Book Launch Party - Wrap-Up

So my book launch via the Friendly Ghost Party was a success. There are many ways to calculate success, but the formula I'm using involves lots of people having lots of fun. People posted pics on the Facebook page, posted ghost stories on my blog, and we all had fun reading, commenting, sharing. The virtual buffet was a big hit, especially because the food items were so darn cute and I had links to the recipes. I heard from several people that they were taking notes for upcoming Halloween parties. Trivia questions were asked and answered, prizes were won and awarded; all in all it was a good day.

Book sales? Don't know yet. My book, Stone's Ghost, certainly rose in Amazon's rankings during the day, but I don't have the final sales figures yet. I am assuming the sales were modestly good. I want to thank everyone who bought a book, whether paperback or e-book, for their support and encouragement. I truly hope you enjoyed the book. I think it has become my new favorite. It's a small story and quite subtle, but I think it actually has a very important message.

But enough about the book. I want to talk about all the people who helped me.  Being an indie writer--doing all the writing, editing, formatting, cover design, packaging, marketing--it's easy to feel that I did it all by myself. I did--sort of--but along the way there were many people who lent me their thoughts, suggestions, ideas, advice and support. Without those people, the book would not be the success that it is.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my beta-readers. These are the people who read the book first when it was hot off the computer and still had some issues. They are: my husband, Bud (who, halfway through the book turned to me and said, "You're a hell of a good writer!"), Rich Meyer, Bill Hiatt, Lorraine Reguly, Sheryl Falgout, and Joe Harwell. Their sharp eyes, questioning natures and sympathetic spirits helped me polish the book into its final form. No writer wants to hear that there are typos in a book but the little buggers are inevitable and I'd much rather hear it before I publish the book than after! Thank you all for stepping up. 

Next I want to thank Brenda at www.coversbydesign.net. When I'm designing my book covers, I generally do some Google searches on images, grab the ones I like, cobble together my idea for the cover, then give the whole mess over to Brenda. She, then, brings my idea to beautiful, legal and high-res perfection. She's a talented artist with good instincts, easy to work with and affordable. I highly recommend her.

I want to thank again all my co-host bloggers who put up posts on party day and kept the roving virtual buffet going: Carol Wyer, Laurie Boris, Yvonne Hertzberger, Carolyn Schriber and Lorraine Reguly. All of these ladies were so supportive throughout the day, checking in, commenting with the visitors, keeping the ball rolling. Their good work left me free to flit around to all the sites as needed during the day. Thank you, ladies!

And finally I want to thank you, all my friends, acquaintances, friends of friends--readers!--for stopping by the party, for participating, for engaging, for joining in the fun. It was a great way to celebrate the new book. This was the first time I've ever done a book launch party, but you all proved to me that the work was worthwhile. I will definitely do it again. 

Thank you all.