My First Cyber Launch Party
I had my first cyber launch party in celebration of the release of Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors. I’ve never even attended a launch party, much less hosted one, so this was a new experience for me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
My awesome virtual assistant, Christi McGuire, arranged all of the party details. We decided to invite the best-selling authors who are featured in my book to pop in as special guests during 30-minute segments. We had such a wonderful response, we ended up having two three-hour parties to fit them all in!
Day One of the party got off to a bit of a rough start, I’m afraid. For some reason, I got mixed up on which Facebook page I was supposed to be posting on. By the time I got things figured out, we were 20 minutes into the three-hour session. And I had special guest Lena Nelson Dooley scheduled for the first half hour. I felt terrible that I wasted most of her time, especially since she couldn’t stay any later. But she graciously agreed to come back for the first half hour of the second night of the party, one week later.
The rest of Launch Party Day One went amazing! Special guests included Mary DeMuth, Susan Meissner, Suzanne Woods Fisher, and Renae Brumbaugh. According to Facebook, about 60 people attended, and we had several lively discussions! I really felt like I was at a party, with multiple conversations all going on at once. Each 30-minute segment went by so fast, I could hardly believe it when one special guest left and another came on.
The following week, on Launch Party Day Two, we had about 75 attendees. In addition to Lena, Suzanne Woods Fisher and Renae Brumbaugh also returned for Party Day Two. Kathi Macias and Gayle Roper joined us as well, for another three-hour whirlwind of fun.
During the party, we announced the debut of my new website: “Secrets of Best-Selling Authors” (www.secretsofbestsellingauthors.com). Check it out if you’d like!
On the website, there’s a tab called “Just for Fun,” where visitors can submit amusing typos they’ve found. If you go to the website and click on that tab, I’m sure you’ll get some good laughs. And if you’d like to share a “typo sighting” you’ve caught somewhere—a church bulletin, a restaurant menu, or even in your own writing—read the specifics on the “Just for Fun” page, then use the Contact page on the website to submit.
There’s another tab on the website for visitors to “Spread the Word” about my new book, Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors. It contains a document with posts to share on Facebook and Twitter. I’d love for you to go to the website (www.secretsofbestsellingauthors.com), click on that tab, and look through the posts. Feel free to share your favorite one on your social media networks!
The online guests seemed to really enjoy my launch party. A few of them sent me nice notes afterward. Here are a couple of them:
- It was a fun event. It was wonderful to have your featured authors on hand to chat with—that made the event unique. There were enough active participants to make the conversation energetic.
- Thoroughly enjoyed the party! Lively and fun, with an opportunity to ask these writing stars anything! And your new website? Yowzah!
I’m already starting to put material together for my next book in this series, Editing Secrets of Best-Selling Authors. (Check out the website for more titles planned for this series.) And I’m excitedly anticipating my next launch party!