Now That’s What I Call a Book Launch

Almost forty years ago I launched my first book. I simply went to a London pub, invited a few friends and took along crisp copies of French Tarts. That thrilling moment could never be matched. You will only ever experience the first box of the first print run of the first book you ever write once. It’s there, stamped in my memory, a cardboard box, open-mouthed and perched on a leather bar stool. The red and black shiny paper of its jacket gleamed. I invited a few friends by telephone and bought my guests a welcome drink. My only preparation was a bag of five Ps for change. I don’t think I gave a speech. I certainly had no Master of Ceremonies, no business cards, no bookmarks, no sign up sheets, no poster outside the door. Just me, beaming with excitement, my heart threatening to burst from my chest. I was 24 years old.

Since starting Summertime Publishing in 1997 and publishing hundreds of books for other people our authors have sometimes invited me to MC their launches, so I’ve often had a hand in organising those too, going as far as to provide my husband, Ian, and his electric violin to provide the music. When the world moved to Zoom in 2020 the launches went online, we kept the MC and the giveaways and added audience participation and even the odd cartoonist to make a record of the proceedings. 

Despite all these years and all these books I had never been expected to dress to match the food. Until this month.

Mariam Ottimofiore lives in Cascais, Portugal and The Guilty Can’t Say Goodbye is her second book, but her first novel. Mariam, award-winning blogger of And Then We Moved To and now at Mariam Navaid Ottimofiore, is brilliant at branding and a marvel at matchy-matchy. Her first book This Messy Mobile Life has a turquoise cover with white and touches of mustard yellow. Her websites are the same. From the family photos on the wall to the coasters on her coffee table and the pictures on the wall of her office, all follow this theme. Follow her on Instagram and you will soon notice how her clothing always blends with the scene behind her. Further, if her husband or children appear in the image, they match too. Is it a clever trick? Is it deliberate? Mariam claims she just loves yellow, blue and turquoise and wherever she finds it she can’t resist a photo. I think she’s savvy. So when she invited me to her home to MC for the launch of Guilty, I was straight on the Ryanair website to book my flight. Ryanair, too, got her colour memo of blue and yellow. You think I’m joking?

​“Please wear turquoise, white, yellow or blue,” she WhatsApped me just as I was starting to pack. 

Fortunately, I had just been wearing my only suitable dress that very weekend and had a photograph to send. “This do?” I asked.

“Perfect,” she replied. “Do you have a yellow scarf?”

Jo Parfitt

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