BY DIANE JORTNER
This week I was reminded that some old truisms are just plain true.
One daughter reminded the other daughter to Never kiss on the first date—leave the guy wanting more.
- I have learned: the best tweets are questions—which need the reader to click to get the answer.
- I taught my freshman writing students: never start a paper with the thesis statement—hook them with an attention-getter first.
- I read that I should: end chapters in the middle of the action—if you want the reader to turn the page.
- People like a little mystery in their lives. Mystery books end up on the New York Times Bestseller List more than any other.
- Sometimes the best part of a vacation is looking at all the brochures and websites of the places you plan to go.
Launching any genre of book should take advantage of this need to the brain to experience suspense.
An author needs to start building anticipation for his or her upcoming book months in advance of the actual release, possibly in advance of finding a publisher or deciding to self-publish.
First, months before any release date is set, establish a platform with a website, a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn presence, and Instagram connections. Build friendships though associations on all accounts and in groups of similar interest. Use this time to hint at your Work in Progress, get people to ask questions, and even beta read for you as you read for them.
As the launch day nears, build more excitement with pre-release reviews, trailers, Blog hops and give-a-ways. Tease your target reader into wanting more every day.
Pre-release opportunities. Once you establish a date of publication the intensity can build. Just this month Amazon has started offering advance sales options to all authors on their Kindle Website
Michael Kozlowski of The GoodEReader explains in his news post :
“One advantage of pre-order is that authors can begin promoting the book before launch to help raise awareness. There are various avenues in the Amazon ecosystem to drum up hype, such as your book’s pre-order page on Author Central, Goodreads, your own site, and elsewhere. Also, pre-orders will contribute toward sales rank and other Kindle Store merchandising even before the book is released, which can help more readers discover your book.”
Press releases can be sent out every step on the way to take advantage of all the free publicity they offer. Public Relation companies like PRUrgent.com, PRLog.org, and Newsvine offer hints on writing press releases and are always searching for interesting content to disseminate to other news outlets.
Book trailers are gaining in popularity as readers learn about upcoming release on the go-to multie-media platform, Youtube. Gerard Bianco discusses How to Use Suspense In Creating a Book Trailer for Your Novel. Xchyler Publishing novel trailers use music, fantastic graphics and automation in their videos to build suspense. Notice the Relative Evil trailer in particular, as it even uses pages from the actual text to hook readers into wanting to know more.
Plan an event to celebrate the launch. This can be a physical party, a Facebook party, a Twitter event, or as The X is planning this week for Shadow of the Last Men live YouTube video event. When you or your publisher promotes your release, encourage retweets, shares, and attendance at events.
Bloggers help authors in many ways. As the date of your release approaches, you involvement in all social media needs to increase. Now is the time to cultivate the friendships you have created and ask for reviews, and blog posts with author interviews, cover reveals. This week, The Author Visits kicked off a five-day blog blast in anticipation of the Shadow of the Last Men event on Saturday.
Giveaways draw in new readers. What gets people more excited than FREE STUFF? One way to get people to know more about your book and help with your promotion is to offer incentives. Rafflecopter, the most popular web tool for the purpose, facilitates entries and prize distribution. Authors, publishers or bloggers can offer readers chances to win a vareity of prizes for those who watch trailers, share and re-tweet promotions, buy books, write reviews, and participate in many other ways in the book launch.
Take your time. Building a kissable relationship takes time, and so does building a relationship with your potential readers. Just like figuring out when to place that first kiss is difficult, so can timing be when putting together all the elements in a successful book launch. Your date might not be ready when you are, or Amazon might not release your book the day you anticipate. Or your reader might not have been primed enough to get excited about your novel. So be adjustable and go with the flow. Just be sure to give enough time from actual availability to the formal event so that you know that readers will be able to buy.
And once your book is out, take about two minutes to celebrate, and then start to anticipate your next release. If the sequel is in the works, include the first chapter in your book. (The reader will start looking forward to the next one right away).
Make sure that those who participated in this launch, knows they are appreciated. Send out thank-you notes. If someone wrote a great review based on reading an e-book, consider sending them an autographed paperback. Give back and offer to highlight others in need of publicity.
This week, the curiosity and anticipation is building as Xchyler promotes JM Salyards’ SHADOW OF THE LAST MEN with a new cover, blog hop, trailer, Rafflecopter contest, Twitter push, and YouTube interview with the author on Saturday.
The final Truism I know is Good Things Take Time. Just like your novel was not written in a day, neither can your book launch be planned or executed quickly. Take the time to think it through, plan it out, revise, and execute for the maximum anticipation and exposure.
Social Media Specialist Diane Lee Jortner fell in love with the media as a high school newspaper editor. With BA in Journalism/Public Relations from Bowling Green State University and a MALS in English from Valparaiso University, she brings her fifteen years’ experience teaching English Composition and her extensive personal social networking experience to The X Team.
In the past year, Diane launched Kids #5 and #6 who graduated from college, #6, the youngest from high school, written a YA mystery novel, and started to blog. In her free time, besides reading almost all types of fiction, she likes to travel with her husband and children.