HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR BOOK LAUNCH TEAM
Biff Barnes
When you market your book, you have more people who want to help you than you think. Your friends and family want your book to be successful and will gladly support you if you tell them how. One of the best ways you can capitalize on these potential supporters is to organize a launch team for your book.
A launch team will help you get off to a flying start with plenty of good reviews of your book. Generating as many positive reviews as possible when you launch your book is essential.
Scott Allen on the Self-Publishing School blog explains why:
When Amazon ranks your book, the ranking is based on the volume of downloads your book gets and, the amount of reviews stacked on the book’s review page.
This is why it is critical that when you launch your book you set everything up to get as many reviews as possible to get momentum going, increase organic traffic, and drive your rankings in the search engines.
Book reviews for your book on Amazon are one of the defining factors that determine if a potential reader will click the BUY NOW button or not. In fact, if your book has less than 10 reviews, there is a strong chance that your book will get passed over.
A good launch team is a great way to start generating those reviews. Here’s how to organize yours.
1. Make a list of people you believe would be interested in your book. Don’t be shy in deciding who to ask for help. People can decide for themselves whether to join your team, but they won’t do it unless you ask them to.
2. You can create your list in two ways. You already have email contacts for some of the people closest to you. Add to them by posting a request for help by asking them to join your team on your favorite social media channel(s). Tell them how much you would appreciate it if they would post a review of your book when it launches. Ask people who want to help to provide their email addresses.
3. Send all of the volunteers an email thanking them for their willingness to help and explaining exactly what you want them to do. Be sure to include:
· The launch date for your book
· A link to the book on Amazon
· A quick note on how to post a review.
4. You may also ask them to buy the book letting them know that their purchase will help your launch in two ways.
· Their purchase will improve your book’s Amazon ranking.
· Their review will be marked “Verified Purchase” which means it will be displayed before any unverified reviews.
5. Only about a third of your launch team will actually follow through and post a review. People are busy. They may intend to post a review, but in the press of their lives’ many demands, they don’t get around to it. This makes follow-up an important part of your launch campaign. Check to see who has posted a review. If after a few days a person hasn’t posted one, send them a friendly note reminding them to post a review.
Nick Stephenson on the Your First 10,000 Readers has provided a good example of a reminder message.
Hi [your friend’s name]
I know you’re busy, so I wanted to send you a super quick note and short review reminder.
You can find [Your Book’s Title] right here: [Link to your book’s Amazon listing page]
Thanks so much for having been on my launch team, [your friend’s name]! I really appreciate the time you took to support me and my book.
[Your name]
Nick reports that a follow-up note can increase the number of people who post a review by 10-15%.
6. Ask all members of your launch team to help you publicize your launch on their favorite social media channel(s) and ask them to include a link to your Amazon listing page. You might want to include an image of your book’s cover that they can include in their posts.
7. Send a thank-you note to team members who do post a review.
A successful launch will make everything easier in marketing your book. Good luck with your launch!