I was recently at Pamela Hart’s book launch for her fantastic mystery An A list for Death. Pam had a Q & A session with hilariously funny Kellie McCourt and was supported by her lovely publisher Nicola Robinson from Harlequin. I should firstly say that An A List for Death is book two in a murder mystery series I absolutely love so it was a joy to celebrate the launch with Pam. I tend to enjoy other authors’ book launches more than my own because the attention is not on me. I can sip my wine and enjoy their speech or interview, and not worry about what I should say or how many people will turn up.

Pam had a great turnout for her book launch at Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt and I hope she sold loads of books, because, apart from celebrating with friends, family and readers, selling a good quantity of books to kick-start sales is the main objective of a book launch at a book shop. I adore bookshops and whenever possible I buy a book from my local store. They go to huge trouble to get in lots of copies of your latest novel and they work late to enable authors like me to hold evening book launches. I therefore feel that I can’t let the store’s staff down. I want to ensure that plenty of copies are taken home by avid readers of the genre so that the book store staff have a good night too. Maybe I worry too much about these things, but this is one reason why I love attending other authors’ book launches. I can simply celebrate, and enjoy chatting to fellow book-lovers.