forming your book launch team 1
Next to your email list, forming a solid Book Launch Team is arguably THE most important thing you can do in order to prepare for a KICK IN book launch day. Why? The primary reason to form a Book Launch Team is to drop a boatload of Amazon reviews on your book, the day it comes out. This works well for sales, organic reach, and awareness because: Just like Google and Yahoo! Amazon is a search engine. And just like any other search engine, the more activity on a given page (that exists on the Internet) the more easily that page can be found. Amazon will rank your book higher: If your book page on Amazon is suddenly being inundated with activity (hopefully because people are both reviewing and purchasing the book) then Amazon will begin to rank your book higher and higher in the categories that you ve designated for your book. For example, my publisher chose two categories to get the booked ranked in: solo travel and United States travel. Once your book reaches 10 reviews, it may be included in the also bought listing, as well as the you might like recommendations by Amazon. These are important because they may very well lead to more organic sales of your book. As you check in on your book sales you ll see a direct correlation between the number and frequency of reviews being posted, to the ranking and rating of your book. Finally, the more obvious reasons: Reviews not only encourage OTHER reviews, but they give potential buyers something more to chew on in their consideration of purchasing and then reviewing your book for themselves. 2
This is a screen capture from the-day of my book launch. I took this about halfway through the day when book reviews were coming in strong and steady. As you can see, with only 43 reviews (but in rapid-ish succession) we reached number 1 in our designated genre/category (as set by the publisher). 3
How? There are many ways to collect a core group that genuinely wants to help make your book a success. It s okay to ask for help and it is in no way unethical to ask for reviews. Asking for reviews does not break any rules stipulated by Amazon and as the primary entity responsible for selling and promoting this baby you ve spent SO long working on, your friends, family, and supporters will most definitely understand. This is your chance to work all the angles. And this one in particular is crucial. Don t set it aside out of fear of how it ll be perceived. People get it. Before you announce enrollment in your exclusive, hand-selected Book Launch Team... Be sure you have a method in place for collecting email addresses. Email will be the primary way you ll stay in touch with your team while building up to launch day. As mentioned earlier, this can be done by setting up an account with Aweber, Mailchimp, or Google Forms (jump back up to page 16 if you need a refresher on why email lists are the hotness and how to get one started). NOTE: I also suggest establishing a private Facebook group for your team as well. More on that later. Also, be sure you have your incentive (for joining the team) lined up beforehand. In pretty much all cases of Book Launch Teams the number one incentive is that they get an early copy of the book. So they can you guessed it read it before launch day in order to leave that Amazon review the day-of the launch. Therefore plan on providing a free digital copy (PDF works) of your book at least 4-6 weeks, if not 8-12 weeks before the launch date. If you have a publisher you ll definitely need to get permission first. Also, Please don t worry about having given the book away for free. Again, these folks are doing you a solid by agreeing to help you out. And even if they don t follow through, it s on their conscience not yours. This is worth what little risk you might take in them not following through or sharing your book with others. Which, trust me is less likely than you might think. 4
What else do they get? As Book Launch Teams become more common or expected (they re gaining in popularity as we speak) you may wish to consider adding other incentives to set yours apart from others. In addition to a free early copy of my book I promised my team full-access to the behind the scenes making of my promotional strategies, as well as asked their advice and input on some of the ideas. I shared word documents outlining my marketing plans, shared the media kit I d prepared for book tour sponsors (offering that they may copy whatever they needed). I also shared the book trailer with them several weeks before it was shared publicly. My goal was to create a sense closeness within the group too, by asking their advice on certain aspects of the launch, including specifics about the book launch party, getting their vote on the book design and cover; and sharing with them little stepping stones or accomplishments (like when I finished the final manuscript or when I felt relieved after emailing nearly 20 people for book blurbs). I d share short videos (nothing fancy; just used my iphone) with emotional updates - like hearing back from possible big time reviewers, or thanking them for their support in specific ways. The goal here is to update regularly (at least 1x a week) until launch day, keep the group engaged, excited, and feeling like you really care about them - that you re not just using them for their review on launch day. The earliest I d advise pulling a team together is 3 months prior to launch. This is a mistake that I made. I enrolled my team nearly 6 months before launch day. Granted, I didn t know exactly when the book would come out so I guessed and was way off. But this led to some lag times in keeping the enthusiasm going. Plus I lacked consistent content to send the team to keep them regularly engaged. I believe this is why, of the 200 who initially expressed interest in joining, only about 100 formerly signed up, and then approximately 3/4 of those 100 went on to actually leave a review on launch day. This is also why aiming to get more team members than may seem possible is important. Inevitably some just won t show up or follow through. And that s okay! It s just part of the process. 5
Once you ve got your email collection method in place put the call out, open enrollment, or offer the application to Join My Book Launch Team. PRO TIP: Market research shows us that humans like to feel like they are part of something special or unique. Something that only they know about or have an insider s view on. This is why making the team sound exclusive or as though you ll be hand-selecting members creates a sense of urgency and excitement; or a need to be a part of something that feels private. Play around with the wording you use here and make it feel grand but not overly cheesy! :) 6
