The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
Oprah Winfrey
Four weeks ago, I self-published my second book. I’d slaved over this book for more than a year, spent nearly every waking moment thinking, worrying, obsessing, plotting, planning and even dreaming about it. And then all of a sudden, at a push of a button, it’s gone. Out into the ether, for all those voracious readers to get their hands on.
But there was very little fanfare.
So, I wondered what other people do to celebrate the release of their book.
Obviously, there’s a difference between self-publishing an eBook (which is me) and someone who’s traditionally published in print. There is (usually) a lot more hype surrounding a print book release. Many authors, both indie and traditional, organise a book launch party (or if they’re really lucky, have it organised for them) either online or at a bookstore, library or other book-related location. But I’m not really talking about the big book launch parties here, that’s a whole separate blog post. I’m wondering what authors do individually on the day their book-baby is released to the wide world.
Personally (and I’m sure this applies to the majority of other authors) I open a really good bottle of bubbly and toast my new book with my husband and family on the day of release.
Some people (well okay, this is probably mostly female writers) buy themselves a nice bunch of flowers to celebrate as well. Or if they’re really lucky and have a man around who actually has a romantic bone in their body, a bunch will magically appear on the dining room table. And perhaps you could go buy yourself some wonderful indulgence you NEVER normally eat. Mine is the divine lemon tart (Tarte Au Citron) from an authentic French patisserie. Yummy.
What about a more permanent reminder? For my first eBook release, I bought myself a Pandora book charm to go on my bracelet. Now every time I look at it, I get that tiny thrill when I’m reminded, I’m a real author now.
I’ve also heard of authors getting a nice print of their book cover done up and framed to put on their wall. Or what about something practical, like software that’ll help write the next book. Such as Scrivener, or Vellum, or Dragon (dictation software) All very useful presents to yourself.
I can also go back to eating healthy food. All those late nights, and endless days spent sitting around in my pyjamas, eating lots of comfort food, (high carbs because that’s what your creative brain craves) or all the kids school snacks, because I haven’t been grocery shopping for the past three weeks, are over now. At last I can actually plan a nutritious family meal and start eating vegetables again.
A well-earned break is also in order. A time to just veg out and read all those books sitting on my TBR pile looking at me with their sad, soulful eyes. And sleep. Lots of sleep is always welcome after those (self-imposed) deadlines.
But then, there’s that little voice in my head that keeps nagging, you need to write another book, you need to write another book, you need to … And it won’t go away. Until I start writing another book. Plus, there are all those ideas, plots, scenarios and characters, screaming to be let out of my brain and put down on paper. So, the main thing I do after releasing a book, is to start work on the next one.
I’d love to hear what you do to celebrate release day of your newest book.