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. 

Launch Teams, Part Two by Amber Schamel

Author Amber Schamel is back to provide more wonderful advice about book launch teams. If you missed Part One, be sure to check it out here. -- Sandy

Amber: Hello everyone! Amber Schamel here again and I'm so happy to be back on Seriously Write with you today to share more about the incredible marketing asset of Launch Teams. If you missed the first post on October 9, be sure to check it out. I got some really good questions from you and I'm  going to answer as many of those as I can.

How do you communicate with a Launch Team?

You can set up your Launch Team as a facebook group, email loop, yahoo group, or many other methods, but I've found that the Facebook Group works best. From there you can list events, blog appearances, answer questions, and talk to your team.

What's in it for them?

In order to entice people to be a part of your launch team and to keep them engaged, it's a good idea to offer something special to your team members. This would usually be a free copy of your book (so they can read, rant and review) and can also include things like a drawing for a gift card or basket, a little something that relates to your book/genre, something you handmade (if you're crafty) etc.  It's also good to mention that they will get exclusive access to the author and behind the scenes tidbits. You can share these tidbits, etc in your group. Be creative, experiment a little, and find what works best for you and your budget.

How long do you keep your launch team?

That's really up to you. You could give them a range of dates for the launch, or you can keep them indefinitely. With my team, I told them that most of the action would be during these certain months, then when my next book comes out, I'll give them the option to leave, or stay on board.

Keeping your launch team engaged.

Just like with any team, you'll have your superstars, then you'll have those that aren't engaged. Probably only 20% of the team will be actively engaged. With that said, there are some important elements towards holding your team's attention and giving them an enjoyable experience.

1) Be the leader. They are looking to you for instructions on what they should do, how, when etc. Initiate conversation with those on your team. Ask them questions about themselves, their likes. Lead them in a prayer at  the beginning of every week.

2) Give the group a team feel. Some ideas for this would be to allow everyone to introduce themselves, and then ask them all a question every week that they can discuss and answer. I also think it's a great idea to post prayer requests not just for you, but also for your team. Another thing I did was make a special button for their website/profile that identifies them with us. It's kinda like a cyber-jersey. :)

3) Give them simple, step by step instructions. For example: Today we have a blog interview! Please stop by and leave a comment for my host, and share with your friends.

I hope you've enjoyed this series on Launch Teams. Are there any questions I've missed answering?

~~~

Amber Schamel was born in Littleton, CO and has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and the Holy Land. She was raised in a family of 11 children, homeschooled through her education and currently works with their 10 family businesses as bookkeeper and marketing director. She volunteers half of the summer helping and ministering to young girls and Christian families. Amber loves history, culture, reading and music. She has a musical ministry and travels throughout the United States ministering thru song. During her spare time she enjoys crafting Christ-honoring stories that will inspire and encourage her readers. Amber currently lives with her family outside of Colorado Springs, CO. 

Launch Teams, Part One

In July, I ran Amber Schamel's book trailer for The Healer's Touch on my personal blog. The traffic that came from it blew me away. When I asked about it, she said she'd put the word out to her book launch team. So of course, I asked Amber to share her experience with launch teams on this blog.--Sandy

Amber: Several months ago I assembled my very first launch team. My team has become an invaluable asset to me and Sandra has asked me to share a little about what I'm learning. There is a lot to cover on this topic, so we're splitting it up into two posts. Be sure to catch part 2 on October 23.

What is a "Launch Team?"

This was my question several months ago when I first heard the term. I did some searching and interviewing and was able to glean a lot of information that I'll attempt to share with you.

A Launch Team is basically a special group of people who support you and your work and are willing to talk about it, give you a review, host you on their blog, follow you around to all your media appearances (and sometimes book signings and whatnot), and share social media posts with their friends. A Launch Team can consist of family, friends, readers or fans, and yes, even other writers. However writers do tend to have less time, so the best Launch Team members are usually just friends and readers, however writers do have bigger blogs which can also be a benefit.

How big is a Launch Team?

Your team can be any size you want. Mine consists of about 20 people, but not all those people are active all the time. I have talked to some writers whose teams are as large as 100-200 people.

How do you gather a Launch Team?

Just ask! I sent out an email/facebook message to some select friends asking them specifically if they'd like to be a part. I also put a post on my facebook page letting my friends know I was looking for people to help me. The response was tremendous. The key is to keep the invitation casual and easy-going. Don't make people feel like they can't be your friend if they don't help you. ;)

What are the benefits of having a Launch Team?

So many! Here's a few:

·         A loyal group of people to post positive reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, etc.

·         A group to go along to all of your media appearances. This is HUGE. Basically, they make sure you never show up to a party by yourself. There's nothing more lonely than guesting or interviewing on a blog and there's no one there but you and your host. A launch team will drop by and leave comments, initiate conversation and make things fun.

·         A team that will share about you and your book on their social media and/or blogs to create a buzz around you and your book.

In the next post we'll be discussing the mechanics of a Launch Team and some tips on making it successful. 

Do you have any questions you'd like me to answer in the next post?

~~~

Amber Schamel was born in Littleton, CO and has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and the Holy Land. She was raised in a family of 11 children, homeschooled through her education and currently works with their 10 family businesses as bookkeeper and marketing director. She volunteers half of the summer helping and ministering to young girls and Christian families. Amber loves history, culture, reading and music. She has a musical ministry and travels throughout the United States ministering thru song. During her spare time she enjoys crafting Christ-honoring stories that will inspire and encourage her readers. Amber currently lives with her family outside of Colorado Springs, CO.