COVID MEMORIES: BOOK LAUNCH FROM ISOLATION, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

 

Now that we're seeing a light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel, I've been looking back on some of the highlights of a year in isolation. My book business suffered terribly. As I did my taxes, I couldn't believe how much difference the loss of in-person events had made on my income! I penned this post after my less-than-spectacular online book launch last October.

When my friend Sandy Murphy messaged me in the middle of the online book launch for my new cozy, Cat Conundrum, asking me if I’d write an article about my experience with book promotion during the pandemic, I said sure. Then when the launch—two hours of chat in the Facebook event discussion page—was over, I wondered if I had done the right thing by saying yes. Fact was, despite trying everything I could think of to launch a book from my office/bed/cat room, the endeavor had been fraught with difficulties. (I’m not a techy, nor do I know much about social media past the point-and-post part.) But I had determination. There was no way this book, number seven in my series, was going to be born into the world without a party! 

I started a few months ago with a leadup to a cover reveal on my blogsite, a process I utilized for pre-pandemic launches as well. I incorporated giveaway contests for various small things and for a signed copy of the book. I did this through my author email, not Rafflecopter, and had moderate success. My cat Tyler drew the names. People loved that.

Once the cover was revealed, I began to promote the launch day events. I posted everywhere: Join me on National Cat Day, October 29^th to celebrate the launch of Cat Conundrum, the 7th Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery. There will be book giveaways, cat talk and tips, conversations, a grand prize, and possibly a Facebook Live reading hosted by Tyler the cat. Stop by anytime for prizes, conversation, cat tips, and more. Virtual catnip for all! Such promises! Like a politician, I threw them out there, hoping I’d figure out how to pull them off when the time came.

I managed to fulfill most of my campaign pledges except for the FB Live, which in spite of checking multiple instructional sites, remained a total mystery to me. Instead I made a YouTube video of myself reading the first chapter of the book to Tyler with the camera thankfully on him. I got all my topics down in Word so I could quickly cut and paste during the event. I came up with more prizes and a grand prize basket because who doesn’t love a good basket full of fun stuff? When the prescribed time came, I was as ready.

Or at least I thought I was. Fate and Facebook thought differently. For the first forty minutes of the two-hour event, the comment feature refused to accept comments from anyone but me, no matter how many times I clicked the “everyone” button on the set-up page. You can imagine that the conversation proved awkwardly one-sided.

A friend popped in to co-host, and eventually the comment feature began working. I spent the remainder of my time posting cat tips, conversation starters, and promo for my book. I replied to all comments, which was fun but exhausting. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anyone now that they were showing up, and though I didn’t have a huge number of attendees, there were more than enough to keep me busy.

When three o’clock rolled around and the event was over, I resisted the urge to look at my book sales. Those results would come in later when people had time to go to Amazon to buy if they so chose. If they remembered. If they didn’t get distracted by someone else’s book before they got to mine. This felt so different from the in-person book launch, and I yearned nostalgically for the days when a launch was held in a bookstore, soft lights and the smell of books all around. First there would be the reading, I reminisced, live to an audience and not to my cat alone. Then would come friendly questions and the buy-and-sign session. In the end, I’d pack up what books I had left, drive home and collapse on the couch feeling like I’d done something. This online launch put me on the couch, but with the lonely sense of isolation instead.

It's just another thing Covid has taken away from us. I have nothing against online events, in fact I like them, but some things cannot be replaced by an internet connection, and the good old fashioned, in-a-bookstore, here’s-my-new-book celebration is one of them. So what can I tell you about marketing during the pandemic?  For me, it’s been hard and isolated with dismal results. I think now that the book is out, I’ll hold off on any more complicated promotional offers until I can go back to the cat shows, book fairs, and conventions. Even as an introvert, those scenes of enthusiasm and connection make me smile, just thinking of them.

The Summary:

All is not lost! We’ve got the internet—let’s use it to find new avenues of communication. Then when this is over, we’ll have a whole new set of fans ready to come meet us in person and buy a signed book.

Start a Facebook group: One bright spot has been a group I started called Cozy Cat Writers and Readers, where I encourage people to connect by telling stories, asking questions, and introducing themselves to each other. It’s doing well and forming bonds between all sorts of cat lovers, readers and writers alike.

Keep up your blogposts: Choose intriguing topics. Unless it’s new and amazing, I suggest, for your sake and everyone else’s, to stay away from Covid and politics.

Make new contacts: Take the time to seek out others in your genre and make friends with them, not just FB friends but friends who know you by name.

Imagine you are a business: What if you were a restaurant or store, reopening under pandemic precautions? What will you do when you can go out in the world again? Where will you start? Make a plan.

I doubt things will ever go back to the way they were pre-Covid. Necessity is the mother of invention, and there have been some good things to come out of this crisis that I hope we extend into life after. But someday we will be allowed back in public. It will happen eventually. Be ready. Be determined. Don’t try to make today into yesterday. Don’t look backward but forward. Write, connect, be safe, be good to yourself and others, wear masks, get a vaccine, and always keep up the good work.