Marketing My Book - (Programme)
The first 100-days from the publication of your book is significant because if you get the launch right you will create natural momentum and as a result generate continuous new opportunities!
It is likely that you have recently submitted your book manuscript to PublishU for publication in around 100-days. So you have that time to plan and prepare your launch campaign.
Your Goal
It's always good to start with the end in mind. So before you get into the campaign framework remind yourself of why you started out on this journey. Think back to the 'Writing My Book' programme session #1 when you were asked to consider, "What is your motivation/why/purpose for your book?" and spoke about ten possible motivations: #1 Sales Income, #2 Generating Income, #3 Building Brand, #4 Living Legacy, #5 Influencing Others, #6 Developing People, #7 Course Resource, #8 Personal Reflection, #9 Love Writing, #10 Other (please specify).
How you answered provides the basis for your launch campaign goal. Please revise the goal and post it the 'Launching My Book' community chat. Here is an example from one of my recent books...
- Title: Matt's Noto: Your guide to one of Sicily's greatest cities
- BCP: Noto is one of the most beautiful small cities in Europe. In my opinion, it is the jewel in the crown of the Mediterranean’s largest island, Sicily. You will find dazzling sun and golden beaches, an unrivalled wealth of history and culture, together with incredible local food and wine.
- Goal: To a) my build brand [#3] and association with the city of Noto and b) generate income [#2] from rental sales at my holiday home The Rooftop.
Campaign Framework
So now you know where you are going let's get started with the campaign framework. There are three aspects to an effective book launch campaign which we recommend you begin planning and preparing for now.
- Events: Book launch event/s
- Digital: You and your books online presence
- Media: Media campaign
Please begin by skim reading the ‘Launching My Book’ campaign framework below.
We recommend you begin by planning your in-person launch event straight away. Securing a date at your preferred venue is going to be an important building block. Then you can begin building your online presence immediately and planning your media campaign which will begin the day of your publication.
As you work step-by-step through the campaign framework make a note of any questions you have. There maybe things you would like to ask immediately in the Launching My Book community chat on WhatsApp or matters you would like to raise in our monthly community meeting.
You have 100-days to plan and prepare your 100-day launch campaign - go for it!
1: Events
You have a unique community of people who are interested in buying your book because they are interested in you. It’s not everyday that someone in your social circle becomes a published author. Your community will want to have a copy of your book on their shelf because they know you. Your unique community includes your friends, your family, your neighbours, your work colleagues, people you know from the coffee shop, sports club, church and local eateries to name just a few. Hosting a launch event so your community can touch and feel and buy your book is so important.
Launch Events
We encourage you to host in-person launch event/s however if you have a community of people who are geographically diverse you also want to think about hosting an online launch event.
Here are 10 questions you can ask to help plan your book launch event…
Q1. Community
Who is your unique community? Write a list and make it as long as possible. Later your can add their contact details.
Q2. Venue
What venue would they be comfortable and interested in attending a book launch at? A pub, sports club, coffee shop, your home or church.
Q3. Day and time
What day of the week and time of day would be appealing to the most people in your community?
Q4. Hospitality
What hospitality would you like to provide for your guests or would they indeed expect at that time of day?
Q5. Dress
How could you dress the venue to characterise you and what your book is about?
Q6. Invitation
How does your community like to communicate and therefore how should you invite them? Perhaps WhatsApp, email, face to face, telephone, Eventbrite, social media or paper. This will determine what form your invitation takes.
Q7. Programme
How long should you event be and what would be the key elements of the programme? Mingling time, drinks and nibbles, book reading, author interview, Q&A, book signing etc.
Q8. Team
Who do you need on the event team? Event manager, hospitality, MC (Master of Ceremony), interviewer, book table volunteers.
Q9. Reading
What section of your book offers a fascinating insight into what you have written that you could read at a book launch event.
Q10. Book Table
Who could you ask to manage the book table who could take payments whilst you sit and sign books for your guests?
NB ‘Author Copies’ of your book at the special discounted rate take approximately two weeks to be printed, shipped and delivered. So leave a safe amount of time between the publication of your book and your launch event.
Speaking Events
Not every speaker is an author and not every author should be a speaker. I think it’s easier for a speaker to learn to be an author than it is an author learning to be a speaker. If you are going to be a speaker you need to be a good one!
There is, however, a powerfully symbiotic relationship between being a speaker and an author. People hear you speak and want to buy and read your book, people buy and read your book and want to invite you to speak. For this reason being a speaker and an author is a powerful partnership. This also counts for any professional services you may offer whether it be coaching or consulting.
