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July 8, 2013

How to Launch A Book In 3 Steps

The following is a guest post from Nick Thacker.

Launch with a bang!While any kind of launch – whether the launch of a book, a product, or something else entirely – usually involves many steps and lots of pieces, it can also be distilled down into its core components.

I’ve launched a few things over the past two years, including nonfiction books and products, and I am also in the middle of a fiction book launch. And while each of these launches were different in style, methodology, and subject matter, I’ve found that there were three basic elements that went into each one.

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Filed Under: Rocking Your Launch
July 1, 2013

4 Steps to Take Charge of Your Book Launch

Duolit’s rock star (guest posting) road tour is rolling on, with a stop at the Book Marketing Maven! 

I made a huge mistake with my first book.

I got caught up in the excitement of finally finishing my manuscript that I rushed straight through to the publishing part, ready to share my book with the world and watch the sales roll in.

A few purchases from family and friends took me through my first week, but then things took a nosedive. In the absence of anything close to a marketing strategy, my big book launch was less like the roar of a space shuttle lift-off and more like the fizzle of a bottle rocket dud.

you only launch onceI learned my lesson the hard way.

Like all the kids say these days, it’s all about YOLO: You Only Launch Once.

(That is what the acronym stands for, right?)

So how can you take control of your book launch and make it count? How can you set the proper tone and put your sales on a good growth trajectory from the outset?

You just need to follow these four steps and the sky’s the limit for your book launch (pun intended).

Step One: Assemble Your Team

When properly executed, a great book launch will make you feel like a spirited conductor. But first you need a talented orchestra to lead (otherwise you’ll just be a weirdo waving your arms in the air).

Don’t fill the seats with the first musicians you stumble across, you’re looking for real talent and a good personality match for you and the rest of the team. Search for editors, designers, reviewers, advanced readers, and street team members who know something about your genre, come with great references, and can meet your deadlines.

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Filed Under: Rocking Your Launch
April 10, 2013

The Justin Timberlake School of Rocking Your Book Launch

In addition to charming you with his suave style, sweet dance moves, and amazing falsetto melodies, Justin Timberlake can teach you a thing or two about how to rock your book launch.

Teach us, oh master.

Seriously.

For those of you under-the-rock-dwellers, Mr. Timberlake recently released his third album, the 20/20 Experience, and sold 968,000 copies in the first week.

That’s a lot. Even for Justin.

Most of the agencies that project numbers for these sorts of things estimated Justin’s third album in seven years would move about 500,000 copies at best, given the market for music these days. (How many people still buy whole albums when you can grab a single on iTunes?)

So what made the 468,000 copy difference?

Justin Timberlake ROCKED the heck out of his product launch.

What can we learn from the master?

A ton.

I poured over this detailed outline of events leading up to Justin’s launch on March 19, 2013, and used that to put together these 7 ideas we can take and apply to our next book launch.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Rocking Your Launch
March 7, 2013

8 Book Marketing Tasks To Tackle BEFORE Your Book Is Published

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
-Alexander Graham Bell

I like to be prepared.

As an INFP personality type (in other words, one of those crazy introverts), jumping into a new situation with only a vague idea of how things will go is  terrifying.

At odds with my penchant for preparation, however, is my spectacular ability to procrastinate. Perhaps honed from years of banging out rockin’ school papers and reports the night before their due date, I pride myself in my ability to work under pressure.

Earlier this week, those habits dovetailed to punch me right in the face.

True to my procrastinator nature, I started working on this post Tuesday morning. It wasn’t due to go live until Wednesday…no worries, right? I had plenty of time.

Our site crashed an hour later.

I hadn’t saved my work and had no way to finish writing the post. In other words, I wasn’t prepared. I waited until the last minute to get to work, and paid the price for procrastinating.

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Filed Under: Marketing & Promotion, Rocking Your Launch
February 4, 2013

10 Things to Write to Help You Rock Your Book Launch [Guest Post]

The following is a guest post by Dana Sitar.

You’ve written 20,000 to 80,000 words to craft a product that is irresistible to readers, and you’re ready to push your keyboard aside. Launch Week is just around the corner, and you want to focus on tweeting and monitoring your Amazon reviews.

Not so fast!

Unfortunately, that book isn’t going to sell itself. Fortunately, you possess a key skill needed to promote it: writing. You’ll have to create a lot of content to pimp your book throughout Launch Week, so use this checklist to plan ahead and get started early!

Email announcements

Email is one of the best ways to tell your contacts about your new book, but not if you’re generic and impersonal!

  1. Break your contacts into categories by how you know them: friends, family, colleagues, readers, niche acquaintances, etc.
  2. Determine what you want from each group; for example, encourage influencers in your niche to spread the word, but encourage readers to purchase the book.
  3. Craft a template message for each group based on those goals, and personalize it for each person you email. Yeah, really, every. one.Continue Reading
Filed Under: Guest Posts, Rocking Your Launch