How to Throw a Book Launch Party

I held my book launch on paddleboards.

About 30 of us met at the bottom of Barton Springs in Austin, floated down Barton Creek, and stopped under the jumping bridge for a quick speech. It was a weird party. It also felt exactly right for me, and I loved it.

Your launch doesn't need a lake. It does need a plan, and most authors skip the plan. Here's the one I give people.

The short version

How do you throw a book launch party? Host a couple of small warm-up parties first. Pick a midweek night, the day after your book comes out. Lock in five yeses, then collect RSVPs. Ask guests to buy the book and leave a review. Send three reminders. Talk about your book for 15 minutes, tops.

Here's each step.

1. Host two or three warm-up parties before launch.
2. Throw the party the day after your actual launch day.
3. Choose a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night.
4. Get five yeses from your core group, then collect RSVPs.
5. Make the ask early and often.
6. Send three reminder messages.
7. Keep your talk short and get the photos.

Host warm-up parties first

Don't make your book launch the first party you've thrown in a year.

Most new authors don't have a warm list of people who will show up. Nobody knows they host good events. So I tell them to start in the minor leagues. You wouldn't try to get good at baseball by starting in the World Series.

You know your launch date, so work backward from it. Host two or three small happy hours before it, with 15 to 25 people each. At the end, tell everybody what's coming:

Hey, look, I'm so glad you guys came. I just wanted to get my interesting friends together. Probably in a month or two, I'm going to host a book launch event. I hope you'll all come back for that. I'll send you more details about it soon.

Now you have a warm list. You've also had practice, so the launch isn't the first time you're running a room.

If you've never hosted, my book The 2-Hour Cocktail Party walks through the whole format. You can read about the book here.

Throw it the day after your launch day

Don't hold the party on the day your book actually comes out.

You'll already be buried in emails, messages, and social media. The last thing you want is a whole party to run on top of that. They don't have to be on the same day.

I suggest this instead. If your launch is on a Tuesday, host the party on Wednesday.

On launch day, people come out of the woodwork. Old friends you haven't talked to in years will comment on your post and congratulate you. That's your chance. Send a quick message: "Hey, Darlene, totally random, but I'm hosting my launch party tomorrow night. May I send you the info?" Then send the link.

You might plan for 20 people and end up with 30. Be ready for that.

Pick a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night

Midweek nights aren't socially competitive. People have fewer other plans, so more of them show up.

Friday and Saturday are what I call red-level nights. People have schedule conflicts, cancel last minute, or say no because it's their one big night out. The number one success indicator for your launch is how many people you can get to show up. Make it easy for them.

Get five yeses, then collect RSVPs

Start with your core group. These are five allies, close friends who want you to win.

Text each one: "Hey, I'm thinking of hosting my book launch on Tuesday night from 6 to 8 at my apartment. If I do it, would you come?" Ask at least three weeks ahead. Once you have five yeses, your party is happening, and you widen the invite list from there.

Then collect real RSVPs. Don't broadcast "Tuesday night, hope you can make it." I want a yes, a no, or a maybe, and maybes count as nos. Aim for at least 15 people. The venue matters less than the people, because the launch works when guests meet and connect with each other.

I like Mixily for this. It makes an event page people can RSVP to, and it sends updates and reminders to your guests. I wrote up the full process in how to collect RSVPs.

Make the ask early and often

Tell people up front that you want them to buy the book and write a review.

I hate going to book launches where the ask is a shy little aside. Everyone is there for you and your book. Say so. This is what I told my friends:

If you want to come to my book launch, show me the receipt. Show me that you bought my book.

That was the price of admission to my paddleboard party. I told everyone to show up in a bathing suit with the receipt.

Don't wait until the end of the party either. I even stop the party to do it. I hold up my book and say, "Take out your phone, everybody." Then I tell them now is a good time for a photo of me with my book. Everybody laughs and snaps one. Then I tell them to head to my book page and leave a review while they're thinking about it.

One more small thing that worked. I still feel awkward selling books at my own party, but I mentioned that the book makes a great gift. A couple of people, some of whom had already bought the $1.99 Kindle version, bought two copies. At the paddleboard party, I kept a few copies in coolers.

Send three reminder messages

Reminders show people you take your own event seriously.

Here's the schedule I use for a launch:

• One week before: "Hey, everybody, my book launch is next week. Can't wait to see you. Date and time, I'll send more information as it comes up."
• Three days before: who they'll meet, plus a rough agenda.
• The morning of: the details, the link they signed up on, and where to park.

The middle message does a lot of work. Shout out your friends who are coming. Yes, the night is about you and your book, but people get excited about who they're going to meet. I have three reminder messages you can copy and paste if you want the exact wording.

Run the night

Keep your talk short. I don't care how good your book is, an hour-long Q&A with the author puts people to sleep. You can talk for 15 minutes.

The big thing is to get there, have your books, get your photos, and mix and mingle with your friends. Use the night to bring your network together. That's what makes a launch work.

Two details that help:

• Name tags. For the paddleboard launch I had waterproof name tags for everybody, on lanyards. It was the first time I'd ever done that.
• A photographer, with a deadline. I hired one for the paddleboard party. Tell yours you need the top 10 photos by the next morning, not every photo color-corrected. Photos that arrive three weeks later are useless for your launch week posts.

Pick a setup that feels like you

I'm an event host, so I didn't want a normal launch. I asked myself what felt authentic to me. The answer was paddleboards.

You probably don't host events every month, so start simpler. A launch at your apartment from 6 to 8 on a Wednesday works fine. Pick whatever fits you and your friends. A favorite bar or a park you love can do the job too.

If you're launching a product or a business instead of a book, my guide to launch party ideas covers that.

A reader who used my launch as an excuse to host

Justin is one of my readers. He read an early copy of my book and hosted a few events to meet his new neighbors. When the book launched in 2022, he used it as an excuse to host an all-new party. He gathered friends from church for a party without alcohol, with a bunch of mixers and several types of soda, seltzer, and juice for making drinks.

You don't have to be the author to throw a launch party. If a friend has a book coming out, hosting the party for them is a generous gift. You can read the full story in how to host a mocktail party.

Keep launching for a year

I think of a launch as a one-year process, not a one-week event.

The night before my book came out, I went to bed thinking it was my last night as a normal person and tomorrow everything would be different. The next night I went to bed and thought, "Well, I'm kind of the same person."

So keep going. For the first six months, whenever I traveled to a new city, I turned the trip into a small book launch with friends in Los Angeles, in Dallas, and wherever else. People love being invited to an event like that.

FAQ

Your launch is a party first

You're celebrating years of work, so make it fun for you. Pick a date, text your core five tonight, and ask the question: "If I do it, would you come?"

Good luck! This will be fun.