Launching ‘Podevin and the Queen’s Death’
Yes, I was nervous, but I think, after all the preparation, my first ever book launch, on 6th December 2025, went well. Every Saturday, my church, Lichfield Methodist, holds a coffee and cake morning between 10a.m. and 12noon – this time, I was coming along with my second novel and hoping to interest the coffee drinkers (and anyone else who happened by) with buying a copy. Actually, we sold almost as many copies of ‘Warrior Princess, Errant Page,’ (the first book I wrote in the series), but I’m not arguing.
My first book launch, but my second book: how did that happen? Because, last March, when ‘Warrior Princess, Errant Page’ was launched on an unsuspecting world, I was also in the middle of moving house. This time, I was nearly in the middle of having building work done, but that was (thankfully) put off until next year – so you will have to hear all about that, another time.
My friend and I got 6 boxes of books (around 50 copies of book 1 and 70 copies of book 2) and all sorts of other assorted stuff into the car at 8:45, and got ready for a 10a.m. start in church. Having spent all week going backwards and forwards worrying about whether I had got everything in place, of course I ended up with bookstands I didn’t use, posters that had nowhere to be put up, and boxes of books that never got opened. Better that way than to be unprepared, perhaps? But I had a tablecloth, so (as the photo might attest), it didn’t look too shabby.
However: the SumUp machine that caused me such heartache, firstly when HM Customs and Excise impounded it temporarily – something to do with the batteries – and secondly when it refused to work due to a server problem at their end (and I thought it was me!); now decided to drain itself of battery within the first half-hour. And, yes, I had charged it fully only on the previous day. There were some who could, and would, pay cash, but most preferred card … I now know how to take card payments on my phone, but it is something I would have preferred to learn in a little less of a rush. Before those with more knowledge and experience of launching books, tell me: I did have someone lined up to take the payments, only they were ill with gastric flu, and had to cry off – quite understandably.
Just as I (being me) was starting to get worried I’d be sat there twiddling my thumbs, a friend, who I’ve known for forty years turned up. A wonderful surprise, he’d travelled all the way from Derby to support me. Other friends, more local, also turned up; and, by 12 noon, I ended up selling eighteen books – which, given the appalling weather, was not too bad.
As midday approached, and the coffee and cake team were tidying up, and wanting tables cleared, we thought packing away had better be done. The posters we had put up, came down, boxes were retrieved and filled with unsold books, and a car fetched and driven to the back door (very useful, especially as it was raining).
At the end, with a bit a judicial re-arranging, and the removal of those copies of Podevin and the Queen’s Death that are going to be Christmas presents (family only), I do have one fewer cardboard boxes of books to cart around. And, of course, my writing group, my old university friends, and everyone in every other group I belong to, are going to be given the opportunity to buy a copy (or two) – and, now that I really do know how to work SumUp on my phone, not having cash will be no excuse!
Exhausting? Yes. Interesting? Certainly. Worth doing? Possibly not in strict financial terms, but as a means of getting myself – and my writing – known locally, hopefully the answer to that is ‘yes.’ And, of course, I do have somewhere to launch book 3 in the series – once I’ve written it …