10 tips to a successful book release party

The key to a successful book release party is addressing your target market. My book is a memoir about a musician so people wandering through book stores are not likely to find my book more interesting than a new novel or a book on how to lose weight.

Instead, I'm planning to celebrate the release of my book at BB King's Blues Club in Orlando on a Sunday afternoon when the club would normally be empty. The club is not charging me because they hope to sell food and drinks to people who show up. The musicians will perform for free as a tribute to Leroy. So I have nothing to lose.

Here are some tips that might work for you:

1. Pick a day and time that might suit your genre; Sunday afternoons are good for most people
2. Choose a venue that serves food and will welcome new customers
3. Create a mailing list and contact people through meetup groups that relate to your genre
4. Put a notice at the local college, which isn't a bad place to hold your party, either
5. Get your potential buyers involved; example: for horror/vampire genre, have people paint their faces
6. Send a notice to any clubs or stores in your area that specialize in related products
7. Dress up like one of your characters and read his dialogue; invite an attendee to read another character's dialogue to interact with you; be dramatic
8. Contact everyone you know; your friends will buy your book because you wrote it so have them come to the party and celebrate with you!
9. Offer a drawing for a free book as a door prize or to someone who answers a trivia question relating to your genre
10. Advertise it as a party, not as a reading. Parties are fun; readings can be boring.

After the show, have the books on a table and sign them with a personal message. Hopefully this will prevent them from selling the used book to someone else after they read it.