book launches – Norma J. Hill

May 2-3: Last minute book launch preparations! I saved all my Summerland Stories files onto their own thumb drive (as well as on my laptop and on the cloud—Save! Save! Save!). Visited my cousins Marion, and her sister Janice who’d just come out from Saskatchewan for a few days, and spent hours together looking at more (More! More!) old Mott family photos; bring a box full home to scan (and here I thought I’d scanned all the family photos already!). Got all my items for the launch ready to put in our van. Spent a few hours baking for the launch, and packing them up. Decided upon and started practicing what to read aloud at the launch. Created an agenda and sent to my wonderful helper, Rev. Ken Gray. My dear friends Jacki Kliever and Kathy Mckenzie did baking for me, too!

And then … May 4^th and the launch at the Summerland United Church! Spent a couple hours there setting up: photo albums, scrapbooks, old timey memorabilia (my baby doll and my mom’s doll, souvenir pins, baby dresses and christening gowns, embroidery samples, table runners, snack table, and much more). Also, Merle’s table for books and payments, and my book signing table. Then, 20 minutes or so before the launch started, Ken turned on the PowerPoint slide show I had prepared, so folks could enjoy watching a wide variety of old-time Summerland photos. I greeted people—including friends I haven’t seen for years, and people from as far away as Salmon Arm and the Kootenays—as they came in the doors of the beautiful church sanctuary, and we visited and looked together at the memorabilia tables.

At 6 pm it was time to start. Rev. Gray did a wonderful job of introducing me, and then I read a selection of bits and pieces from my book, A Summerland Stories Scrapbook: Memories & Memorabilia 1930s-1960s. After the reading, Ken hosted a Q&A session, with some prepared questions, plus questions from the audience. One of my extended cousins had also brought along old Mott family photo albums and she shared some family history.

Then it was time for the book signing. My good friend, Merle Kindred, handled the book sales, and folks brought their new copies to me for signing. Such fun! The excellent crowd enjoyed watching more of the slide show, visiting each other, having baked goodies at the snack table, and looking through the photo albums, scrapbooks, and other memorabilia.

Finally, it was time to clean up and head home! The book launch was a great success, and now the books are “out in orbit”—with the people who attended the launch, others who have ordered from Amazon, and others who couldn’t make the launch but have been dropping by my place to get copies. So exciting!

Next day, Faye Arcand and Kathy Mckenzie sent me photos they had taken, and I enjoyed looking through them, along with the photos my husband, Lionel, had taken. Great memories! I also received lots of emails congratulating me on the launch, and I sent out thank you notes to my helpers. And of course, I had to organize and repack all those albums and other memorabilia and stash them away in the closet (for future presentations?).

After that, I prepared and mailed 2 copies of the book to Library and Archives Canada Legal Deposit. One will be kept in pristine condition, while the other will be available for use of people doing research in the library. It feels pretty awesome to think of that! After that, I put together a new to-do list for upcoming marketing events, and answered lots more emails about my books. And I loaded the paperback format of my book onto Ingram Spark, from where they can be distributed to libraries and bookstores—worldwide! Finally, I went with hubby to Staples and helped him purchase a new computer—which I’d promised I would do once the launch was over. He was happy! Good reward for putting up with all my book preparations over the past 7 months!

And then, home and off to relax and sleep with sweet dreams … except it wasn’t long before I woke in the middle of the night, tossing and turning, thinking of all the different kinds of presentations and things I can do in the future, based around my book, LOL. This morning, I woke up and quickly typed up my ideas before they seeped out of my tired brain! Then off to Summerland Museum to do my weekly volunteering (and find out they want me to bring copies of my book for their little bookstore next week). Yay!

Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: book launches

Summerland Stories #22 — Successful Launch and Into Orbit!

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