Launching a new book during a Pandemic Lockdown:
Short version: It's a challenge. Author readings and book signing events: No. Cross border access to author copies: not available outside of the US. I live in Canada, and my books are printed in Brampton Ontario, but I still have to pay full retail for them, and then wait almost a month for delivery. The estimate for the second order is down to just over two weeks, so that's an improvement. Online marketing is the only bright spot in an otherwise bleak environment, but it costs, and without an income I hesitate to spend anything. When I was younger I designed and executed the ground campaign for the San Francisco launch of Mötley Crüe's first album (yes, vinyl) where we sold out three shows and still had a line up as far as I could see from the rooftop of the venue. I don't see anything like that being possible today. Word is getting out, but I suspect it will be slow, and the book market is flooded with new titles every day, and expected to get even more crowded as traditional and self-publishing floods a saturated market. It's hard to find a book reviewer who isn't already swamped with options. Maybe I should just crank out steamy romances? That seems to be the only sector doing a brisk business in this environment. Yeh, no.