Generating Speaking Invitations
a. Relationships
Speaking invitations don’t arrive in the post… they arrive through relationships. So if you would like more speaking invitations one of the most important things you can do is to invest in relationships with people who invite speakers. List the top ten relationships you could be proactive in pursuing in order to secure a speaking invitation.
b. Specialism
Speaking invitations aren’t often made to generalists they are made to specialists. So if you would like more speaking invitations one of the most important things you can do is to develop your specialist niche. How would you describe your niche in a sentence?
c. Book
As you have done write, publish and launch a book because it positions you as a go-to-expert on the subject matter you have written about!
d. Travel
International speaking invitations rarely just happen. They take place because you let people know you are going to be in their city or country. You are 80% more likely to be invited to speak when you are going to be in the area - inviters see you as an opportunity to grab, they know they have no international travel costs to meet. So if you would like more international speaking invitations simply plan to travel and let potential inviters know you are going to be in their area.
What are the cities and countries you are travelling to or could travel to?
Selling When You Speak
a. Bio
Ensure the speaker bio about you used by your host says you are an author and a brief sentence about your book.
b. Quote
Read from the book you want to sell during your talk in order to give your book authority and appeal.
c. Joke
When you pitch your book to the crowd ensure you are self-effacing and make a joke about you and or your book.
d. Host
Ask your host to promote your book/s at the end of the session or event.
e. Book Table
In advance ask your host if they can provide a table, table cloth (black or white) and two chairs.
f. Volunteer
In advance ask your host if they can provide a volunteer helper to deal with the sales and money.
g. Payment
We live in a virtually cashless society so it’s essential to have a mechanism for being paid electronically. Through PayPal you can obtain a unique payment link, QR code and even set up a 'Tap and Pay' function https://www.paypal.com/us/business/pos-system Another option is SumUp https://www.sumup.com
h. Signing
Take a pen you are comfortable writing and signing in and offer to sign books as part of your pitch.
i. QR Code
In advance send a QR code to your host to be displayed on the screen when you talk about your book. Programme the QR code to link directly to your book on Amazon. When you pitch your book have the QR code displayed on the screen and invite people to scan it and order your book.
2: Digital
We live in a digital age so if you want you or your book to become known for something it’s essential to have an online presence.
- What does your digital presence say about you?
- What are the top 5 things you find when your name is entered into a search engine?
- What are the top 5 things you find out about your book title when entered into a search engine?
- What are the top 5 things you find out about your book title + your name when entered into a search engine?
There are a number of ways of increasing your digital presence…
a. Personal Domain Name
One of the best ways to be found online is by owning the domain name of your name or the name of your book and hosting a website on it or link to a micro-site. Depending on how unusual your name or your book title is you might be surprised by what is available and/or affordable.
You can always add the definitive article at the beginning eg www.themattbird.com or a hyphen between your names eg www.matt-bird.com or a suffix at the end like global eg www.mattbirdglobal.com
What are the top 5 ideas for your personal domain name?
Try… https://www.lcn.com or https://www.123-reg.co.uk
b. Microsite
Create a simple microsite which you can use to signpost people to you and your portfolio. Amongst your portfolio of interests you can add a picture of your book, a teaser sentence and a link to your book on Amazon.
For example… https://instabio.cc/mattbirdglobal
Try… https://instabio.cc or https://linktr.ee
What would be the top 7 items that you would include in your portfolio? List them below and prioritise them 1-7 afterwards.
c. Web-Forwarding
When you have purchased a personal domain name and created a microsite link then set up a forward from your domain name to your microsite. This is something you can easily do via your domain provider.
For example… http://www.MattBirdGlobal.com
d. QR Code
Create a QR code that links to your personal domain name and make this your smart phone screensaver. When you meet people and want to give them your details simply touch the home screen of your phone in order to bring it to life and invite your new connection to scan the code.
Try… https://qr.io or https://www.qr-code-generator.com
For example… <ADD QR Code>
e. Link Building
If you have a website for you or your organisation you can increase its find-ability or Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) by creating links between your website and others and others’ websites and yours. For example, PublishU adds a profile about you and your book with links on our website https://www.publishu.com
List the top 10 website owners who you could offer to reciprocate with:
f. Amazon Author Page
As a published author whose books are available through Amazon it is recommended that you create an author page. This can include photos, bio, social media links and display your book/s.
Click this link and follow the instructions to create your author page… https://author.amazon.com/home
g. Social Media
An integral part of your digital presence is your engagement through social media platforms. You will have preferences about the social media you prefer. However, what also matters is what social media your target market prefers.
Prioritise the following list of social media platforms by your personal preference…
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Other (specify)
Prioritise the following list of social media platforms by your target market preference…
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Other (specify)
What are the synergies?
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Other (specify)
h. Handles
Play around to find a social media handle that works consistently across all platforms that you want to use.
As you did with your personal domain name, depending how popular your name is this may mean adding a prefix eg @the<your name> @TheMattBird or a descriptive suffix eg @<yourname>author @MattBirdGlobal.
