The Book Launch

Last night was the official book launch/signing for Words To Live By, which I shared with my friend Felicia Graber, author of Amazing Journey: Metamorphosis of a Hidden Child. The launch was held in the auditorium and atrium of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum & Learning Center. It was a lovely setting, and we were given the space because of Felicia's stature with the museum.

Despite all the books I've written over the years, this was the first such event I had ever been part of. There were about forty people there, most invited, and a few who read the long reviews of our books in the St. Louis Jewish Light, written by Editor Emeritus Bob Cohn. Old friends, former students, in-town family members, and professional colleagues were all in attendance. Between us, Felicia and I sold close to forty books.

Each of us gave a presentation praising the other (she went overboard) and read brief passages from our books. Then we cut our gorgeous cake and signed books. It was exactly as a book signing should go but rarely does. There were posters of our book covers, flowers, color-coordinated balloons, and many people shooting pictures.

The purpose of this post is to describe a single marketing event on a long, long list of things to do. I hope they won't all take this much preparation, but I know a few of them probably will. No matter how much effort goes into the process, this I know: Marketing pays off. Two of my friends had to call at the last minute to tell me they would be unable to attend because they had an amazing marketing opportunity. Who could say anything but, "Wow! Good for you. Congratulations."

So, on I go to the next item on my list. If anything really exciting occurs, I'll let you know. In the meantime, for those of you who were there last night and actually read these blog posts, thank you, thank you, thank you!