Hi Everyone!

Pamela S. Meyers here with another post on promoting your book. I’m currently in the midst of marketing my latest release, so that’s what I’m writing about this month.
 

My historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin’s original release date was in April, and months ago I scheduled a launch event at the Geneva Lake Museum in Lake Geneva for Saturday, April 27^th. That’s me in the picture signing books at the event.

Early on I made out my to-do list.

•  Prepare a slideshow (PowerPoint) presentation on my personal history with the town and the book’s research.
•  Contact editor of the local weekly paper and arrange for interview.
•  Invite special guests.
•  Send out eblast to my mailing list announcing the dates of both events.
•  Plan refreshments.
•  Gather items for gift bag to be raffled off.
•  Appoint someone to take care of the raffle tickets (no money exchanged, of course!)
•  Prepare an ad for the museum director to use for promotion. Here it is!

•  Plan my attire for the day
•  Arrange for backup projector in case the one on site fails.
•  Gather my assortment of vintage items to decorate the space along with a framed collection of vintage postcards of the area that I’ve been collecting

So  I began working on some of these items several months in advance, such as contacting the newspaper editor and inviting him to say a few words at the event because my heroine and hero work for the current paper’s predecessor. We also set up an appointment for him to interview me for a feature article.

I also began shopping early for items for the gift bag I planned to raffle off. Since the story is set in Lake Geneva, I wanted some items that were clearly from the area. Therefore, whenever I was in town I shopped for the bag. For the bag itself, I custom ordered a canvas bag with a picture of a vintage Lake Geneva postcard imprinted on one side. IA mug from Lake Geneva, a can cooler with a Lake Geneva imprint on it, a reading book light, copies of my three published books, and chocolate, among other things, went into the bag.

For refreshments I decided on cookies and apple juice which I purchased from Costco.

With everything in place, all that was left was to practice my slideshow presentation, over and over and over again!

The day of the event, I packed my car to the brim with the refreshments, a huge tub of books, and everything else I would need. A friend met me at the museum and helped me set everything up. Before I knew it, it was time to change into my new dress and greet my guests.

Everything went without a hitch…well except for when I asked my cousin to draw the winning ticket for the gift bag and she drew her own ticket!!!!