I had an interesting problem to solve this year. With my memoir Requiem for My Rave coming out, how do I promote it?
I really value the peace in my life without using social media. I’ve written many times for this blog about it.
If I’m going to practice what I preach, then I needed to come up with another way of promoting it.
The other problem is that the community that the book is about, the old rave community, has spread to the four winds. I don’t have an email list, I don’t have social media, all I have are some old websites.
It was time for some outside the box thinking.
I then came up with a concept for the book release party, of creating a “high school reunion” for ravers. I booked one of our old venues, The Opera House in Toronto, that had historical significance to us.
I then commissioned my old rave flyer artist to come up with a flyer that honored our old style.
I then posted information about the book and reunion event on my old websites, and let the word spread organically. I’m sure people spoke about it on social media, but it wasn’t being driven by me. All I needed to do was create a cool concept.
I used eventbrite.com for people to reserve tickets (which were free) so I had an idea of how things were going.
Because I needed help getting the word out, I contacted an entertainment writer at the biggest daily newspaper near me, The Toronto Star, told him I had a book coming out and sent him an advance copy. This happened a couple months before the launch.
A few weeks before the launch, he contacted me wanting to do an interview and take some photos. The piece ended up being an unexpectedly big feature in the weekend edition of the paper promoting both the book and the party. The online edition had worldwide reach, with the writer being emailed from places all over in response.
We ended up having over 200 people come to the reunion event and hear me read from my book on stage. I also sold and signed books at the event.
The book went on sale at Amazon, with them taking care of all logistics of printing and shipping. I get a cut of all book sales.
I’m not sure how many authors get 200 people at their book launches, but I’d call this a success.
I’ll be the first to say that this particular strategy worked for me specifically, and can’t be copied, but the main thought here is that I faced a challenge (no social media) and came up with a creative alternate solution with the tools and resources I had and the way I wanted to go about it. An engaging concept for the book party that resonated with old fans, and something that gave the newspaper something to talk about and promote.
Just because everyone does something a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do it. I’m living proof.