The call for Book Launch Team members can be done by posting to your business and personal social media pages, directly emailing or calling friends or family members, and asking others who have relevant audiences (friends or associates with existing online communities) to put a call out on your behalf as well. As noted above, the important thing here is to have a landing place or page - maybe on your blog or the Google Form, where people can immediately go to register or apply to join your team. My first call for Book Launch Team members was done via a super short video (see previous page) I posted to Facebook and YouTube titled Snag a free copy of my book before it comes out. This was also the subject line for my email subscribers wherein I shared the video call-out as well. I created a Book Launch Team Application using Google Forms and linked to it below the video. I also shared a still image of the video to Instagram and Twitter, with the signup form linked to those accounts as well. Finally, if you have an existing website or blog, sharing a blog post with your call-to-action is a great way to spread the word as well. You can link to this blog post from your social media pages thereby having different visual ways to promote the sign-up form/email opt-in. NOTE: It s important to put a deadline on the call-out as to create a sense of urgency. If people believe there is a limited time to join they will be more likely to take action. PRO TIP: Since some forms of social media limit how often people can see certain types of posts (thanks, Obama Facebook!) it s totally okay to post your request more than once. This is where having different types of posts come in handy! For example, in the morning post a meme or image accompanied by text explaining your request and a link where to apply/sign up. In the afternoon share just the link. The next evening embed a video or link directly to your related blog post. Spice it up, keep it exciting, not everyone will see every single post. Don t be afraid to ask frequently, creatively, and persistently. 7
This is a screen capture from the real Google Form I used to my Book Launch Team application. Click on the image and it ll take you the full, live form. 8
Then? Nurture, Engage, Update After you ve put the call out, gotten sign ups, and thanked those who joined it s time to enact steps you may have outlined in order to keep the group engaged. This is where creating a private Facebook group may come in handy. You won t want to bombard your email subscribers with daily updates, but Facebook is good for more frequent updates. Keep your email list for the super important, and action-oriented updates (like when it s time to give them the early copy of the book or time to write their Amazon reviews). As the day of the book launch draws nearer you may wish to check in more regularly. Not every few minutes of course, but maybe 2-3x a day instead of per week. The day before the launch of my book I shared a swipe file with my team. This contained pre-written social media updates for them so they could easily copy and paste tweets, Instagram posts, or Facebook posts to their personal or business pages. This included memes and images with pictures of the book or relevant quotes, to accompany some of the suggested social media content. CLICK HERE to see the swipe file that I created and sent to my team. PRO TIP: As an extra incentive to share I included information that explained how the Amazon s Affiliate Program works. In short, anyone can sign up for the program and they get a special link that enables them to earn money on each sale they make on Amazon. In my swipe file to my team I explained how they could use this to actually make money off of posting about my book (see link above). 9
Let s Review Here are the steps above (and then some), more concisely listed: This isn t explicitly listed but it may be a best practice to create a timeline for yourself (for the following steps) so you can stay on track in creating, collaborating with, and supporting your launch team (I know I wish I did! Instead I did a lot of last minute work that could have otherwise been avoided if I d planned further ahead) 1. Prepare your email collection method. 2. Think about how you ll word everything when you re ready to begin collecting team members. 3. Prepare your incentive (free early edition of the book, behind the scenes of the launch, anything else?). 4. Prepare your announcement and support materials (social media posts, blog post(s), email blast, etc.). 5. Announce enrollment for the team (placing a deadline on submissions). 6. Create your private Facebook group. 7. Share weekly updates that increase in frequency as the launch draws closer. 8. When your book is ready, send early edition review copies to your team (ideally, include date in which they should try and get the book read by). 9. Check in with your team regularly to see how they re enjoying the book, do the have questions? 10. Be sure you re also posting or sharing on the other incentives you may have promised. 11. Day before launch, share your swipe file with pre-written social media posts and a reminder about how their #1 priority will be their Amazon review. 12. Day of launch remind them of the Amazon review (I would even share some of the reviews as they came in on Amazon within the private Facebook group, as gentle reminders to those who hadn t yet posted). 13. Two days after launch send reminder email and/or private Facebook group post about leaving their Amazon review. 14. After one week into the launch, send reminder email and/or private Facebook group post about leaving their Amazon review. 15. From this point you may choose to continue delivering on any promised incentives, or make less frequent updates to the group about the progress of the book launch; maybe any big milestones or cool media coverage you get along the way. 16. This is an obvious one but, don t forget to expressly thank your group for their support. There you have it! Creating your Book Launch Team from start to finish. Yes, I know it seems a bit overwhelming and can be a lot of work. But this is your chance to go big, do what it takes, plan ahead, and do all you can to get that baby out there! 10