Creative Outlets to Promote your Book Launch
Before starting any new project, what’s the first question you should always ask yourself? What’s the GOAL? Right. If you’re looking to introduce your story to friends and family, a huge book launch may not be necessary. However, most people want as many eyes as possible on their book at once in order to generate conversation, spread new ideas, and inspire creativity throughout a wider audience. In this case, being your own “hype man” will only get you so far.
1. Gather Your Promo Team
Your finest fighters are right at your fingertips in your personal contacts. Reach out to your close friends, family, enthusiastic clientele, and anyone else who may be willing to lend their network of resources and social media. Be sure to keep these folks motivated and heavily thanked throughout the promo process, and make it easy for them to help you. Create a simple step-by-step formula for what you’re asking of them.
You can offer them a copy of the book before it becomes available to anyone else, and ask them to:
- Buy a copy of the Kindle on Launch Day
- Leave a Review on Launch Day
- To go the extra mile in support: Share the book link to their social media
2. Gather Brand Ambassadors
These select individuals will have had access to your book before Launch Day, and will promote your book on their social media platforms, providing valuable insight into your story and writing. The are also encouraged to:
- Post about it on their newsletter
- Talk about it on any Live Streams and Blogs, and Facebook groups or forums
- Engage in other social media conversations
- Leave reviews on all available platforms
3. Create a Facebook Group
This Facebook Group is a place where you can promote the posts that you share on your Author Page (which is a separate account). The Facebook Group made specifically for your Book is a collaborative experience for your friends, family, and audience to talk about your book, post reviews, and it’s a place where you can share updates on your book promotions (Book tours, media appearances, podcast features, etc.)
A Facebook Author Page and Facebook Group (Specific Per Book) make more sense for authors that may be writing more than one book, a sequel, or second edition. Otherwise, an author can suffice with just a Facebook Author Page, and can post all their updates there.
4. Send an Email “Drip” Campaign
What this means is you’ll have a set of emails pre-written, pre-planned to be released at certain marks leading up to your Book Launch. You can easily set this up in a system like MailChimp, and also import your contacts! Send emails such as:
- Newsletters with updates about your book writing journey
- Behind the scenes from your publishing experience + where you’re at with the release
- A sneak peak from the book
- Your publicity tour dates, book signing party dates, public speaking engagement dates
- Most importantly: The Book Launch Date in every email
5. Invite People To Help Choose Your Book Cover Design
If you and your publisher are using a program like 99Designs to create your book cover, create a poll inside the site and invite your friends and audience to vote on their favorites! This is a great way to give an opportunity for your audience to feel invested in your book before they’ve ever read a word. Ultimately, you will have the deciding factor, but it’s still a unique and inclusive way to drum up conversation around your book.
6. Host Live Video Streams
You can either “go Live” one platform at a time (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) or choose to go through StreamYard, who blasts your Live session through all the channels you select at once. Invite your audience and followers to make it an interactive time, ask questions, and talk about all kinds of book and publishing related topics.
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