It gets frantic.
It gets chaotic. It’s hard to keep track of all that’s happening! It’s a blast!
But if not
well-prepared, the adventure can turn ugly. Nobody shows up. People show up but
leave too early. Your posts are so far in between that people lose interest.
Your posts aren’t engaging so you get little response. Four hours is a very
long time! (Or one, even, if it’s dragging.)
I’ve been attending on-line Virtual Book Launch Events for a
few years now. Before I became an author hawking her own books, I never knew
there was such a thing. But, you know, there’s something about the magic of
book contracts and promotion expectations, to thrust one into the midst of
figuring things out.
I was part of a group book launch for our romance anthology
and each of us only were responsible for a segment based on our story in the
collection. It was well-attended and lively.
At each event for other authors I attended, I made note of
what the virtual book launches included. Here’s what I found. Features that
were the same in each of the events were:
Themes
Cover art displayed
Book blurb
available
Purchase info
easily found and often presented
Links to
author pages of various sorts
Giveaways
(often run by Rafflecopter www.rafflecopter.com
free basic
service, but they
have paid plans with more options); tweet,
post, share to win
Video or audio
links (including book trailers for author’s own or others’
books;
might be links to music or YouTube videos of content
related
to your book)
Pictures
related to the era/theme/topic
Some of the
virtual launches also included:
Trivia questions of the era/theme/topic/book
to win prizes
Pictures of
foods you are “serving”; sometimes with recipes
Opportunities
to be named in next book, or vote on a character name
Links to free
stuff on the author’s site--bookmark, excerpts, etc.
Here’s the plan for my Facebook Launch for Pastabilities:
1)
Start the event with the book trailer for Pastabilities and run it once every hour
of the event because some don’t stay the whole time and others arrive late.
2)
Provide links to YouTube cooking videos I made.
3)
Provide links to YouTube videos of short mystery
stories spaced throughout the event hours.
4)
Provide links to YouTube cooking videos I
follow.
5)
Post recipes from the book and accompanying
pictures throughout the event hours.
6)
Share pictures from my Pinterest board of what
characters look like.
7)
Post pictures of Phoenix and Glendale, AZ
throughout the event hours.
8)
Give away free books, recipe cards, and cooking
gadgets.
9)
Post fun
food facts, kitchen gadget reviews, and provocative statements about the book
content.
10)
Post a
link to an excerpt for the second book in the series, Prime Rib and Punishment.
11)
Post a link to a book club guide for Pastabilities and an offer for me to
participate in one via Skype/Facetime or in person.
12)
Create trivia questions to post about the book,
mysteries, cooking, police
procedures, etc.
13)
Create lists of other mystery writers to invite
and questions to ask; feature one or two each hour.
14)
Prepare a series of tweets and Facebook posts
that you ask friends to post to invite more people to the event.
15)
What prizes will I give out for which questions?
(apron, recipe cards, recipe
books, signed copies of my books and
others’ book, measuring devices, pot holders, and so on).
16)
Create an hour-by-hour outline of
content/contests/videos/and so on.
17)
Don’t overplan. Allow time for attendees to ask
and respond to questions and to interact with one another.
My big Ah, Ha! was that while writing is a solitary pursuit,
a book launch is a celebratory sharing. People want to be part of that energy!
This post focuses on virtual (as opposed to live event) book launches and what
happens in them.
In last week’s post, I gave you my template for planning a
Facebook event. Do all that first, then start on these items.
Posting plans for the Facebook Book Launch of my culinary
mysteries:
Here is the tentative plan I drafted for the Facebook event
celebrating the re-release of Pastabilities
(formerly Mission Impastable) in
the fall. I’m planning the event for
one week after the release date I’m given to ensure the book is available.
That’s just a little insurance policy decision based on past experience!
For my Facebook Event, I’ll invite people from my on-line
writing and cooking groups. This is several thousands people. Sadly, the actual
number attending will be much less. However, by asking friends to tweet and
announce my event on Facebook, I have the possibility of many people I don’t
know attending. FB will track invitations and acceptances, but keep the event
public so anyone can drop in.
I am planning a
four-hour event. The book cover and buy button will be prominent, as will the
book blurb and early reviews. I’ll post a link my web page, blog, and Twitter
account in a pinned area at the top. When the party is happening, messages
scroll by fast.
In the invitation, I’ll tell attendees to bring cream
cheese, chutney, and crackers with them. The first post is a recipe from Pastablilites for a quick appetizer to
munch on throughout the event.
Four Hour Event:
Welcome to all and show book cover. Thank them for
attending. There’s still time to invite other friends to drop in (give the link
to invite others). Give overview of what’s coming up
Post the recipe for “Alli’s Super Easy and Elegant Cream
Cheese Appetizer” from Mission Impastable
Post question 1
Post the book blurb
Post early reviews
Announce prize winner for question 1
Post question 2
Food Facts you might not know
Play book trailer (or reviews, cover, blurbs) for guest
author
Interview/interaction with a culinary mystery author who
wrote TITLE
Post a recipe from Pastabilities
with a picture
Play book trailer for Pastabilities
Give Pinterest link to the board for Pastabliities’ characters and scenes
Announce prize winner for question 2
Show YouTube cooking video I made for Hermosillo Salsa.
Post question 3
Post a link to an excerpt for the second book in the series,
Prime Rib and Punishment
Post a link to a book club guide for Pastablilities and an offer for
me to participate in a book club
meeting via Skype/Facetime or in person.
Play book trailer (or reviews, cover, blurbs) for guest
author
Interview/interaction with culinary mystery author who wrote
TITLE
Announce prize winner for question 3
Post question 4 (winner announced at beginning of next hour)
Links to short mystery stories on-line
Share titles and synopses of the six books in the series
And so on.
Continue in this vein--some repetition, some new content.
Your helper person(s) might be in charge of the posted answers to questions and
determining winners as well as managing the posting of on-line videos and other
content like pictures or recipes, freeing you to respond to questions, conduct
interviews, and facilitate interactions with other authors.
Next week, in Part 3, I’ll give the nitty gritty of setting
up the actual event on Facebook. See you then! In the meantime, start planning
your event.
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