Promote Your Book Archives – Book Launchers

Social Media Tips for Authors

December 26, 2021/0 Comments/in Promote Your Book /by jabroad

Snapchat, Clubhouse, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram – social media channels abound today more than ever before. As an author trying to get noticed, just the thought of juggling all these platforms can be enough to make your head spin. Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. If you’re looking for some social media tips for authors on scoring success, then this article is absolutely for you.

Hey there, I’m Julie “The Book” Broad of Book Launchers, your professional self-publishing services team.

When done right, social media can do many incredible things for an author’s career, like strengthening their book sales!

Social media is powerful. But, finding success on social media takes more than just picking a profile picture, writing a bio, and posting some pictures of your cat next to your book.

There’s a lot more to social media than that.

To make the most out of your social media marketing for your book, here are some bite-sized social media tips on how you can grow your social media as an author, giving your book sales the boost it needs.

There’s No Need To Be on EVERY Platform

You’ve heard that right; you don’t need to be on every social media platform. If you are, you’re probably stretching yourself, not to mention your content, way too thin.

Actually, yes, you can be on every social media platform, but that doesn’t mean you should. Not everyone is your target audience. Just like your book, if you try to make everyone your audience, you’ll probably end up with no audience at all.

The trick is to go where your audience goes.

Just think about your own social media habits.

Is there an app you click on more than the rest? Do you enjoy scrolling through your Instagram feed of photos rather than your Twitter feed of text? Do you find more like-minded people on LinkedIn rather than on Facebook?

Chances are, your target audience probably has similar social media habits as you.

You’ll find different kinds of users on TikTok than you would on Clubhouse. Those browsing Pinterest have different goals than those on LinkedIn.

Each platform has its unique features and brings its own unique users. And, wasting time on them all isn’t going to sell a ton of books.

Get to know which platform your audience spends their time on. Who knows, maybe it’s already something you’re fond of using. Make sure to create fantastic content on that platform, something that your audience will love.

Find Which Social Media Platforms Work For You

Let’s get this right off the bat; you’re not going to have fun on social media as an author if you stick to platforms that just don’t play to your strengths.

If you don’t enjoy podcasts or public speaking, Clubhouse won’t be your app of choice since it’s voice-based and often live. On the flip side, if you love playing up your creative spark with photography, you’ll probably have a blast on Instagram.

If you’re not enjoying a particular channel, it’s going to feel more of a burden than an opportunity, and it will show. Your lack of enthusiasm will bleed over to your followers, and it’s going to be a matter of time before they’ll know you aren’t enjoying yourself.

Experiment and play around with different platforms until you find things that you enjoy.

Add Attention-Grabbing Hooks To Your Social Media Pages

Now that you’ve found your audience in your preferred platform, it’s time to develop your presence into something unique and valuable. Your social media needs a hook – similar to the way your book does.

What are you offering your audience? There are millions — so many millions of social media account out there in the book and author community.

Standing out among the rest and offering genuine value to your followers is an excellent way to build an organic following of supporters.

Don’t simply just try to sell your book. Create great content that provides benefits to your followers.

Follow the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your content would be audience-centric, and 20% might be brand-centric.

Audience-centric content gives value in the form of content that educates, amuses, or shows appreciation. That means tips, quotes, steps, excerpts from your book, or any high-value content.

On the other hand, brand-centric content asks for a sale, a subscription, a donation, a review, or anything focused on your brand.

When you’ve provided content that’s valuable to your audience, they’re more receptive to a request like “Buy my book,” “Schedule a consultation,” or “Write a review.”

If you’re still trying to figure out your hook for social media, then maybe this video here on defining your author brand is the way to go.

Embrace Hashtags

If you’ve been on the internet, you probably know what a hashtag is, but just in case, hashtags are words or phrases set off with a number sign that is used to link a message with a particular topic, like #noboringbooks.

But hashtags are helpful on Twitter and Instagram because of the author and book communities that have developed them.

Using a hashtag is going to make your post more searchable.

Have you ever heard of #bookstogram? It’s got over 63.2 million posts on Instagram. It sounds like the key to success, right? Upload a picture, tag an ever so popular hashtag, and boom, you’ll be bringing in followers left and right, and exploding your profile.

