Margo Bond Collins
Marketing
Strategies for Authors:
Holding Successful Online Release Parties
Back
in the old, big-six-only publishing days, publishers would host extravagant
parties for their authors, toasting them with champagne and serving caviar on
little crackers while discussing the literary value of the books they produced.
At least, that’s how I imagine it. For all I know, that’s still how it goes.
(Okay. Actually, I’m pretty certain that never happened to the great majority
of published authors. But it’s a nice little daydream.)
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Now,
of course, even authors who publish with the traditional houses are expected to
have a “platform,” a means of marketing their work to potential readers. And
authors who either publish with indie presses or self-publish can’t survive
without a marketing strategy that encompasses a wide variety of social media:
Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and whatever else catches
the public’s eye.
But
it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day minutiae of keeping up with the social
media, easy to forget to do anything other than the online equivalent of
shouting “buy my book!” into the (potential) void. We’re told that we should “build
relationships” with potential readers, but figuring out precisely how to do
that remains a bit of a mystery to many of us, I think.
This
issue was brought sharply to my attention just last week when a fellow author
responded to my invitation to the online release party for my second novel, Fairy, Texas. She asked if I thought
there was any real value to the kind of party I was having—one with giveaways
and prizes—or if I thought people were there only to grab free stuff. She was
considering cancelling the release party for her next book because she wasn’t
certain that it would result in any sales.
I
thought about her question for quite a while before I answered here. After all,
even without a physical
venue for the party, the prizes were going to cost me
something. My indie publishers, while extremely supportive, aren’t able to
provide all that much in the way of giveaways. I have three (and maybe four)
books coming out in a twelve-month period—the result of sending all my
completed manuscripts out at the same time—and holding release parties for all
of them, then mailing out prizes, could add up significantly in terms of cash
and time.
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So
I am including the Steps to a Successful Online Release Party below. These are
a few of the things that I have done in my own release parties.
10 Steps to a
Successful Online Release Party
1. Pick a
Platform. I use Facebook because it’s easy to set an
event page and invite others to participate.
2. Choose a
Time.
So far, I’ve had 3-hour parties; this allows enough time to hold contests and
have conversations, but doesn’t leave much lag time. I’ve seen all-day events,
and my experience has been that there are often whole hours without any active
conversation. I think it’s important to keep the party moving!
3. Arrange for
Prizes.
There are basically two kinds of prizes: the ones you (or your publisher)
provide, and the kind that other people provide. For my first release party, I
had lots of swag printed up to use as prizes, then mailed it all out. For the
second party, I decided to spend the swag and postage money offering gift cards
instead—less work for me, more perceived value to my guests. Although the first
kind of prize was more fun for me, I think the second kind was more fun for the
people who attended my party.
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5. Have a Grand
Prize.
I start the party by announcing the grand prize and then offer several ways to
enter over the course of the party.
6. Create
Contests. For the ebook giveaways, I have party-goers “like”
the author on Facebook or follow on Twitter or add on Goodreads. For the other
prizes (whether gift cards or swag), I ask them to do things connected to my
novel: find theme music for the novel, or suggest actors to play various
characters, or pick out their favorite phrase in a short excerpt. These
contests give the author a chance to interact with the party attendees in fun
ways!
7. Create a
Basic Script Before the Party.
I create a file with all of the major posts already written and arranged
according to posting time. That way I can spend the bulk of my time at the
party interacting with the people there rather than writing up posts and
contests. Remember, the prizes and the posts should be a gateway to actually communicating
with the guests!
8. Interact with
the Guests. Comment on the guests’ posts, on the actors your
guests choose, on the music that’s being suggested. Discuss other things,
too—it doesn’t have to be all about the books!
9. Keep the
Prizes Open for a Day (or so). This way anyone who wanted to
attend but couldn’t will still be able to enter to win. I also add a “Release
Week Giveaway” Rafflecopter at the very end of the party that runs for an
additional week.
10. Have Fun! This
is probably the most important element—as long as you’re having a good time, the
rest of it will work out!
I
would love to hear from other authors, readers, and publicists. What has worked
for you? What hasn’t? How can these ideas be improved? What suggestions would
you give someone who was planning an online release party?
Bio:
Margo Bond Collins is the author of a
number of novels, including 'Waking Up
Dead', 'Fairy, Texas', and 'Legally Undead' (forthcoming in 2014).
She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets.
She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her
first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any
genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts,
zombies, werewolves, and other monsters.
Connect with
Margo:
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/margobondcollins
Thank you for an interesting and informative article, Margo. Best wishes for 'Legally Undead'
Eric @ www.ericjgates.com
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