Almost all the work takes place weeks, or even months, before the book is even released. Case in point – I’m in the middle of a book launch right now, and I’ve spent most of the week gardening.

(And no, I’m not much of a gardener. And by “gardening” I mean “I put some potted plants in some soil”, which is about the limit of my skills).

And the reason I can take it easy this week, is that 99% of the hard work is already done.

The launch emails have been written ...