Well, that’s not quite how it works. There’s a tricky little science to using hashtags to connect with other users and reach new potential ones interested in your content.

You want to give users the opportunity and ability to find your profile. But, including too many hashtags or ones too general or too obscure won’t accomplish much of anything.

A report from Sprout Social found that engagement drops when more than one hashtag is used on Twitter and Facebook.

For Instagram, stick to 10 to 15 hashtags and combine hashtags of varying visibility levels up to your engagement potential.

For example, here’s a mix that we often use on Book Launchers’ Instagram. We use five trendy hashtags with about half a million to a million posts, five moderately popular hashtags with about a hundred thousand to a couple hundred thousand posts. And then, we have three niche-specific hashtags with a couple of thousand or tens of thousand tags. Finally, we’ll have one or two brand-specific hashtags, like, you guessed it, #noboringbooks.

Social Media Schedulers are Your Friend

Developing your social media channels – making content, posting it, responding to messages, retweets, comments, all can take a lot of time.

Chances are, you’re already stretched for time as it is – I know.

If you spend your whole day doing all of those on your social media channels, well, you’ll never have the time to market or even write your book.

Luckily, there’s plenty of tools and schedulers out there to simplify a lot of the process.

You can create a whole bunch of content in a batch, plug it into a program like Hootsuite or Agorapulse, which aggregates to all your chosen social media channels.

You can then schedule those posts for the days you’d like them to appear in your followers’ feeds. After that, all you have to do is check back and reply to the engagements. You can do that right there in the program instead of having to check each of your channels.

Be In It For The Long Haul

One thing that will be tough to swallow as an author looking for social media marketing tips is that building up a following takes time and consistency.

Sure, you can try to create content that blows up, goes viral, and catapults your social media channel to a million followers overnight. But that’s not that realistic. Chances are, you’ll end up with a lot of followers that aren’t there for you and your content.

Just be patient. Success on social media takes a long time. And if you try to rush it, your efforts run the risk of backfiring.

For now, focus on creating a strong, engaged community with consistent, valuable content that genuinely cares about the people you’re connecting with.

By the way, if you want people to comment on your posts, I recommend heading over to their pages first and commenting on theirs. Not just retweets, but actual comments because everyone likes to have a friend that comments on their posts.

Community and Connection, Not Promotion, Lies At The Heart of Social Media

Remember what lies at the heart of all social media, no matter the platform. And no, it’s not promotion and sales; it’s community and connection.

If the only reason you’re on social media is to promote your book, you’re better off not on social media.

The unique part of social media is the opportunity for a community to gain genuine connections. I mean, you can have a look at this little YouTube channel of ours. We get together for live streams. Every two weeks, we share strategies in the comment section and answer each other’s questions.

Whenever you watch a video, you’ll see it isn’t just me blabbering into the camera to all of the viewers. We’ve built a place for authors to come together and succeed together.

Create connections and community, and you’ll enjoy it so much more. YouTube is fun for me because of my besties.

Consistently share with your followers and get excited when they share with you. When you focus on connection rather than follower count, magical things can happen.

Now, the magic — The magic doesn’t have to end right here. Like I’ve said, everyone is their own, and if LinkedIn is your platform of choice, don’t miss out on this video.

Want more tips on successfully marketing as an author? Check out our ultimate guide on developing a winning book launch marketing plan to get proper know-how on creating a buzz – even before your book makes it to your readers’ hands.

If you always wanted to write a book but never knew where to start, we’ll help you out. You can download our free 7-step guide here on planning and writing your fantastic book!

5 Surprising Facts About Amazon for Authors

December 13, 2021/0 Comments/in Promote Your Book /by jabroad

Understanding Amazon for authors marketing their book is a smart strategy for most authors. Of course, Amazon isn’t the only place where you can sell your book. In fact, in my third book, Self-Publish and Succeed, I have dedicated an entire chapter on places to sell books that aren’t Amazon. My own marketing efforts expand outside of Amazon as I partner with organizations like Winning Writers and sell directly to readers on my own webpage.

But, for many self-published authors, Amazon is where you’ll sell a huge chunk of your copies outside of bulk arrangements or large events.

