Ten Steps to Creating a Book Launch Team, Part Two by Anita Higman

Anita Higman is back today to finish her experience with book launches and how to put a team together. Below she continues her list of tips. You'll find Part One and the first five tips here.  -- Sandy

Anita:

6. Ask for Input and Delegate Jobs

Team members are creative people—hey, they’re readers, aren’t they? And so ask them if they have ideas on fun ways to interact within the group. One of my team members suggested sharing recipes, which is great. Another woman acts as a head greeter when new members arrive, and she gives us a brief devotion on Sunday morning. Also, my members know of fresh ways to create book buzz—ideas that I hadn’t even thought of. So, ask your team for input. And don’t forget to delegate. God really does give everyone special gifts, and it is awesome to watch those talents bloom in a close community.

7. How Do You Choose Team Members?

I started with friends and relatives as well as people from my church who I knew liked my work. That got me started, but then I branched out to include women from all over the US, who emailed me, telling me how much my stories meant to them. I knew these gals might enjoy being on the team. Do remember, though, not to build your group too quickly. Make sure these are readers who like your stories and your world view and who would genuinely enjoy this kind of camaraderie and book buzz.

8. Share Your Heart, Not Just Your Books

Part of the reason readers want to be in your private group is because they will get an insider view of what it’s like to write books and carrying on with a career that is sometimes hidden to people. But when sharing, don’t just give your launch team the nuts and bolts of the writing process and your career—offer them pieces of yourself.

9. How Effective is a Book Launch Team?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any numbers to show you concerning how many books sales came directly from the buzz created by my launch team. But I do know that a grassroots, word-of-mouth effort has always had a history of selling books when mere advertising might fail.

10. What Do You Do Between Book Releases?

There will come a time when your new release is no longer new, all the buzz has been buzzed, and your next book doesn’t come out for months. What do you do with that gap in book releases? I haven’t faced that scenario yet, but when I do, I’m going to keep the community alive and close and happy by continuing to allow prayer requests and updates, running contests, and fostering even more of that wonderful heart-sharing sense of sisterhood. Then when I do have another book come out—after a season of fun and refreshment—hopefully, we’ll be ready to roll again! 

Are you ready to try forming a book launch team for your debut or next novel? Give us your thoughts, questions, or opinions. We'd like to learn from your experience, too!

~~~

Best-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has thirty-six books published. She’s been a

Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA in the combined fields of speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita loves good movies, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.

Please visit her website at www.anitahigman.com and drop her a note by clicking the “Contact Me” button. 

Ten Steps to Creating a Book Launch Team, Part One by Anita Higman

Today, we're looking at book launch teams again to get the experience of another author, Anita Higman. This will be a two-part post. Part Two will run on March 12. -- Sandy

Anita: Perhaps you’re asking, “So, what is a book launch team?” It’s a merry band of readers who like your work well enough to create buzz about your new books in exchange for free autographed books, prizes, and insider information about your latest releases. Your team’s buzz can be in the form of reviews, social media, blogging, and anything else that will get the word out about your new book. Okay, now that you know what this wonderful new promotion avenue is, you can begin to travel down this road with these ten steps.

1. Setting up an Online Home

Before you can invite your guests to this ongoing book party, you’ll need to create a special hosting site to house your private group. Since I am clueless how to pull this off I hired my webmaster to create a beautiful page on Facebook that would coordinate perfectly with my website as well as my Reader Page. If you’re clever and techno savvy, which I am not, you can set it all up on your own.

2. You’ll Want a Jazzy Title

I decided to call my book launch team Backstage Pass, and I call these amazing women in my group, Backstage Beauties. And believe me, they are beautiful in every way, not just because they promote my books, but because they have become friends who are precious to me.

3. It Shouldn’t Always Be About You

I discovered that for my team to spend all their waking moments thinking about me and buzzing about me, well, it was going to get a little strange. I was at risk of becoming a narcissist. So, Backstage Pass is also about the members too. Once or twice a week I post a “getting to know you question.” And they really do participate. Also, we share prayer requests, and that has also helped to foster a caring environment. We have truly built a community of women who not only like to read my stories but who also care about each other. In fact, these women have become so important in my life that I’ve dedicated my next book to them.

4. How Many Team Members Should You Have?

Right now I have 73 members, but I intend to slowly grow the group to 100. There are some members who don’t participate, some who drop in once in a while to leave a comment or help out with some promotion, and then there are others who are committed to creating some serious buzz. I am grateful for them all. I feel honored that they would want to be a part of the group. But as far as numbers, I do think if you go over 150 members you would lose that intimate feel of community that makes this kind of group so special.

5. Make it Fun

Run contest for prizes. We celebrate every time we reach ten new members in our group. I ask a novel-related question and do a giveaway that is also connected to the book. The last prize I gave away was a silver charm bracelet festooned with a tiny musical charm, because this type of bracelet was important in my new book release, Winter in Full Bloom. 

Anita has five more tips for setting up launch teams, so be sure to read the rest of her advice on March 12. In the meantime, do you have any questions, experience, or suggestions of your own? Do you think book launch teams are a worthwhile tool in your marketing kit?

