Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images from Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Babs Trevitt and Penny Blackburn for photos taken at Swanwick Open Prose Mic Nights. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes. AI shots avoided.
I’m delighted to say Bridge House Publishing will be hosting my online launch for Seeing The Other Side this coming Thursday, 19th November 2026. It runs from 7pm to 9pm, is free and made possible thanks to the wonders of Zoom.
I’ll be reading from my new book and taking questions and it would be lovely if you could join me for this celebration.
Book marketing is never just one thing. It is an ongoing task but it pays to make these things as joyous as possible! Do see the link for more details.
Launches
It has been a busy time recently for book launches. I enjoyed going to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s one for her new flash collection, Falling Woman, and the week after my event I’ll be attending An Evening with Georgina Wright, who is another Bridge House author.
I hope to catch up with both ladies in person at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event in December. As ever, I’m looking forward to that. It’s a marvellous chance to catch up with friends whom, for the rest of the year, I will only see online and, of course, we are celebrating books, which are always fabulous things to celebrate.
Salisbury URC Christmas Fayre
I was delighted to have an in person launch for Seeing The Other Side at Salisbury URC who run a monthly bookstall to raise funds. It was great fun. They’ve invited me back to take part in their Christmas Fayre on Saturday 28th November from 10 am to 3pm. If you’re in the area, it would be great to see you.
Tips for Online Launches
Over time, you pick up all sorts of useful tips to help you prepare for launches of any kind but I’ve found the following especially useful for online launches.
Give yourself plenty of time to have non-alcoholic drinks ahead of the event. You’re speaking a lot and you literally don’t want to dry out. Alcohol has a drying impact so best to save it for after the event when something of that nature may well be welcome! Have a drink to sip at during the event too.
Make sure you’ve got your buy and social media links ready to pop into the chat/tell people about at the event.
Have a selection of stories to read from your new book. I like to mix up the moods with mine so I will read something funny, something thoughtful, and something on the darker side. It also pays to mix up the word count length to read to as well. If you’re reading from a novel, I’d select different extracts, again mixing up the mood and the word count of the extract.
Rehearse the stories you’re going to read ahead of the event. I’ve found it boosts confidence. I’ve sometimes recorded myself on Zoom for this and then played the recordings back. I know I have to make myself read slowly, otherwise it is too easy to garble your words. The other advantage of recording yourself like this is it enables you to get your timings right.
Prepare some questions and answers so you have something to share. Certain questions are likely to crop up. See below for what would be useful to have something prepared for here.
Support other authors at their online events. As well as this being a good thing in and of itself, you will learn from what they do and pick up thoughts on how you’d like your own events to go.
Question and Answer Session
These are always popular and the good news is you can prepare a lot of this in advance as certain questions are bound to come up. For example:-
What inspired you to write this book?
For a story collection, do you have a favourite tale and/or character in the book? For a novel, do you have a favourite character and/or chapter?
How long did it take you to write the book? Do you have a writing routine?
What did you find most difficult when it came to writing the book?
For flash fiction writers, what is flash fiction? How did you get into writing it? Do you have a favourite word count to write to? For longer stories, what made you decide to write this story? What is it about your lead character which appeals to you?
There will be other questions but the above will give a broad overview of your book, your characters and you! Readers love this kind of thing. I know I do when I go to launches myself. (And you can use this kind of material on your website, as part of any material you use to welcome new subscribers to your newsletter etc).
Other Tips
Zoom links are easy enough to share in newsletters, on social media etc.
While I don’t do this, though my publisher does, you can set up events via a free account on Eventbrite. That gives you a list of who will be coming to your event as people have to register to take part. The advantage of this is they are more likely to come to your event given they’ve committed to it already. I understand Eventbrite don’t charge you if you hold free events as book launches usually are. They will charge if you set up the paid ticket option. This is understandable as it will act as a kind of commission. But I’m a great believer in keeping it simple. If you go this route, I’d stick with a free Eventbrite account with free meetings on it.
If you can have someone be your host, great, because they can field questions coming in via the chat function while you’re reading, answering other questions etc.
If you decide to record the event, tell people because it gives them option to switch off their video so their face doesn’t get shown.
Do ask everyone to mute themselves ahead of readings etc, or ask your host to mute everyone. Everyone can unmute after the readings are done.
Remember to thank everyone for their support. It can be a lonely life as a writer at times and you cannot know who will turn up to support you. It is always a relief to see friendly faces at these events!
Conclusion
Zoom really came into its own thanks to the pandemic and I consider it one of the few positive things to come out of that dreadful time. As well as using it for writing purposes (I couldn’t have had my launch for Tripping the Flash Fantastic back in 2020 without it), I regularly use it to keep in contact with family in New Zealand.
What is nice about Zoom is being able to see who does come to support your online event and to be able to thank them directly. You’re also engaging with readers, potential and actual, directly.
Nothing to dislike there!
And if you are having launches, online or otherwise, good luck!
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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