Book Launch Tips

7 Steps For a Successful Book Launch

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As the author of a just finished novel, you are excited and eager to introduce your “new baby” to the world – or at least to your readers.  You will want to spread as much awareness as possible about your new book’s release.  Chris McMullen wrote a helpful blog post a while ago about book launch strategies and book promotion before, during, and shortly after the book launch.  Here is a short excerpt of his tips:
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Cover Reveal
An appealing cover that clearly shows the genre and content can be valuable not only as a marketing tool but even as a pre-marketing tool.

The cover also plays a strong role in branding. People often don’t buy a product the first time they see it. But after seeing the same image multiple times over a long period, the image becomes branded. Months later when they are shopping, if they see this image again, they recognize it.  Series authors have the advantage that the buzz can snowball.

You certainly can reveal your cover offline, too.  Print it out or order proofs or author copies to show in person. Ideally, you want to reach your specific target audience.

You don’t have to do just one cover reveal: Show your mock-up of the concept out there to seek feedback.  Later, follow this up with a draft of your cover.  Do a cover reveal for your final cover.

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Book Blurb Reveal
Write several Blurbs and ask your followers for valuable feedback to improve your blurb.
This presents the challenge of writing three good blurbs instead of just one, so it’s even more critical to seek helpful feedback.
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Author Interviews
Another way to gain exposure for your new book is to do author interviews on blogs for which the audience is a good fit for your book.  It’s a chance to gain some exposure from people who don’t already know about your book.

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Contests
As opposed to just giving your book away free to everyone, people who win free books through contests often perceive that they’ve received something valuable. Make sure to research the rules, and also search for tips.

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Giveaways
Another option is giveaways by Goodreads, Amazon, or LibraryThing, for example. This has the added benefit of getting hundreds of customers to add your book to their to-read lists, which helps make your book appear somewhat more popular. With a wise choice of tags, you can get up to 1000 views for a month-long giveaway. Most of the views come on the first and last days, but all the days in the middle do add up. Browse through the list of tags at Goodreads to find the best matches for your book.
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

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Special Introductory Offer
A special, limited-time offer can help draw more interest in your book or encourage earlier support for your book. This could be an introductory sale price, for example.
Or it could be a coupon or discount code, such as the one you can generate through Smashwords or Apple iBooks. Often, when a book is launched, friends, family, and fans support the book with initial sales, and then sometime later the book goes on sale. Don’t let the most loyal readers miss out on the savings! With a special introductory offer, you value your loyal supporters.

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Pre-Orders
Once you have a loyal following, you can greatly benefit from preorders.  Kindle Direct Publishing and Apple iBooks offer preorder options, as well as Kobo.  Book Distributor Draft2Digital is also very helpful for authors to organize pre-orders.

One big advantage of preorders is, that not everyone realizes is that it gives you extra exposure:  Get all the exposure for your book that you can (so long as you can draw enough support to generate preorder sales).

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A successful book launch can really make a difference: Early sales are helping a book start out with a good sales rank.  Read the whole article here: http://bit.ly/2tlDNS3

 

 

Gifts for Your Reader Friends & Supporters

Books-Gifts

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I know it’s a while until next Christmas, but there are many occasions during the year, such as organizing a book launch, book signings, writer’s conferences, book fairs etc. where you can show your appreciation to readers, bloggers, and all kind of supporters for your literary endeavour.  Business cards and bookmarks are familiar items to hand-out, but they are not really gifts.

Other occasions, like free beta readings / book critique and other help, such as organizing book signing events for your novel do require a small present.  Why not something that reminds these readers of your book – and their friends and family too?

There are many present ideas for your readers, book lovers, friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, book clubs and visitors or fans:

  • Bookmarks
  • Postcards
  • Key Rings
  • Mouse Pads
  • Fridge Magnets
  • Coffee Mugs
  • Tote Bags
  • Business Card Cases
  • Once you have written a dozen books, you can even create a calendar – a gift with high-visibility!
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Bookmarks are around for centuries and are used to mark the page were a reader ended.  They are thin markers, commonly made of card, thin metal, leatherette, or fabric.  Show the cover of your book(s) at the top or bottom.  You certainly want the reader to visit your website or blog, so don’t forget to add the URL and a link to your Amazon author page.

Personalized custom mouse pads: How fantastic would it be to have your book’s photo printed onto a mouse pad, a gift that reminds every day of your books. How about giving a photo mouse pad to your favourite reader so they can show off to their friends. Or to those who help you most promoting your books.

Creating a tote bag for your mum to go shopping, or for your siblings to go to school or to the beach to carry their belongings in style.
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Photo gifts, showing the cover of one of your books, are by far one of the best gifts to give to readers, colleagues, friends and family. I am sure, these novel products will delight all the avid readers in your life.

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More Tips:
Bookmarks, cards, magnets and other gift ideas with a smooth surface should have a QR code so people can scan and buy your book directly from the item.
Ask not only your business card printer, also search the Internet for price/quality comparisons, and get half a dozen quotes at least.

I am sure, these novel products will delight all the avid readers in your life.

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Suppliers of “Bookish” Customized Gifts:

http://www.uprinting.com/bookmark-printing.html

http://www.zazzle.com/postcards

http://www.zazzle.com/magnets

https://www.zazzle.com/mousepads

https://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/mouse-pads

http://www.printerstudio.com/

https://www.clubcard.ca/

 

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Matchmaker for Early Book Reviews

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LibraryThing.

LibraryThing is full of great conversations about books with groups talking about every little sub-genre, every aspect of books and reading, and lots of other stuff too. It’s a site for READERS.

