Chris Nickson here for Lynne again (please stop groaning at the back).
It’s tonight.
A big book launch for me, as I send my new novel, Free From All Danger, into the world. For several years I did the usual book launch stuff – explain a little, read some extracts, a q&a. But, well, it’s boring, isn’t it? After you’ve done it several times, it loses its relevance.
I’ve always liked to push things a little, to play with ideas. So for one launch I had an actor dressed as one of the characters deliver a speech from the book as she descended the stairs, appearing from nowhere. That was good, it was different.
This time I asked an old friend to compose and record a soundtrack. And I’m giving a performance, a little over 20 minutes in total. Some of it specially written, others small extracts from the book. I’ve been rehearsing for a month. And to close, a duo will perform their take on the traditional song that gives the book its title. I’m going way out of my comfort zone on this. Which will be interesting. And it will be held in the oldest subscription library in the British Isles (www.theleedslibrary.org.uk if you’re interested), one of the loveliest spaces I know.
If you can’t do something that piques curiosity, why bother? A launch is a sales pitch, so make it enticing.
I have another book, The Tin God, due to be published next year. The launch for that will be part of an exhibition, The Vote Before The Vote, about the votes women had in Britain before 1918 and the offices they could hold. It’s central to the novel. For that one, fact and a little fiction will blend in the exhibition. Along with the real history will be my character’s campaign, as if it actually happened.
And why not?
Ultimately, I suppose, it’s all marketing, an attempt to grab a fleeting moment of attention and a few book sales. But if you can be creative doing it, well, why not?
And I’m certainly open for other leftfield ideas.