A Successful Book Launch!

’50s Products and People in The Ups a... Doo Wop Test

A Successful Book Launch!

Food, lots of food!

Book launches can be simple like a card table set up in a bookstore or they can be a lavish affair in a city hotel. My book launch for The Ups and Downs of Miss Margaret Landings was somewhere in the middle. I’m still on a sugar hangover from eating the book cover cake and the Margaret Landings M&Ms.

What kind of an affair did I want? I decided to combine the sales opportunity of a book launch and the party opportunity to thank my friends for putting up with the incessant talk about my book for the last couple of years. Bottom line? A celebration! I had cake, sandwiches, personalized M&Ms with “Margaret Landings,” “Liberty, Ohio,” and “secrets.” I also had an open bar with drinks named for characters in the book.

actor_trio

Instead of doing a reading, I had actor friends who volunteered to be in character during the party. They were a hit. They performed three scenes in the book that would pique interest in the story without giving away the plot. In the photo to the left are Skip Brauns, who played Howard, the mislead minister; Judi Brauns, who played Lena, the uptight men’s underwear sales lady; and Shawn Cryderman, who played Mrs. Gibbons, the town gossip. Tim Koch played a New York Times reporter, shown with Mona Monachi. All the actors had name badges so people could remember the roles. Bill the Bartender

Of course we had to have Margaret, played by Karen Moore. Both John Graham, the department store manager, and Pete, the swarthy carpet salesman, were played by Michael Moore (no relation to Karen).

Although attendees were not required to dress for the 50s setting of the book, several friends got into the act. Charli Jackson dressed as a cigarette girl and offered the following to the partygoers: wax lips, candy cigarettes, cotton candy cones (remember those?!), and taffy. Bill Muto was the hard-working bartender, and Vivian Herman wore a dress she still had from the 50s!