Last month
saw the long awaited Australian book launch for my recently released Regency The Elusive Miss Ellison. Miss Ellison released in the US back in
February, and we had an online launch party then, but apparently it takes a
very long time for books to get from the US to Australia!
I’ve been
scouring sites such as ACW for months, looking for ideas on what might work on
a limited budget, as this was my initiative, and therefore my responsibility.
Of course, in the midst of all my info gathering I was praying for God to lead
me to make wise choices, and now it’s done, I look back and realise how God was
helping me with so many things, even before I knew I’d have a book to launch.
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| What is your Regency name? |
About
eighteen months ago we moved to a new church, and over time I came to learn
that one of the young women who attends runs our local Christian bookstore. She
is an avid reader, and someone who really enjoys Georgette Heyer, so we quickly
hit it off 😀. When she realised I was a
Christian author with a book due to be published she offered her support.
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| Me and my 'Mr Darcy' |
Originally
I’d been thinking how nice it would be to hold the launch party at a historic
venue in the area, something to help create the ambiance I wanted for my
historical novel. Once I saw the prices they wanted to charge per head, and the
rigmarole associated with getting exact numbers, I soon realised this would not
be feasible, with those doors needing to remain closed. 😥
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| Time for tea! |
My friend
(let’s call her Brooke) somehow managed to read an early copy of Miss Ellison and loved it, so her
interest quickly moved from polite curiosity to enthusiastic support. That
support soon swelled from thoughts about an in-store book signing to a Regency-inspired
book launch, held at the church, where Brooke had managed to pre-sell nearly 50
copies of my book, just to congregation members! Having read it and enjoyed it,
she was able to encourage so many of the ladies at our church to pre-order a
copy, which in turn generated their excitement and interest in my novel, and
willingness to support, via buying copies for their friends and family members,
encouraging others to attend, helping set up the day before, and even baking
delectable goodies for the afternoon tea. What a blessing!
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| Props for the Regency photo booth |
On the day
we had the usual book launch things, such as an author interview, a book
reading, the opportunity for books to be signed, even a live Facebook stream (video here), but we took things a few
steps further. There were people dressed in Regency attire, opportunity for
people to create their own Regency name and locale (Lady Maria Edgerton, of
Dalmouth Castle, anyone?), we had a Regency quiz, a Regency conversation game
(filled with one-liners from books by Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and yours
truly), even a Regency photo booth! Lots of people commented on how much they
enjoyed themselves, and I
hope they come to associate fun and humour with reading my work.
I truly
could not have done this without the support of Brooke and the people of my
church. If I’d pushed ahead with doing things the way I’d originally envisaged,
it would have been far smaller, far more stressful, far more complicated, and far more expensive. I'd anticipated that maybe 50 people might attend, maybe 70 if
I was really fortunate. As it was there were over 100 (!) people in attendance, something neither I nor any hired venue could have coped with had I gone
ahead with my original plans, and so many more people meant so many more book sales and pre-orders for book 2!
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| Listening to the author interview |
It’s funny
isn’t it, how often what we think ‘will do’ proves to be less than what God
wants for us. Our God is a good God, and His plans for us are for good and not
for evil (Jeremiah 29.11). Our God is a mighty, powerful God. We may have many
plans in our heart but it is God’s will that prevails (Proverbs 19.21).
Miss Ellison’s book launch once again proved the
importance of trusting our faithful God to open the right doors at the right
time. After all, “He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask
or think” (Eph. 3.19).
So be encouraged!
Trust God. He will open the right doors, and close the wrong ones.
He wants
more for us than we realise.
How about you? Have you seen God surprise you
by surpassing your expectations?
Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern
Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together
with her husband she has pastored a church for ten years, and worked part-time
as a public high school English and Learning and Support teacher. A
longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer’s
Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing
readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency novel
'The Elusive Miss Ellison' released in the US in February 2017, and is
available at Amazon.com, CBD, Barnes
& Noble, Book
Depository and
Koorong. Her
second novel ‘The Captivating Lady Charlotte’ releases June 27 and is available for preorder
now.
