How Filofax helped me plan my book launch - Guest Post - Alison

Alison and I share our large home office in the basement of our house here in France and we are often both in there working away at our own projects on our respective computers. So we often exchange thoughts and ideas about what we are doing... me on Philofaxy, Alison on her books.

One day in the New Year we were working away as usual and I could hear Alison muttering about trying to organise her PR campaign for the launch of her novel INCEPTIO. I just reached over to the unit between our two desks and picked up and handed her old Filofax she'd used for a while when she was researching the background to the novel.

'I think this might help - it'll work away from the office unlike iCal/Gcal/Outlook or whatever you're trying to use'

With a polite smile but a sceptical look, she took it from me...

Alison takes up the story.

'Getting your novel noticed is an arduous business that every author has to get involved in; there are so many possibilities to explore and so many contacts and actions to track. When Steve saw me up to my ears in a thousand Post-its, he suggested I recycle my 1980s Filofax (a 2CLF 7/8, it says in gold on the back inside cover).

You may notice the original black cap on the tab popper has been replaced by a blue cabochon. The cap went missing ages ago, but left the edges underneath really sharp. Then I had a brainwave. A few weeks before I'd lost one of a pair of blue earrings, but I couldn't bear to throw the other one out. Good job, too, because it fitted the missing cap space perfectly. So in a pile of standard 1980s black Filofaxes, I know which one is mine...

Back to the paperwork...Steve put together a series of planning sheets - a six month January-June strategy sheet, and individual month sheets.
 
I found some of my original day planner sheets still in the binder. I never throw anything away! I carried (and carry) it with me everywhere and if something occurs to me or somebody offers me a book signing date, I write it in straight-away.

On the six-month strategy/overview sheet I've been marking things up since January with different coloured pens so I could tell at a glance what kind of events they were. Blue generally for PR, red for newsletters, black for general and black with a red border for book signing dates.

The individual month sheets let me put a lot more detail in with specific actions scheduled for individual days.

The day planner sheets make sure I don't forget important things like a newspaper interview or a visit to a possible book signing venue.

The launch took place on Friday in our home town of Thouars and you can read about it here.

You can buy INCEPTIO here in Paperback and Kindle Editions:
UK: Paperback – INCEPTIO (Roma Nova)
UK: Kindle -  INCEPTIO (Roma Nova)

US: Paperback – INCEPTIO (Roma Nova)
US: Kindle – INCEPTIO (Roma Nova)

As a special launch offer #INCEPTIO Kindle edition is reduced on Amazon. But only until Wednesday…. Other formats of eBook will be available later this week.

Thank you for your support, now to get the second book edited and published!