So what are the things that you don’t know about Amazon for Authors but probably should? Here are five:

1. BISAC Codes Do Not Equate to Amazon Categories

BISAC codes are an essential aspect of your book’s metadata. It’s a way for the platform to classify your book by its specific genre and subgenre.

If you’re looking for a particular book in a store or library, you’d usually know where to start your search based on the kind of book you’re looking for. Poetry collections will be in a totally different section than, say, cookbooks, or nonfiction business guides.

But imagine if that cookbook gets placed on the same shelf as that poetry book. Chances are, it’s not going to be found by anyone who’s looking to purchase or borrow a copy.

That is why your books have their own BISAC codes.

Bookstores and libraries use the BISAC subject headings list to figure out where your books should be listed and shelved, so readers won’t have a hard time finding them.

One thing about Amazon for authors to understand is that Amazon categories help potential readers search for your book, Amazon uses its own category list that doesn’t match the BISAC codes or any other industry standard. In fact, every country comes with a different Amazon category for both Kindle and print. Thank you for making it so difficult Amazon.

Don’t get me wrong, BISAC codes aren’t useless when selling your books on Amazon. Amazon uses your book’s first two BISAC codes to determine which categories best fit your book.

That’s why it’s vital to get your BISAC codes right the first time. Your discoverability on Amazon heavily depends on it.

2. User-Curated Lists Help You Build Presence

Did you know that Amazon has a collection of tools and features that shoppers can use to promote themselves and their interests?

Two of these valuable features are user-curated lists and guides.

You can take advantage of these to share your book with a community of shoppers invested in a particular topic, subject, or interest.

When your product is included in a list or a guide, it’ll be featured on your public profile page.

Getting included in a list or guide is a sure-fire yet, little-known way to build your presence, share your expertise, and even discover new experts within your subject matter.

3. A Lot of Amazon’s Book Sales Are Books You Won’t Find on Bookstores

You probably don’t know this, but more than half of Amazon book sales are from books you won’t find in a bookstore. The majority of their book sales aren’t even from bestsellers.

You’ve heard that right. If you’ve been following me long enough, you probably already heard me say that your book doesn’t have to be a bestseller to be considered successful.

The main reason is, Amazon sells a ton of books, and they don’t need to rely on blockbuster successes anywhere near as much as a bookstore does.

Bookstores can’t carry every book – they have limited shelf space. This means that the books there need to earn their spot. You may have noticed that when you walk inside a Barnes & Noble, you’ll only get to see the most popular titles and names on the front.

On the flip side, Amazon can take advantage of what’s called a long tail business model. We cover that with an image in this video:

You’ll notice that you have your best sellers on the top left, a small number of titles with a considerable amount of sales. Think “Game of Thrones,” “Atomic Habits,” and even “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

As you go down the curve (that’s the tail), you’ll see a much higher number of unique titles making up the majority, each with lesser sales.

Here’s the kicker: you have more collective sales than that little spike of bestsellers when you add up all of those unique titles together.

It’s estimated that book sales make up 10% of Amazon’s total revenue, which, according to Amazon’s latest released data, totaled a whopping $386 billion in 2020.

We don’t have an exact number, but it’s safe to guess that Amazon’s book sales come in at about $38.6 billion. And a lot of those sales are from that tail, NOT from the handful of books topping the bestseller list.

4. Amazon Ads Are Run Opposite Google/Facebook Ads

Amazon ads are run almost precisely the opposite of how you would run Google and Facebook ads.

With Google and Facebook, you generally set up a campaign around a single keyword. But when you run Amazon ads, you have to dump 300 or more keywords into one single campaign. You then have to monitor, test, and tweak from there.

Think of what you type into an Amazon search box when you’re on the hunt for the perfect product to solve whatever problem you’re having.

Running ads for your book go the same kind of way. You want to put together a collection of relevant words that your target audience would plug into Amazon if they were looking for your type of book.

Relevant words include descriptive phrases like, “book to help my kid realize he’s not a dinosaur,” as well as related book titles and authors that are similar to you and your book.

So even if you pick a handful of perfectly relevant keywords, it still won’t generate enough impressions for the campaign to impact book sales. You’re going to need a lot more than one keyword to get your money’s worth for Amazon ads.

