At my book premiere on June 4th in Berlin, it was so crowded that some readers had a poor or even no seat at all. I would like to sincerely apologize for these organizational inconveniences.
Indeed, we underestimated the number of visitors and are on one hand overjoyed to have piqued the curiosity of so many readers, while at the same time very dismayed that we could not accommodate all of you.
For the record, I myself was also not very happy with the criticized partial reservation of seats for invited guests (book trade, publishing house, media). In the future, the organizer and I will have to come up with a different solution for this – even if I want to stick to the fundamental concept of a joint, public premiere.
In the film industry, for example, it's common for the premiere to take place ONLY for invited guests and VIPs. I didn't want that because I really see it as an unjustified disadvantage for readers. In the planning phase, we then made an effort to ensure that 2/3 of the seats had to be available to the public – unfortunately, that wasn't enough in the end.
In short, no matter how you look at it, the hall was too small, and I regret that very much. I probably made the situation worse by asking the organizer not to charge admission for the premiere. The good intention – a joint, free premiere for invited guests and the audience – partially backfired and ultimately led to overcrowding.
I thank everyone involved for their patience and have full understanding regarding the reactions in my guestbook. I had even considered holding two readings in a row: however, this would not have been feasible in terms of time and organization, which is why we decided on an outdoor video broadcast. Of course, this was also an unfortunate temporary solution.
A reservation of seats (whether with or without admission) will probably be necessary in any case; we will also think about how we will implement this in the future with all those responsible.
Of course, I hope that all those who did not get a seat or even turned back and went home will give me a second chance at the next event! Thank you for your honest feedback.
You
Sebastian
