DAY 30. LAUNCH WEEK – PART ONE
The Pre-Launch Promotion Campaign switches to a Soft Launch Campaign.
What do I mean by Soft Launch?
Here is my strategy.
My goal for this launch is REACH – and income as a result of that reach.
That’s why I want to build the email marketing sales funnel for book one, Murder and Mozzarella, then use it to drive support for all of the books in the series.
Soft Launch
A $0.99 [£0.99] book launch where reviewers can leave reviews on the live platform. Free ARC available on BookFunnel.
Then wait a week or so until I have at least five good reviews and hopefully a lot more. Ideal target is 20 reviews.
Then switch over to the Hard Launch at the same price.
Hard Launch Promotion Plan
All of the focus is on book one – Murder and Mozzarella.
You have to drive traffic and visibility.
There are basically two ways people can discover your book.
FREE. Either, they are going onto Amazon or on Google and searching for your kind of book. Hopefully your book will come up.
PAID. The alternative is that you have to pay to be on someone’s email list or search results, so you will have to pay for advertisements.
PART ONE – TEN FREE PROMOTIONAL TOOLS
*1. Blog Posts. One blog post announcing the release. One. Then share that announcement everywhere.
ACTION> Write this blog post in advance.
*2. Blog Posts linked to the book. At least three blog posts about the book and the topics and themes every day over the next two weeks. All linked to the new book. But no direct pitching or sales. Make it useful. Recipes. Local area research. Behind the scenes on the character. Just adding a simple link to the book page on Amazon at the end.
ACTION> Write these blog posts in advance and have them ready to go. Create nice graphics with your book cover to use as the feature image for the post. Then share that post with relevant Facebook groups where you are a member and use relevant Twitter hashtags to increase reach.
*3. Social Media. PLUS – Share the success of the launch every day on social and to pals etc. Just chatty and friendly. No pitching or hard selling. I use Facebook and Twitter.
ACTION>Draft the text for these out in advance. Create nice simple graphics with your book cover which catch the eye.
*4. Friends and writing groups. Shamelessly share how excited you are about the launch and ask them to share with their lists and online platform – give them the link to your announcement post or social media post with a nice graphic. Offer to do the same for their next book launch, as you have done before of course.
ACTION>Draft the text for these messages/emails in advance
*5. Email List. They should already know all about the launch, since they have supported you from the start [*waves to everyone who supported my 30-Day Book Launch Challenge*]. Now is the time to thank them for their support, remind them to leave a review and to share the announcement with their pals.
*6. Niche Facebook Groups. If you have been sharing your progress with selected Facebook groups relevant to your niche, let them know how things are going and share the link. No hard sales pitching – be useful and relevant.
ACTION>Make a lists of all of the Facebook groups where you are active so that you don’t miss any.
*7. 99cents Facebook Groups. You already have the graphics and text so it only takes minutes to share the Facebook post with bargain hungry readers.
ACTION>Make a lists of all of the 99cents and Kindle 99cents Facebook groups now. If you are running a free launch for a few days, do the same thing – there are lots of free Kindle book groups.
*8. Amazon Affiliate Banner advert on your website. If you are signed up for the Amazon affiliate programme, you can link your book to Amazon using a text link, such as this: http://amzn.to/2DRRvUG, or add the text and image code into a widget on your website which will display a one-click purchase link to your book. Like this:
Affiliate links are only allowed from your website. Everywhere else you have to Link to Amazon Page for Book – use the direct link that ends in the ASIN – not an affiliate link which is against terms of service if is not on my website. Eg. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0791J3HCF where the ASIN = B0791J3HCF
*9. Use technology to make it easier to spread the world.
“Today’s the day! My new book is live on Amazon and just $0.99 for a limited time. Grab a copy and feel free to around. Link =http://amzn.to/2GEy0g5
People often need to see your promotion seven times or more before they actually remember to take advantage of it. To save time, you can used automation and amplification tools like MeetEdgar, CoPromote, Buffer, and Hootsuite to get as much scheduled in advance as possible.
*10. Create eye-catching graphics and visuals for every promotion.
For example:
>>>>>>>
BOOK ONE. MURDER AND MOZZARELLA
The 1st book in the NEW Kingsmede Cozy Mystery series is out now! Only 99c/99p on Kindle or FREE on #KindleUnlimited! Also available as a paperback!
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0791J3HCF
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0791J3HCF
>>
How to Create the Promotional Graphics – FREE
Derek Murphy from Creative Indie has shared a super useful range of PowerPoint and Google Slides which anyone can easily modify, simply by replacing the cover image. There is also a YouTube video telling you how to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DaOe5Nj4WU&t=8s
Save that specific slide as an image, and you can use it to promote your work anywhere.
How to Create the 3-D Book Image – FREE
I followed the instructions here> http://www.myebook.co.za/how-to-make-a-free-3d-cover-image-of-your-book
You will need Flash to open the editor, then follow the instructions, download the 3-D image provided, paste your book cover on top as a layer and drag the corners to fit over the 3-D image. Save as an image.
I used this 3-D image in the Powerpoint slides and on other graphics in Canva.
Tomorrow I will chatting about PAID Promotional services.
In the meantime – back to writing book three and waiting for book reviews to pop up. Nina.