Lucky for you, I have a video all about setting up and running profitable Amazon ads right here. Isn’t that nice?

5. Your Amazon Author Central Page Has NPD BookScan Data for The US

Having up-to-date insights into how your book sales are trending can be essential to crafting your marketing strategy. Your Amazon author central page includes visuals that show how your book is performing over a period and where your book is performing.

These NPD BookScan estimates reflect about 85% of your print book sales, but it doesn’t include eBooks, so it’s not perfect. But it does offer insights into your sales, which can also help you tailor and refine your marketing efforts to get the best results. Whew.

So, which one of these things surprised you? Now that you know a couple of hidden ways to take advantage of this massive platform, maybe you can leverage this newfound knowledge into your current Amazon game plan.

This video gives you the crash course on Amazon Author Central as of 2021:

Have a powerful story to share? Here at Book Launchers, we help authors like you succeed on Amazon and anywhere else when it comes to getting your book discovered by your valuable readers.

Book a call with us today, and let’s take the first step in getting your book to every retailer from here to Canada and beyond.

If you liked this article you may also enjoy:

All About Audiobooks for Authors

December 3, 2021/in Promote Your Book /by jabroad

Should You Make an Audiobook? What’s the ROI?

Findaway Voices vs Authors Republic for Distribution of Your Audiobook

What to Do When You Win a Book Award

November 29, 2021/in Promote Your Book /by jabroad

When you write a book, winning a book award can be a really wonderful reward for all your hard work! Book sales are nice but recognition can mean so much to you as an author. That said, winning a book award doesn’t do that much for you as an author unless you make the most of it!

If you’re trying to figure out how you can leverage your new win to reach more of your target audience, keep reading!

The truth is, getting a distinction can be exhilarating, but to help you sell more, you must learn to make the most out of your new title as an award-winning author.

Learn To Spread The News About Your Book Award Win

When you win a book award, you deserve to celebrate and share that good news with your audience so they too can celebrate with you. Maybe, even more importantly, you want to let your potential book buyers out there know that you’re an award winner so you stand out from other books they are considering reading. Embracing an award and promoting your win isn’t just an ego boost. It’s an intelligent business strategy.

First Things First: What NOT TO DO when you win a book award

Before we get into what to do, let’s hit on what not to do. After you win, many award companies, including the most reputable ones, may offer you a very large award marketing package. And when I’m talking large, I mean the dollar figure they want to charge you for it.

Even reputable award companies like IPPY will email you after a victory to offer you various packages to help spread the news. This service is a smart move on IPPY’s part because many authors may not know what to do after getting their awards. Depending on the level you buy into, you’ll typically receive a professionally-written press release, PR and media outreach, a media one sheet, or a list of targeted media crafted for you to do your outreach.

Do Well Without Spending Too Much

You could also buy stickers, certificates, additional medals, and other merch alongside one of these packages. But as an author, you might want to think carefully before you buy into an after-award marketing package you’re offered. Stickers are useful because you can put them on your cover when you do live events and signings. The award sticker DOES help your book stand out, but all the other things are pretty expensive offerings with minimal to no results for you as an author. Instead, I recommend you do the following things to promote your win.

And remember when you skip the expensive promo package -you’re a winner without it.

5 Steps To Promote Your Book Award Win Without Spending A Lot

1. Check What The Contest Organizer Does When Promoting Winners

One of the cool things IPPY does is hold big award ceremonies, which this year were live-streamed. These events are incredible, and you don’t have to pay to attend when it’s virtual. Additionally, the organizer will ensure to feature news of your win, whether in their press release, website, social media, or all of the above. Figure out what they’ve got planned before starting your own promotion. Knowing their methods or procedures allows you to leverage whatever they’re doing.

2. Use The Award Logo In Your Own Promo Social Media Posts

Snag the award logo from the award company’s website and slap it on some fun social media posts. Here are a few my team made for me with my recent award wins to give you a good idea of what I mean:

If you don’t have a graphically-inclined team as I do, there are some lovely folks on Fiverr.com that can whip up some things that look pretty darn good, too.

