I recently watched a video by Melissa Foster who is founder of World Literary Cafe http://www.worldliterarycafe.com/ and a great author. Her website http://www.fostering-success.com/ helps authors and is where she shares her expertise.
Below are my notes I jotted down while watching her free video. If you wanted to watch the whole video here is the link. http://www.fostering-success.com/free-videos (my thoughts are italicized)
Know your audience: (Who will buy your book?)
- Ages
- Interest
- Hangouts
- Can your book cross audiences?
Remember to use your brand:
- Your launch should reflect your brand for yourself and your books.
- Materials should carry your brand
- Online presence should carry your brand
- Your books should carry your brand
What is your budget?
What is your monetary budget- remember to include not just ad costs but printed copies for signings, posters, book-markers, etc.
What is your timeline?
How much time can you dedicate to your launch?
What timeline do you anticipate you'll need?
How long do you want to launch?
Prior to launch you want to do the following:
- Submit ARC's for review
- Contact book clubs
- Issue press release
- Create Facebook event (I've attended a few of these online and they are really fun. Most events have trivia question that can be found on authors website, blog, publishers website, Facebook, twitter, and pinterest accounts and attendee's receive prizes.)
- Goodreads event
- And email announcement (hopefully you've been collecting emails on your website from your fans.)
What is your goal?
Before your launch you should define your goal:
- Sales (for example: 500 books)
- Exposure (top Amazon 100)
- Capture a certain audience
Action items:
How do you plan to reach your goal?
List your action items- (in person events, ads, blog tours, etc.)
Ideas:
- Insure online presence is solid
- Create book trailer
- Schedule blog tour
- Schedule in person events
- Coordinate paid and free ads
- Contact media (TV, radio, newspaper)
- HAVE FUN!
I recently attended an event of a favorite author online at http://booktalknation.com/index.html and thought what a great idea for authors to reach more fans. (You can use this service whenever, not just for a book launch.)
Think outside of the box. Example: your MC likes chocolate, have an event at a chocolate store.
Make sure as an author your always building relationship.