LibraryThing is a website that allows people to catalog their personal libraries, discover new books and connect with others who share their tastes.  It is an open, collaborative project.  The best reason to join for AUTHORS is to have an e-Book or print book giveaway with high possibilities for REVIEWS.  The great benefit of LibraryThing is that you can even have your e-books as giveaways – and that you can use the reviews you might get for promotional purposes. 

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A section of the site is called Member Giveaways – which are an informal way for members to give away copies of books to other members. Authors can use this to give away copies of their books in the hopes of getting a review. You upload the cover of your book, add the blurb, as well as a line saying something like “reviews are not compulsory, but would be greatly appreciated”.

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While at Goodreads (an Amazon company) you have to buy – in advance – one- hundred eBooks to offer them all for giveaway prices, at LibraryThing you can choose the amount. It might be as small as only one eBook. And you send it out to the lucky winner at the end of the contest.

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LibraryThing Advises:
“You must indicate how many books you are giving away, and what the time limit is for members to sign up (one week is the minimum).  Once the allotted period is up, you will be emailed a list of the “winners”, and it’s then up to you to send out the copy of the book.”

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As a new member, explore the site first and build up your library before you consider doing a giveaway – you will receive a much better response.

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Questions and Answers About Book Giveaways
What is “LibraryThing Early Reviewers”?
“LibraryThing Early Reviewers helps publishers distribute advance copies of books to interested readers. The publisher provides books, LibraryThing members sign-up to request them, and then we match up books with members based on the rest of their LibraryThing catalog. Books find their way to readers who are likely to enjoy them! LibraryThing members get books, publishers get reviews—LibraryThing plays matchmaker.”

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How does it work?
“You supply LibraryThing with a list of the titles that you’ll be offering to the Early Reviewers. We announce the titles (in monthly batches), and LibraryThing members sign up for whichever books they’re interested in. We use an algorithm to find the members most likely to enjoy and create buzz for your titles. We send a list of the winning members and their addresses to you. You send out the books. Early Reviewers read the books, and then post reviews to LibraryThing. They are encouraged to also cross-post to their blog, etc.”

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What does the publisher (You) get out of it?
“You get a community of readers, creating early buzz about your book and giving you insight into how it will be received. The publisher and author are granted perpetual non-exclusive permission to use the reviews.”

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What formats of books can I offer through Early Reviewers?
“We are happy to list paper copies, ebooks, and audiobooks. If you are offering an ebook, you must specify the file type (epub, Mobi, PDF, etc.) in the description.”

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How many books do I have to provide?
“We ask for at least fifteen copies of each title, and welcome more than that! We encourage both diversity and quantity.”

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How far in advance of the release date should I offer my titles?
“That’s up to you—whenever you want the buzz to start. Early Reviewers is completely free. We reserve the right to charge for this service in the future.”

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Who ships the books or emails a PDF version?
“The publisher is responsible for shipping. LibraryThing provides a list of names and addresses.”

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How do you pick which LibraryThing members do receive a book?

“We use an algorithm to calculate winners, which is based on a number of factors, for example the contents and organization of the reviewer’s LibraryThing account. How many books the reviewer has received from LTER in the past, and whether they’ve reviewed them. Factors that suggest someone likely to review a book, and talk about it widely, on LibraryThing and elsewhere.”

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Do the books I provide need to be pre-publication?
“In general, we prefer books that have not yet been published. Publishers who don’t produce advance reader copies, or publishers with less “release-driven” titles should email loranne@librarything.com to discuss when to offer books.”

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Can authors offer review copies to LibraryThing members outside of North America?
“Absolutely. Most publishers that we’re currently working with offer books to residents of the United States and Canada—we’d love to open it up to members around the world and are eager to work with publishers to make this happen.”

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I’m an author, can I offer up my books for Early Reviewers?
“We only accept Early Reviewer books directly from trade publishers. If your publisher isn’t participating in Early Reviewers, then you can offer your books up for review yourself! Use our Member Giveaway Program.”

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What about self-published authors and vanity presses?
“Self-published books and books from vanity presses are encouraged to use our Member Giveaway Program, which is similar to but separate from Early Reviewers.”

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What Else Can You Find on LibraryThing?

  • List of current titles on offer.
  • Frequently asked questions about Early Reviewers.
  • Read LibraryThing blog posts tagged “Early Reviewers”.
  • Check out the Early Reviewer discussion group.
  • Find out about other ways publishers can use LibraryThing.

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Join Almost 2 Million Readers on LibraryThing and Start Your e-Book Giveaways

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3 Tips to Create Excitement for Your New Book

Exitement

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Try to engage your potential readers early on. Create excitement through a book cover or any other kind of poll.  Use polling and surveys to add an element of fun to the conversation. People love to take surveys.  It will build community engagement, real relationships and interest, and will leave readers more receptive to your next book promotion. With simple online surveys you can take your social media networking success to an entirely new level.
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  1. Invite your networks to provide honest and immediate feedback. For example, ask members to choose which of  – at least three –  book covers they like best and let them share their thoughts about the design.
  2. Or you can let them choose the name of your protagonist.  Again give them at least three options, but explain in which time or century the story unfolds and give them a hint what kind of novel you have written.
  3. You can also create a survey which online retailers should carry your book beside Amazon, and give at least five additional company names.
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Include an incentive to encourage your peers to complete your survey. For example: draw a winner of the most popular book cover chosen, the most popular name or the and most chosen online retailer.  Offer a Kindle or a small digital camera as the first prize.
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Free or Very Low Cost
SurveyMonkey has a free, basic poll version, SodaHead as well.  TWTPoll offers  a pay-as-you-go version for $7 per survey.  Get lot’s of practical tips how to incorporate your poll at a variety of Social Media sites on an article by SocialMediaExaminer.

 

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