3. Fully Embrace Your Awesomeness

Fully embrace your awesomeness, even if it feels a bit weird at first. Update your title to award-winning author everywhere you can. Do it on your website, author bios, social media profiles, media kit, email signatures, or anywhere else where many people can see it. Anywhere that previously said “author” should now say, “award-winning author.” It may take some getting used to, but you earned it, so display it with pride.

While you’re at it, you can update your book description on its product pages. You can consider updating your cover if you want. Ask your designer to put the award seal on your cover and design files for your ebook and print files or any books you may have in your inventory. Or, you can just buy stickers of the seal instead and stick them on top of the physical product. If you have bookstore listings, this can make your cover pop at events or even on a bookstore shelf.

4. Announce Your Book Award Win

Now that you’ve updated your title, it’s time to make the announcement. While you can write a press release and mass distribute it, that isn’t going to do that much. Instead, announce your award to your audience, starting with your email newsletter [speaking of newsletter – are you connected to the Launch Letter? Tips every two weeks to help you write, publish, and promote your fabulous award winning book]. There’s a good chance that the subscribers on your email list are your most devoted fans. It’s a pretty simple way to deliver those need-to-know updates. Explain the award and its significance in the newsletter and include the link to buy the book, just in case they haven’t grabbed a copy yet, or, if they’d like to be extra-wonderful and buy another one.

If you have a blog on your website, which hopefully you do, then write a post announcing the award as well. Include pictures of the award itself or the seal, and of course, share the blog post on your social media with some high-quality hashtags to drive traffic to your website or blog. Don’t forget to tag the organization or contest. They might share it or repost it as well, which further expands your audience.

5. Mention Your Book Award in Every Media Pitch

If media attention is your goal, make sure to update your media kit and mention the award in any media pitch you send out. Winning an award can genuinely open up some opportunities for media exposure, interviews, and speaking engagements. These pitches are different than a press release. They’re targeted to your local media or industry-specific outlets, the places that are actually going to care that you won an award. Local outlets, in particular, are always keen to showcase their award-winning local author.

If you’re getting some press or media coverage, consider pairing it with a celebratory event like a 99-cent ebook sale on Amazon. It’s also worth making sure your Amazon page is set up to sell your book. Having an award-winning book might be awesome enough to generate some extra sales. Still, having an award-winning book with a special limited-time lower price will definitely entice readers to click that Buy button.

Final Words on Winning a Book Award

Winning an award for the piece you’ve worked so hard for can be one of your career’s greatest highlights. And, if you leverage your win the right way, you can enjoy more from it than you thought you could.

You want your book to be an award-winning potential, right? Well, then you’d definitely want to check out our handy guide on writing a book that not only sells but is something you can be proud of for years to come. Writing a book takes a lot of time and effort. If you want to save tons of hours writing your bestseller, check out our video guide on how you can save 1,418 hours in writing.

To get you further prepped for media attention as an award winner, don’t miss this epic guide for a book launch marketing plan.

Is Now a Good Time to Publish a Book?

November 19, 2021/0 Comments/in Promote Your Book /by jabroad

A Book Launch Marketing Plan – Epic Guide Blog Post

January 28, 2021/in Promote Your Book /by jabroad

Your book’s written, designed, and ready to print. You’ve worked really hard to write a book that will sell – but it’s not time to relax just yet! It’s time for your book launch marketing plan. What will you do before your book is purchased to generate buzz? How will readers know your book is available for sale when you launch? What will you do to sell books? You need your book launch marketing plan!

Your Book Launch Marketing Plan Elements

Pre-Sale Period

Pre-sale is that time between when your book is done and loaded up for sale and when people buy it and get copies. Readers can order the book but they can’t read it yet.

A pre-sale period isn’t just the time to sit back and wait for your book launch. If you want to have a big, rewarding launch, you need to build a foundation for success before your book hits the online bookstore shelves. There are a lot of potential action items for your book launch marketing plan that happen in the pre-sale period but much of it does depend on what your ultimate launch strategy is.

Your Book Launch Strategy Menu:

• The Amazon Bestseller .99 cent E-Book Launch

Who it’s right for: You have an existing audience of social media followers, newsletter subscribers or clients, that will support your initial launch push. Realistically, you’ll need at least 200 engaged folks to make this work.

