As many of you know, I’m about to launch my first book with major print distribution, WOLVES AND ROSES. To put into context, the initial buy is close to 10,000 units. On the hush-hush, I was told that some major movie-franchise type shifter sagas began with buys of just 1,200 units. So, no pressure.
:::feels pressure:::
Here’s the deal. It turns out that print book launches are like movie launches: opening sales determine how well a title will do. In the case of books, it’s all about your first week, which in my case is the first week of November. So, for WOLVES AND ROSES I’m doing a big cross-US tour. And because all the stores know me (uh, no they don’t) I’m driving additional excitement by adding in some giveaways and character appearances to the signing events. I’ve also been working on a new web site and WOW, IT’S NOW LIVE!!!!
The goal of the site is to drive attendance to the signing events, but I’m also hoping to get lots of press traction too, especially with the idea of combining interactive theater into a live shopping experience. Think Disney Princesses on acid, and that’s the general idea. To that end, I’m holding pre-signing character appearances at the same bookstores where I’ll have the actual launch events later on. At the pre-event, we’ll have a photographer/videographer capture the fun and hopefully get some buzz with the local media. Our story is that we’re adding live theater into a shopping experience to make it more fun. And did I mention that we’re giving stuff away? We are. Like these cooly-cool shirts and that suh-WEET pin.
For the record, both giveaways are for the signing events. The pins are free for anyone while supplies last, while the shirts are FREE for the first 25 people who buy a new book at each event.
On a side note, I think brick-and-mortar stores try to go head-to-head with online shopping in terms of price, which is fine. But I think playing up the face-to-face angle can be powerful as well, which is why I’m trying to make this more of a fiesta than me just sitting on a chair. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Oh, and did I mention that my lovely and fabulous publishing assistant Arely did most of the leg work on this? She did. Check out the costumed characters she found below. (Okay, you can also check out the web site but why click until you’re ready?)
This represents an buttload of work and Arely has been a CHAMP! Thank you, Arely!
So when you have a sec, please click through the site and all that jazz. If you register for one of the events, that would be MEGA cool. And if you find a bug or type-o, I will not be insulted or anything if you tell me. In fact, I will be super-grateful as the city-specific sections are getting sent out to local press next week, so the fewer errors the better! Feel free to email me at cbauer (at) monsterhousebooks.com. You know I love to hear from you anyway 🙂
That’s it for now. Fingers crossed for a good press launch next week for WOLVES AND ROSES while the launch-launch happens for Angelbound THRAX!