~~~

Best-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has thirty-six books published. She’s been a

Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA in the combined fields of speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita loves good movies, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.

Please visit her website at www.anitahigman.com and drop her a note by clicking the “Contact Me” button. 

Merry Mayhem by Anita Higman

Anita Higman

Novels set during the Christmas season are becoming more popular than ever. People love reading cozy stories during the coziest time of the year. But the stories can’t be all about Santa’s rosy cheeks and merry dimples. If I don’t have St. Nick ripping his pants on the way down the chimney, or landing on some burning coals, or facing a gun-toting homeowner, then readers might want to settle in for a long winter’s nap—but only after opening the shutters to toss my novel out onto the new-fallen snow!

Okay then, let’s brainstorm a snuggly Christmas scene that can be tweaked enough to turn tranquility into turmoil.

Our heroine and hero, Lucy and Harold, are in love—oh, how sweet—and Lucy knows that Harold has created a perfect evening so he can pop the question. The tree is decorated, Josh Groban’s Noel CD is playing, and Harold and Lucy are nestled in front of a crackling fire sipping hot wassail. That’s a nice Christmassy proposal scene, but we can only take cozy so far. Ray Bradbury said, “First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!” Good advice, but what if my heroine, Lucy, wants to marry Harold and is about to yes? It’s the end of my happily-ever-after story. Something ugly will need to happen soon. Some sort of struggle, internal or external.

Here’s one scenario. Hours before their romantic interlude, Lucy discovers that one of her beloved friends, Alice, is also in love with Harold. This could cause some struggle, but Lucy may say yes to the proposal anyway, since she could convince herself that she is the only woman on earth who could make Harold happy. Okay, so after a chapter or two, the conflict fizzles.

Maybe a moral dilemma would turn up the heat. What if Lucy’s friend, Alice, was a widow, and the reason her husband is dead and her children are fatherless is because of an accident—an accident that was Lucy’s fault? And what if Alice had a problem with depression because of her loss and grief? Okay, that’s a twist that will make readers squirm. Lucy is now going to say no to Harold’s proposal—that is, if she has any moral marbles in her bag—and she’ll want to give Harold a chance to fall in love with Alice.

Good, but maybe the conflict needs another layer. Perhaps since the accident—which was years ago—Alice has used the incident as leverage, and she has forced Lucy into a subservient mode that has turned into oppression. Lucy will not only need to love Alice as Christ would, but she’ll also need discernment and wisdom and courage to break free of Alice’s control. Hopefully this additional dimension will help keep Lucy tripping toward the altar until she finally gets to say, “I do.”

If you have trouble creating conflict in your story, then find a brainstorming buddy who can help you flesh it out. This simple but effective idea has worked well for me.

I think one of the best books out there on plot development and conflict is The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman. I highly recommend it. Hope this helps.

Merry mayhem to all and to all a goodnight!

Dora here. How do you layer the conflict 

in your stories?

Do you brainstorm with your buddies?

Purchase Link

Charlotte Rose Hill, who loves serving up country delicacies and uniquely blended teas, discovers that while she's been faithfully caring for her tearoom customers, she'd also been quietly turning into an old maid. Charlotte did fall in love with a young man, Sam Wilder, when she was 18, but his family forced her to walk away from their relationship. Now, more than a decade later, Charlotte finds that she still has feelings for her first love. Initially thrilled to learn that Sam has come home to Middlebury, Texas, Charlotte is then devastated to learn that he's brought someone with him: his fiancée. But all is not lost when one of the loveable but meddlesome townsfolk decides to get involved. Will the next marriage in Middlebury be for Sam and Charlotte?

Best-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has thirty-six books published. She’s been a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA in the combined fields of speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita loves good movies, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends. 

Please visit her website at www.anitahigman.com and drop her a note by clicking the “Contact Me” button.

Writer's Tips by Anita Higman

Please welcome author, Anita Higman, as she shares 10 tips to help writers on their own journey to publication.


1. Read. I have discovered that the more I read, the better I write.

2. Follow all leads from networking opportunities, writer’s conferences, and tips from writer friends.

3. Look for “holes” in the market place. One way of finding holes is to talk to booksellers and librarians. You might discover that there is a real need for a certain kind of book. Perhaps a number of patrons have asked repeatedly for a particular subject and there are few or no books written on it.

4. Try brainstorming when you are out of ideas. Then when the ideas do flow, start a file for later use. For example, you could have a file with character profiles, bits of dialogue, fresh book titles, or other items that you could eventually use in a new piece of writing.

5. Read all your work out loud. It sounds simple but it is a valuable tool.

6. Titles are very important. Make sure that your title is the very best it can be for your work. If you don’t like it, brainstorm until you find a new one, or use a dazzling phrase from your manuscript.

7. If you feel a burnout approaching, and you’re actually thinking about throwing in the towel, put your work aside, read a book for fun—not analyzing, start a journal, go on a writer’s retreat, or take a break by writing something very different from what you are accustomed to writing.

