HOW TO MAKE YOUR FOOD FAMOUS BOOK LAUNCH PARTY & LIVE PODCAST!

 
A stack of How To Make Your Food Famous books on a coffee table

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Eleni Vonissakou 

 

Writing and publishing a book is a major undertaking, and what better way to celebrate than with a book launch party? It felt especially meaningful to host a book launch party for my new book, How to Make Your Food Famous seeing that my first book came out at the height of the second lockdown where gatherings and get togethers were very much off the table!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good party, BUT it did feel a little bit very self-indulgent to ‘just’ celebrate the book; instead, I wanted to make the party a little bit extra and offer added value, so when we met as a team at the end of the summer to plan all marketing events related to the book, we decided to go a step further and combine the book launch party with our first ever LIVE in-person podcast recording!

After weeks of planning, we brought it all together on Monday, September 16th, at a charming townhouse in Angel, North London. Curious to see how the event turned out? Then be sure to keep reading for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look!

 
The author of How to Make Your Food Famous signing a copy of the book while a woman leans over the table in front of her smiling.

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

Video footage showing the recording of the live podcast, with host Kimberly Espinel talking and guest Verna Gao listening next to her

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - footage by Beatriz Moreno

 
 
Image shows author and podcast host Kimberly Espinel talking during the live recording of Eat Capture Share

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

 

BOOK LAUNCH PARTY - THE FOOD!

I’m sorry, but a party ain’t a party without good (vegan) food! I teamed up with the lovely folks at Kolamba East who provided spicy Sri Lankan nibbles. My favourite were the spice cashew nuts, but the pickled mango got rave reviews too! (image below)

I made a gorgeous lentil salad as well as the tomato and strawberry salsa from the blog, together with some hummus and other dips which all went down a storm!

Naughty, but nice and lush sweet treats were provided by Kurami and we washed everything down with some delicious kombucha from JARR. The latter gave us early access to their brand new Peach and Yuzu flavoured kombucha, which was a hit!

Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better party menu and my sense was that everyone left with their bellies full!

 
A pretty plate with spicy cashews and a spoon on it. In the top corner of the image is another plate with mangos in a light sauce.
Image shows ice cubes dropping into a glass of kombucha, with some of the drink splashing out over the rim of the glass
 
 
Image shows a ceramic bowl with strawberry and tomato salsa
A pretty ceramic plate with sweet truffle balls covered in coconut
 

THE LIVE IN-PERSON EAT CAPTURE SHARE PODCAST RECORDING

The LIVE podcast focused on key topics like creativity, storytelling, and finding your unique voice in an online world. It was crucial to me to feature two exceptionally talented food content creators as podcast guests, each with vastly different creative styles to sharing food stories on Instagram. Their diverse approaches to their creative business and to story telling as a whole not only enriched the discussion, but also showcased that there’s not just one way of finding success as a full-time creative. Moreover, my hope was that the audience would feel inspired and challenged to think differently about their own chances to have an impact with their food content - and I think I was right!

My podcast guests, Val Moore and Verna Gao have amassed hundreds of thousands of adoring fans on Instagram and are also both featured in my new book, How to make Your Food Famous where they share their Instagram growth tips and creative outlook. I got to know them during the writing of my book and was so impressed by both of them, that I knew they had to be my guests on the night. I’m so, so happy they both said yes!

If you are feeling a pinch of FOMO and weren’t able to attend on the night, please don’t worry! You can tune into the LIVE podcast episode HERE!

 
Image shows a view from the back of the room during the live podcast recording, with guests Verna Gao and Val Moore on the panel.

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Eleni Vonissakou 

Black and white image of guest speaker Val Moore while he is chatting with a member of the audience

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

 
 
Image shows the live podcast panel all looking to their right and smiling during the audience question time of the show

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

 
 
Black and white image of author Kimberly Espinel with a guest, facing the camera during the book signing part of the event

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

Image shows author Kimberly Espinel with a guest, looking towards someone who is photographing them during the book signing part of the event.
 
 
Image shows a group photo of four women standing facing the camera smiling

The team: Beatriz Moreno, Suzanne Goldenberg-Shove, Eleni Vonissakou (and Christina Holmes, not pictured)

 
“I had such a wonderful time at your book launch! A very well organized and executed event I felt. And it was an absolute pleasure to finally meet you in person. ”
— Monica, attendee
 
A black and white image of the author (only her hand is in frame) signing a book

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

Image shows a man (face not in frame) holding a copy of How to Make your Food Famous

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Eleni Vonissakou 

 

BOOK SIGNINGS & HANGING WITH MY FAVOURITE PEOPLE!

Like every good book launch party, we created some time and space for book signing and picture taking, of course! Now, I must confess, I’m not sure who enjoyed that more, the attendees or me! It was just so, so lovely to finally meet so many of you in person!

Attendees included former food photography students, Eat Capture Share challenge participants, creators featured in the book, current food photography clients, family, friends, the team, my publishers and lots of folks I know through Instagram. In short, it was a night I won’t forget!

BEFORE I GO….THANK YOU!

Of course none of this would have been possible without YOUR support for the book and my creative business! I’m also so thankful to my family and friends who pick me up when it all feels a little too much, and my brilliant team!

Eternally grateful!

 
Image shows a hand holding out a copy of How to Make Your Food Famous and a mobile phone

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Eleni Vonissakou 

Image is a view from the back of the room during the podcast recording. Just in front of the camera is someone holding up their mobile phone taking a picture of the panel

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Eleni Vonissakou 

 
 
Black and white image of author Kimberly Espinel signing a copy of her book

How to Make Your Food Famous Book Launch Party - Image by Beatriz Moreno

 

WANT TO HEAR ABOUT FUTURE IN-PERSON EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS?

THEN DROP YOUR DETAILS BELOW AND WE’LL BE IN TOUCH!

 
food photography, food photography workshop, food styling, creativity, food blogging, Creative business, goal settingK J Espinel