Most people think that to launch your book, you have to host a big social event! That you need to have a big party planned. This is Must have social distance. But that's not true. With life circumstances as of late, we have been asked to have social distance. So how do you launch this book that you have been working on for years?
LET’S LAUNCH it VIRTUALLY!
Steps #1: ANNOUNCEMENT!
Let your Tribe know that you are going to have a virtual book launch. How? start talking about it in your groups, your email list, and your clients.
This step is important because you already have a Tribe and a following. Here is how you use them. They help to spread the word that the book launch is still on and that they are the virtual force to be reckoned with.
Steps #2: Build your Team
Like anything in to be successful, it is important to build your virtual launch team. Your team needs to have a clear direction of what you need and what they are expected to do. Gather them by way of Zoom meetings, emails, texts, and or other messages. Once everyone is on the same page, share the assignments and what they select.
It is critical to your success because the team can pick the assignments that play to their strengths. This is most helpful when working with technology.
Steps #3: Team Prep
The team is there to help you create memes, invitations, and "ads" to get everyone excited
This means you can do a lot of preparation as far and clarity and quotes for your team to use ahead of time. If you ask for help with the technical side of things, you will get a strong volunteer to help. Better yet, have that be an assignment if you have a real graphic artist or tech-savvy person on your launch team. It's critical to remember this because the skills they will bring to your graphics will help you get the crowd excited to be there and show up shining for your event.
Steps #4: Technology
Ask for 10 people who feel comfortable with technology to share the event when you go "live" on Facebook. You need to know this step because you will already have 10 solid people sharing your live event. Here is what I mean. Think about all the people who are home right now, and will be over the next few weeks. They will be on social media and when they see that invite pop up for a live event they will want to know what is happening! If this is already assigned then you can target strategically to spread the word to the best audiences.
Steps #5: Moderators Part 1
Moderators are so important. They help you to pick the winners for your giveaways/raffle prizes. This means that the moderator collects the email address and physical addresses. If anything needs to be shipped, they will need to contact the person in private message so that the winners feel taken care of. If the moderator is running everything in the background you can more easily address your topic and audience.
Steps #6: Moderator Part 2
Now that the moderator has been selected, practice in many different settings how to go live prior to the launch. Practice with your mediator. Practice a few times in the safety of your group so that you are ready this comes next because this person is your right-hand man to make sure that the event runs smoothly. This means you can more easily attend to the people who live and filling them with the tips and key points of your book. So now you're probably asking, "When do I take action on this?" Well, this kicks in right up front and the KEY is practicing a few times if you are nervous.
Steps #7: The Moderator Part 3
Moderate will need to have the amazon link, website link, and other links ready to drop into the comment box during the FB live. Pay particular attention to this so that everyone who joins "live" has the opportunity to know where to find your book, your program, your website, and anything else you want to give to during the Launch. Please make sure the links work ahead of time :).
Steps #8: Ask for donations
Donations help to get other authors, entrepreneurs, and businesses involved. If they feel supported they will donate even more. Ask for links, ebooks, kindle books, or physical books from other authors, and make sure they work all ahead of time. When you showcase other authors, it serves them and more people to be aligned with you. Your audience is now exposed to other writers, ideas, impact, and it could be an answer to someone's prayer. Now that is awesome.
Steps #9: Service
Focus your launch on how to serve others by sharing with them the top three tips, steps, etc. for your book. Here's what you do with this. When you are directing information to your audience make sure that they feel served, they feel the value of things. That helps them to stay engaged as well. Remember that during your launch, you can serve and show up shining for their needs.
Talk about all the BENEFITS that your book will give them, and why it is so important. If your book is a fiction or a children’s book, share the impact of the story and what the emotional connection will be with the reader.
Steps #10: Set up.
Set up your decor, backdrop, lighting, and microphone. Decor should not be over flashy, but be supportive. Backdrops should have information but not lists of words that overwhelm. Lighting should be clear, light your face some of your backgrounds, and if you can use natural lighting do that. Avoid backlighting or a window behind you. It floods the camera with light and you are left in the shadow or a silhouette. This is terrible for your audience.
Finally in regards to your microphone, please use a headset with a microphone to help minimize the background noise and focus on your words. Please have your moderator do the same. After all, you are "live!" Pay particular attention to this when you are practicing with your group. There is nothing worse than not being able to hear or see the host! Practice!
Steps #11: Find out where everyone lives.
This is a fun part of the process to see how many people showed up all over the country and possibly the world. Woot! This is a testimony to your preparation and to your tribe sharing with the people. Ask participants to share where they live. Connections within your tribe form with these and the more connections we can share the better it is for your book and future products.
Steps #12: Remind Everyone About Tips and Key Points
As you will be posting invitations to your blog, website, your amazon links, make sure everything is working, and that the tips and key points will really stick with your audience. Congratulate the winners of all the prizes. This step is critical to your success because when people feel they have served they will support and buy!
If you're an author who needed a kick start with Virtual Book Launch, then this article definitely got you off to a great start. The 12 steps we covered will help you get closer to your Virtual Book Launch goals and help you sell your book!
By the way, if you need help with finding clarifying in your message or your launch I highly recommend Author Wizards and all the tools it offers there. Every author who wants to sell their book grab this free 12 tip PDF here: https://april-tribe.ck.page/cbb162f3e1
Best of luck! Now, go launch that book!