The Author Launch Party Plan for Anchored Hearts – Part 4 of 4
LAUNCH PARTY – IT, MY FRIEND, IS A WRAP -Wrap Up Tasks and Reflections
This is probably the shortest of all posts because guess what? The hardest parts were in parts 1 – 3. Now is the time to do those after event/wrap up things and relish in all your effort. The party is over and there are just a few things that you need to do to ensure all your hard won effort isn’t for naught.
- GET THANK-YOU’S OUT IN A TIMELY MANNER – Use your Constant Contact (or whatever method you used to send out the invitation) to send a great big thank you to everyone that came and made your special day so. Also if you have their number, why not use the telephone and personally call a few people to thank them. They may offer some details about various aspects of your party, some things you might have missed and if not, it will at least give you an excuse to relive the event all over again, thinking back on all the excitement.
A Word About Gifts to the Team/Helpers/Friends & Family
I’m a firm believer that while you shouldn’t feel obligated to pay your friends and family for their time, (they volunteered) I would like to say that there is a very lost art called a snail mailed Thank-you card. It goes a long way. Take time to tell people how much their time, effort and attention meant to you and remind them to call on you when it’s their turn. I often give people Starbucks cards. Larger gifts like gas cards, restaurants they frequent or visa/MC cards they can use anywhere and people you know, feel more comfortable with, cold, hard cash.
- GIVE THE MEDIA ANOTHER ALERT Show them what they missed with NOT MORE THAN 1-2 photos and a short blurb – Get pics from your photographer (or friend that took all the pictures) as soon as possible and send them with a short blurb to the media outlets. You’d be surprised what gets a mention and even if it’s not in the paper, after the fact mentions can also end up in the online community edition of the paper. Be sure to keep checking and post a link on your social media outlets.
- YOUR OWN SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS – Please don’t think that you should just dump ALL 200 photos that were taken at the party onto your social media sites. Release like 5 – 10 at a time. Put some on Facebook and put others on your website. This way you can stretch out your promo effort by a few months, even through the rest of the year. Think more strategically about this. Make sure the photos go in some kind of order and releasing them a little at a time will prolong the reach of your promote efforts! More importantly if you release ALL your pictures and thoughts at one time, NO ONE at all will sit there to review every single one. Leaving them wanting a little more (and returning to your site when you post new content) rather than overwhelm them with too much, is a better way to engage visitors for long term. Post ONLY flattering pictures and tag your friends when you do for even more impact.
- RELEASE A SECOND BOOK (EVENT) TRAILER – If you are able and have the know-how (or someone else who knows how) put together a short little video about the party, using pictures and words. The video shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes. Seriously, I’ve seen some videos that were just simply too long. Shorter is better. Choose only the best photos that are clear and ensure the pics have your book cover somewhere) and keep your words and sentences to describe the day/photo nice and short. Also try to go in order to tell a story. Think captions, not those run on sentences like that girl, Tracee Lydia Garner writes. J
- CELEBRATE PRIVATELY – You have certainly earned it. Buy yourself a most beautiful, frivolous congratulatory gift and give another, more practical gift to yourself by…. writing the next book, so you can do it all over again.