What’s involved: The week of launch, your eBook is made available for $.99. Activating your book army and getting them to buy your book during the launch week is key. You will need to drive traffic to Amazon that week. The low price is an incentive enough to buy the book but you can offer additional incentives to purchase like being part of a private group session post launch. Follow up to get reviews post purchase are essential. E-Book will be sold through KDP.

Timing required: Minimum of 2 weeks pre-launch to put the pieces in place for this specific launch strategy, but no Book Launchers pre-launch activities will be complete with just 2 weeks (like media kit, book review pitches, and media pitches). We recommend 6 weeks in pre-sale to set up for success.

• The Maximum Momentum Launch

Who it’s right for: You have a network of social media connections, email newsletter subscribers, and colleagues that will send a message out to promote your launch week.

What’s involved: A launch week incentive package for anyone that buys 3+ copies of your book in print.

Requires:
a. website page with the incentives explained and a space for buyers to upload proof of purchase.
b. the incentives (online course, free consult calls, tools, event tickets, other books),
c. email copy,
d. network that wants to promote,
e. social media graphics and copy ready to go,
f. someone to manage incoming receipts and send incentive access (or automation set up to handle that)

Timing Required: Adequate time to make sure everything is right and ready for launch week – at least 6 weeks in pre-launch. We recommend 6-8 weeks in prelaunch to do this successfully and have Book Launchers complete their recommended prelaunch activities to support the launch (including media kit, book review pitches, media pitches, and consultative support for creation of the incentive package).

• The WSJ, USA TODAY, or Washington Post Bestseller Launch

Who it’s right for: You have at least 50,000 people on your newsletter list or HIGHLY engaged social media followers (usually requires >50,000 followers with high engagement) &/or you can get some bulk sales that can be funneled through the right services to secure the sales.

What’s involved:
a. Coordination of sales with multiple retail vendors that are not Amazon,
b. Target list of buyers – including corporate vendors – who will buy the book during pre-sale period.
c. launch week incentives (like the maximum momentum launch),
d. Recommend set up only via Ingram Spark for print book sales (KDP Print can be used but if this is your focus, Ingram is recommended for set up as many believe the reporting to be stronger).
e. everything involved with the Maximum Momentum Launch
f. Sales focus outside of Amazon. Amazon sales will be counted but can’t dominate your sales percentage. You need a lot of retail sales for this to succeed.

Timing Required: Requires at least 3 months in pre-sales to coordinate and organize (recommended 4 months in pre-sale plus expect additional costs for funneling the bulk book sales through the right retail channels). But, before you get all excited about becoming a bestseller of any kind, you really should watch this video:

• The Phased Momentum Building Launch

Who it’s right for: You are starting from scratch with a minimal audience and a small network of support

What’s involved: Managing expectations around launch so that you focus first on getting book reviews, then media and exposure, then pushing to find opportunities to sell books and leverage those sales into growing your audience and building your network. You will need:

a. a great author website with opt-in incentive and a clear strategy to grow your audience and leverage all media appearances and book exposure opportunities.
b. Creation of social media profiles and a steady stream of relevant content
c. Creation of a Book Army team to leave book reviews
d. Networking! Connecting and building relationships in your field to leverage new opportunities.
e. Book giveaways and eBook deals to find new readers

Timing Required: 4-6 weeks in prelaunch and then 6 – 12 months post launch.

Unless there’s a really good reason to get your book out right now – because it’s a timely subject that’s all over the media or on a subject occurring right now that won’t be relevant long-term – don’t rush your release! Depending on the goals of your book launch, your audience, and your book marketing, you should be spending a minimum of two weeks in pre-sale and a maximum of three months.

So, what should you do during this pre-sale period? Here’s some strategies for building your book launch marketing plan with an awesome pre-sale period:

First, confirm that Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters Indigo, Kobo, Apple, and any other retailers have your book listing set up correctly. Every retailer has its own schedule and process. Make sure the distribution is set up, pricing is right, and your book is where it should be – or your readers won’t be happy!

If cracking some top 100 bestseller sub-genres list will be a big win for you, devote more time to your pre-sale. The longer your book is available for pre-order, the more time you have to send readers to Amazon and other stores to buy books. If your readers are buying print copies, these pre-sale orders all add up and count as sales on your release date.