For example I secured @MattBirdGlobal across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
What are the top 5 ideas for your personal handle?
i. Hashtags
One of the ways of increasing your social media engagement is to use hashtags. Choose hashtags that have millions, thousands and hundreds of followers. Amongst the millions the engagement potential is high and likelihood low and amongst the hundreds the engagement potential low and the likelihood high - hence mixing it up. Stick to these hashtags for all your posts to grow your following.
Different social media platforms limit or recommend different numbers of hashtags as follows:
- Instagram 30 #
- LinkedIn 3 # (recommended)
- Facebook 5 #
What # do you want to use that have millions of followers?
What # do you want to use that have thousands of followers?
What # do you want to use that have hundreds of followers?
What other # might be important to you?
j. Bio
Update your social media profiles to include #author and change your bio link to your microsite preferably through your personal domain name.
k. Images
Create a series of images that you can post on social media. These can include book soundbite (10-15 words) extracts and endorsements. These images should be mixed up with other content.
Try… http://www.canva.com or https://phon.to
l. Engagement
Social media is not a broadcast medium, it is an engagement media that can encourage, invite and evoke conversation. Interacting with other authors and thought leaders regarding your subject is a great way of increasing interaction.
Social media is renowned for its changing ‘algorithms’ - the secret codes behind what ends up on peoples screens and what doesn’t. There are certain things which social media likes like posting daily, reacting and commenting on other peoples posts, wishing people happy birthday and going LIVE. The more of this sort of activity you engage in the more you will be featured.
3: Media
Media comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes whether written via newspaper, magazine or blog or broadcast such as radio, TV or podcast. You want as much media coverage as you can possibly muster. As they say there is no such thing as bad media coverage… there is either coverage or there is not!
PublishU recommends investing time, effort and resources in:
- Local Media
- Sector Media
- Podcast Media
NB National Media is extremely difficult to secure. It is generally focused on big controversial stories and a book is not classed as a news item unless a world bestseller. So unless you have a very strong lead there are better things in which you can invest your time, energy and resources.
Local Media
The lowest hanging fruit is local media whose value should not be underestimated. The media message can be as simple as ‘local resident becomes a globally published author’.
a. Research
Research local media and create a list of names and news desk contact details of local newspapers, magazines, radio stations and community groups.
b. Email Pitch
Personalise the email template below.
c. Photograph
Commission a high quality photograph of yourself. Local press are increasingly limited on photographer capacity so providing a high quality photo can increase chances of being published.
d. Distribution
Send a brief e-mail detailing your book and photograph to your list of local media.
Email Pitch Template
Subject: <authors town> Resident Becomes Globally Published Author
Dear Editor
I’m writing to let you know about a new book I have written <book name>. The book is about <50 words describing book>.
I worked with PublishU, a social enterprise that enables people to write their book in 100-days to get it published globally.
My launch event will take place on <give details>. If you would like to interview me or request further information, please get in contact. Details are below.
Kind regards, <author name>
CONTACT <author name> <author mobile> <author email>
Sector Media
The next opportunity to explore and leverage is sector media. This is media where there is a shared interested between you or the subject of your book and the what they specialism is. For example you may have ?
a. Niche
What special interest or niche do you and your book have?
b. Research
Research related specialist and niche media - podcasts, blogs, magazines - and create a list of names and contact details.
c. Pitch Email
Write a pitch email based on the template above briefly explaining you, your book and what might interest the recipient.
d. Distribution
Send your pitch email to the contacts you researched and 3 days later follow up on those who haven’t already replied. Use same e-mail template as above.
Podcast Media
Podcasts are big business. It is now a matured market with podcasts on every imaginable subject. There is bound to be a selection of podcasts related to you or the subject of your book or both and if you pitch it right you could be their next special guest.
For example…
Hi
I'm writing to see you if you'd be interested in an interview with Matt Bird, founder and CEO of PublishU, a publishing company that coaches more than 100 people per year to write and publish their own books.
Matt was in 'remedial' English classes at school and only later discovered that he had dyslexia, which he refers to as his 'superpower'. Despite many obstacles and a tough time growing up, Matt has learned to use his neurodiversity and accomplish great things. It's a far cry from his school days when he was called 'stupid' by a teacher.
He has started numerous social and business ventures. He has spoken in 50 countries to more than a million people, authored 17 books with more to come and writes for publications such as The Times newspaper regularly.
Matt has many fascinating stories about his dyslexia journey and I'm sure he'd make a very interesting guest for your podcast.
If you're interested, please let me know and I can gladly arrange for you.
Many thanks
Conclusion
I very much look forward to meeting with you monthly and you being part of the 'Launching My Book' Campaign chat group over the 100-days in order to support and encourage you on the third stage of the journey.
Matt Bird