8. Try making a habit of writing, even when you don’t think you’re in an inspired mood.

9. Pray that God will guide you and help you be the best writer you can be.

10. Many popular authors have known plenty of rejection, so you are not alone if you have received rejection slips. (Years ago I collected a file folder full!) The bottom line is – if it is your calling to write, don’t give up.

* Tips used with permission from Anita's Web site.


Award-winning author, Anita Higman, has twenty-four books published (several co-authored) for adults and children. A few of Anita's books are Love Finds You in Humble, Texas, Another Stab at Life, Another Hour to Kill, The Celestial Helix, Pokeweed and Mrs. Gasp, and Big Book of Holidays and Holy Days. She also has contributions in ten nonfiction compilations, and has also written for radio, television, ezine, and advertising.

Anita has lived in Texas for the past twenty-five years, but was born and raised on a wheat and cattle farm in western Oklahoma. Besides writing, Anita's other interests are reading great books, going to the movies, and cooking brunch for her friends. She lives with her husband near Houston, Texas.

Writing Backyard Dialogue by Anita Higman

Please welcome multi-published and award-winning author Anita Higman with her thoughts on dialogue this Manuscript Monday:

Writing Backdoor Dialogue*

My family loves snappy movie dialogue, so we weave bits of it into our conversations. The more inventive we are at making it fit into our banter, the bigger the smiles all around. The snippets we choose are always poignant, witty, sardonic, or dazzlingly clever. Rarely do we take the time to memorize dialogue that's ordinary. In other words, it's never the mundane, repetitious things we say at home or the tedious yak I might produce when eating lunch with a friend. Readers want realistic dialogue, yes, but only to a point. Readers also want to be swept out of the droning, utilitarian chatter of everyday life, and given the opportunity to partake in a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers kind of word-dance that leaves us a little breathless.

After writing a rough draft, checking dialogue for its effervescent levels is part of my editing phase. I always want to ask these questions. "Has the scene gone flat because the dialogue is boring? Is there a more interesting way for my characters to say this?" I call ho-hum writing, "front door writing" because it just walks right up, knocks on the door, and does exactly what we expect it to do—walk in the front door. But a more unexpected approach, one that sneaks up on us a bit, I call "backdoor writing." And of course, it relates to dialogue as well as writing in general. Here is an example of dialogue from my cozy mystery, Another Hour to Kill. This is the way the scene ended up in the book, and I'm hoping it shows a bit of "backdoor writing."

I looked outside. The Mexican feather grass near my porch dipped and swayed in the gusts like strands of hair. "As I'm sure you know, Houston isn't a very windy place. . .unless there's a storm coming."

"I like a good storm. They're heady and unpredictable." Vlad gazed at me. " ‘O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.' Shelley."

So, he was one of those guys who loved to quote famous dead poets. I fidgeted with my rose, starting to feel uncomfortable and wondering how many women he'd schmoozed into a senseless stupor over the years with his smooth hair and silvery tongue. Probably more than he could keep track of. That was the way with well-designed men. They were like Italian suits in a denim world.

Okay, that is a bit of conversation as well as inner dialogue. Here are some of my reasons for writing it that way.

1. The heroine, Bailey, mentions the storm, because she senses that something ominous is coming—something beyond mere atmospheric conditions. It makes for a moment of foreshadowing.

2. Vlad speaks of loving storms and their unpredictability. This statement reveals some of the wildness and impulsiveness in his nature.

3. I thought having Vlad quote the poet, Shelley, might be a more interesting way for him to comment on the approaching storm. I could have had Vlad say, "The wind sure is picking up outside. Gee, you're right. . .there's a storm coming." First of all, this approach wouldn't have worked since Vlad has a more formal way of speaking, but secondly, it wouldn't have been as interesting or as revealing as the poetry.

4. Also, the Shelley quote gives us more to chew on. It tells us that Vlad is a man who is either putting on airs or is cultured and likes sharing his love for poetry with others. The reader must decide who Vlad really is. And the quote gives us a bit of subtext dialogue, to reinforce the idea that a tempest is coming—one that may have nothing to do with the weather. In addition, the Shelley quote speaks of mystical elements such as ghosts and an enchanter. These are bits of Vlad's personality, so it not only keeps the scene within a gothic framework, but it holds some revelation for the reader concerning Vlad.

The last part of this passage from Another Hour to Kill is merely the internal thoughts of the heroine. Hopefully, I set up the dialogue well enough that it would allow me to make Bailey's head-talk more engaging, enlightening, and possibly amusing.

Novels have the potential to magically sweep us away from everyday life. Encountering this kind of enchanting word-dance in dialogue is something I long for whether I'm at the computer writing a novel or curled up in my den reading one.

Award-winning author, Anita Higman, has twenty-four books published (several coauthored) for adults and children, and she has been honored as a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston. Anita has a B.A. degree, combining speech communication, psychology, and art. Some of her favorite things are exotic teas, going to the movies, and all things Jane Austen. She’d love for you to visit her website at www.anitahigman.com.