I’m counting the hours until the launch, and desperately hoping I sleep through most of them.
It’s been a crazy few weeks (not even a month!) since HEART OF BRASS was released.
There are hundreds of moving parts to the launch, each with their own unique quirks, and my publisher and I and the Canberra Writers Festival organisers have been sorting out an array of minor complications (no food allowed in the room; multimedia backup systems; dancers and duellers and minions galore) and right now I’m walking through the day mentally, checking everything’s in order (it is).
The average number of people at a book signing is 4. Fortunately I’ve been connecting with readers and writers and generally cool people for many many years, and I also have great support both personally and professionally. This has led to an enviable problem: My room isn’t big enough.
The launch begins in the Ferguson Room at the National Library of Australia, which seats 40 people. I have significantly more RSVPs than that, and that doesn’t account for the people that don’t know me well enough to RSVP but are still coming. Then there’s the swirling maelstrom of Canberra Writers Festival advertising that’ll bring in even more people.
Speaking of publicity, Canberra Weekly is the biggest magazine in Canberra, and they featured my book cover in an article (including quotes from me!) on page 60 of the August 25 issue. That was yesterday.
Today two different friends took pictures of my book “in the wild” – that is, in a bookshop. Specifically, the National Library Bookshop, which is stocking books for the launch. Dymocks Belconnen also has copies.
So this is what it’s like to be a debut author. Between panic attacks, it feels pretty good.