Encouraging a few folks to buy your book can also help prevent inventory shortages on launch day by telling Amazon to back that truck up and fill that warehouse. Nothing kills the launch day of your dreams like Amazon showing the “this temporarily out of stock” message to prospective readers! Titles that are in stock will be listed as available and will ship immediately – exactly what you want as the author!

Finally, your pre-launch period is a great time to sell copies to your early reviewers at a discount. This allowx your book army to buy your book for very cheap cost and when they post reviews on Amazon, they’ll be Amazon Verified reviews.

Your pre-sale is perfect time to get your book army matching in line to prepare for your book launch. Even a small but mighty army can have a massive impact on launch success!

What is a Book Army and What Role Does it Play in Your Book Launch Marketing Plan?

A book army consists of those super supportive and enthusiastic people in your direct audience that you can ask to purchase the book, leave reviews, and share about the book on their social media and email networks. Consider them a ready-made audience waiting for your orders to support the book!

One other tip: if you are pursuing bookstore distribution, you may want to leverage your book army to order from the bookstore chain you want to distribute your book and do an in store pickup. If you have enough people doing that, you’ll get the attention of the bookstore buyers and improve the odds of a bookstore listing!

Mobilize your book army with these six steps:

Find the right folks for your army. Your book army needs to be filled with your ideal readers and massive fans of you and your work. Figure out and make a list of those biggest supporters. For my book, Self-Publish and Succeed, my book army was my YouTube Besties – folks who comment on my YouTube videos and are an important part of the YouTube community we’ve built.
Once you complete your list, plan what you’ll ask of them and how you’re going to communicate. A newsletter system is a great option. We recommend Convert Kip, but there’s also MailChimp, Constant Contact, or a Weber. A private Facebook group or Slack channel might work great for you if you’re looking for more reader interaction and engagement. Most importantly, make sure you’re going to have a way to get their attention, share what’s next for your launch, and keep them excited and on task .
Decide what’s going to be the number one priority for your army. We recommend asking them to buy the book early and write a review during launch week.
Now that you know the who, how and what, reach out to the folks you’d like to join your book army and ask for their support.
When they say yes, add them to your communication system figured out in step 2.
Plan out your communications to your army. If you’re adding any incentives to the folks that support you early, you will have to remind them to follow through on reviews. Reach out individually if some readers aren’t following through! Fill them in on what’s happening after launch day.

So, you’ve figured out your pre-sale process, but what happens on your launch day? Launch day is a day for hustling and hoorays. You’ve gotten through the pre-sale launch, mobilized your book army, and the big day has arrived. Make it a huge success by making sure you do everything below!

Launch Day Action Plan for Your Book Launch Marketing Plan

Congratulations, your book is available for sale.

This should be a day of celebration. If you have a launch and aren’t feeling jubilation, watch this video about common Book Launch Day Blues.

But, ultimately, launch day is what you make of it so:

• Announce everywhere that you have an account that it’s launch day. Shout the news from the rooftops. Don’t be shy, this is a huge accomplishment. You’re helping people a lot with your book – and they need to know about it!

• Thank your followers. Ask them to purchase the book and leave reviews.

• Send reminders about your live appearances, signings, or whatever you’re planning for launch day and in the following days.

• Email to your launch team specifically. They should be ready to go with reviews and post them on Amazon today. Email your influencers, reminding any who agreed to promote that it’s time to send the news of your launch day to their audience.

• Repost any media or podcast appearances around the book with thank yous to everyone who supported you so far. Also, social media, if you run any giveaways or contests pre-launch, you need to announce the winners today. And update social media headers or your website headers to include your book image and where to buy.

• Double check your distribution again on launch day. Make sure your book is live on all distribution channels and pricing is correct. On your website, make sure links to buy are correct and add “Buy Now” buttons or copy. Update any copy to state that the book is on sale and available now.

• Finally, post any blog content promoting your book launch or topic. And of course, if you’ve booked some media appearances, show up and promote all your hard work!

Remember, book marketing is a marathon – not a sprint! A strong book launch is important, but you need to continue promoting your book for the entire year the book launches to achieve big results. Check out this video and plan for a year of awesome success!

You also may enjoy this guide to selling books during the holidays.