|
Lori Lake gave me permission to share the following e-mail. This is Marketing and Promotion in action, folks, showing just one result of Lori’s continued diligence in promoting her books. Join her as she tells about her publication party for Under the Gun, the newly released sequel to Gun Shy. Live music was provided by Kristen Shuldt, "Hydraulic Woman," who wrote "Dez’s Song." (Dez Reilly is the policewoman protagonist in Gun Shy and Under the Gun.) The party was held at Amazon Women’s Bookstore in Minneapolis, MN, on October 3, 2002. Here is Lori’s own informal description: The excitement has died down, I’ve gotten a good night of sleep, and now I can reflect back on how well the reading/signing went Thursday night. I was so glad that I wasn’t as nervous as last November! I was, indeed, nervous, but not at all like last year. Diane and I arrived at about 6:15 and Meg and Heather were already there with the cake, as were MaryAnn and Sidney who handled the door prize sign-ups, and Denise who helped Kristen with CD sales. The bookcases had been rolled away, and Kristen "Hydraulic Woman" was ready to set up her musical equipment. Everything was rockin’n’rolling! Time just flew by before the 7:00 start time. People showed up, and I talked to everyone I knew and got introduced to many I didn’t including folks who'd come all the way from Iowa. I kept looking at one woman in a baseball cap who seemed familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. I finally went back to where she was sitting and gave her a smile. She rose and stuck her hand out, said her name, and nearly stunned the heck out of me. Looking taller than Dez Reilly, my police officer beta-reader, Erin, stood before me clad in motorcycle leathers. Wow! She rode 11 hours from Michigan to come to the reading. And it rained on her some of the way! You could have knocked me over with a feather. It was stunning and unexpected. Time flew by, with people eating cake and talking, and suddenly it was time to be introduced. Catherine (who is a district court judge in her real life!) did the honors. I have no clue what she said, but I know it was nice because I got an enthusiastic welcome from the crowd. So I went to the mike and stood before them in my exquisitely turned out fall gown and told them all about how I had selected it. I am sure everyone wanted to dance with me. (Actually I was in Dockers and a red polo shirt.) After a little chatting and a few laughs, I opened up Under The Gun and read. I had originally planned to read the fire scene and practiced it the night before with Diane. She had listened, then told me that the scene wasn’t exactly right, took the book, and found another scene. I was torn, but I decided (for once!) to follow Diane’s advice. For those of you who have read UTG, I ended up reading the scene where Dez, in crisis, first meets Marie Montague [the psychologist]. Took about 20 minutes, and then I was done, and everyone seemed to like it a lot. I found it much easier to read this year—don’t know why. Maybe I was just calmer and took my time. So then we spent some time with Q & A, and the audience was quite funny. Once the questions ended, Kristen came on up and introduced her first tune, "Dez’s Song" from the CD Glad Game. At that point, I got pulled back to start signing books for people, and it was a madhouse. I could hear Kris’s music and enjoy it, but mostly I focused on talking to people and inscribing their books. It was a blast. There were so many nice people there, and I just got a kick out of all of them. It would take me pages to describe everyone and where they were from – suffice to say that I loved every minute of it. When things calmed down around 9:00, I finally got a piece of that good ol’ chocolate cake with choc frosting, and yummm! It was sooo good. I will try to post a picture of the cake and other pix on my website (http://www.lorillake.com/) later in the weekend when Diane can help me download them. Meg had gotten pictures of the Gun Shy and Under The Gun covers on the cake, and it looked way cool! Diane and I didn’t finally pack up until about 9:30, and we spent a while in the parking lot chatting with Erin, My Fave Cop, and checking out her totally cool Honda motorcycle. She was riding partway home to Michigan that night. I was just thankful that it wasn’t raining. I don’t think we got to sleep until after 11:30, which is very, very late for us early risers, but it was so much fun that it was well worth it. It was a great evening, full of laughs and excitement. I am thrilled that so many people came to my party, and thanks to everyone for all the support. It was an evening to remember. Cheers to everyone! Lori L. Lake
|
| |||
