21st Century Celebrations

One night last summer, I attended my first Facebook book launch party, celebrating Michelle Weidenbenner's debut novel, Cache a Predator. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to chat with a bunch of readers and writers and share information about the book. I made up my mind then and there that I was going to do the same thing.

      "Guestbook" idea from    historicfloridawedding.com

On Monday, I attended my second Facebook book launch party, this one celebrating Carole Brown's The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman. Again, I had fun -- totally different cast of characters, set of questions, everything. Carole's was longer, so I did more dashing in and out, but it was fun and I "met" some authors I'd love to stay connected with. And I can't wait to read Carole's book.

The great thing about a Facebook book launch party is that it's selfishly unselfish. You can support a friend, but still zip in and out of the party, doing other things that need to be done at the same time. And it's not rude to do so -- that's the idea behind these parties, particularly when they're more than a couple of hours long. Sure, guests are welcome to stay the whole time if they'd like to and they're able (and they can enter more giveaways that way), but no one expects them to park themselves in front of the computer for the duration. These parties are set up so people can arrive and leave (and re-arrive) as their schedules permit. There are door prizes, conversations, and tidbits about the guest of honor and her book. The option to buy is there, but the pressure to do so is low.

As someone who often writes at Starbucks, I've been trying to figure out a way to incorporate my favorite Starbucks into my book launch. I was thinking about doing a real-time launch party for those who are local at the same time I did my online launch...until I found out how much craziness can be going on behind the scenes of a seemingly peaceful online party! Scratch that. I can create craziness alone in my house, so I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue having all of those festivities going on at the same time.

The Starbucks I frequent is fairly small -- a quick chair count indicates seating for 20-25 people -- and other, non-book party people might actually want to patronize the store at the same time. That would be good news for me, but might not provide them with the ambiance they're hoping for.

So, I'm doing something that social media has made commonplace: I'm asking for your input. If you have any ideas, stop by my writer page on Facebook and post your idea (or message me if you're shy). If you'd like to attend the Facebook launch party, message me, or send me an email and I'll make sure to add you to the guest list.

I haven't quite started counting down the days yet....but the realization that this is happening in three months has begun to dawn! I hope you'll join me to celebrate!