the day the publishing house finishes its editorial work on an author's manuscript and moves it over to the production and marketing departments. But for most authors and readers, "book launch" signifies the date the long-awaited book appears in bookstores. "Book launch" also refers to the party that often accompanies the new book. The celebration may be an intimate one between author and family, but some book launches draw a lot of attention.
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Significance
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Book launches are a way to drum up excitement and sales for a new book. The date the book arrives in stores is actually the culmination of months or years of effort. First the author writes the manuscript. Then a publishing house buys it, and an editor edits the book. The production department designs it, the marketing and publicity departments try to drum up buzz, the sales force sells it to bookstores and retail chains. Copies are sent to reviewers, who may well review the book before it's even for sale. By the time the book appears on shelves, almost all the important work has gone into it.
Features
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Book launches can be nationwide or confined to a few independent book stores. National chains decide which books they're going to stock. They don't order every book published. Placement of books is also predetermined. When a new book is featured in a front window or on a display table or next to the cash register, it's because the publisher decided to spend extra marketing money on that book. That special treatment is also known as "co-op marketing," because it only works if the bookstore cooperates and agrees the book is worthy of prime placement. Most new books are tucked anonymously into shelves.
Types
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Some book launches have themes. Jacqueline Jager Houtman wrote a children's book about "The Reinvention of Edison Thomas." At the book launch, she served cupcakes in the shape of a periodic table. Cupcakes representing noble gases were flavored lemon. Other book launches feature celebrities, which can be a good way of boosting press coverage. When fashion designer Olivier Theyskens launched his book, many fashionistas attended, included famed editor Anna Wintour.
Location
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The location of a book launch should underscore the book's theme. For example, when Portland's published "Oregon Stories," a collection of stories and poems about Oregon, it held the book launch at the Oregon Historical Society Museum. When the British Wildlife Trust held a book launch for a new nature book, it held the launch at 5 a.m., at a park, so visitors could listen to bird calls.
Time Frame
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Book launches go by very quickly. Weeks after the book goes into print, it may well be off the bookshelves and returned to the publishing house. According to authors Arielle Eckstut and David Sterry in "Putting Your Passion Into Print," bookstores have the right to return all books that they've bought. So a bookstore may pay for 10 copies of a book. But if it doesn't sell quickly, the bookstore has the right to return all those books and be credited for them. A publishing house, faced with a lot of returns, may decide to sell the remainder of the book at a deep discount.
Considerations
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Publishing houses may pay for a book launch party for best-selling authors or debut authors with a promising book. But most authors pay for the book launch party themselves and make arrangements for book store appearances. A book launch may also kick off a book tour, in which the author travels from city to city promoting her book. "Virtual" book tours are becoming popular, in which an author visits a series of blogs, being interviewed and having her book reviewed.
Misconceptions
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Some authors find book launch day to be anti-climactic. After all the expectation, the book arrives and no one notices. Best-selling author Anne Lamott writes that on the day one of her books launched, no one called her except a friend who also had a book launched that day. She describes the phone as "silent as death with a head cold." Still, few authors would give up the thrill of the day.
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- Photo Credit international book fair - torino 2007 - fiera del libro 2007 xxa image by Max Ferrero from Fotolia.com
