How To Launch A Book: Fucked If I Know…

How To Launch A Book

How do I launch this book successfully? I haven't got a fucking clue how to launch a book, to be honest, I'm just winging it.

I'll try things that seemed to work for me for other things before like running a giveaway, but apart from that I really don't know.

I'll run a few adverts too, see how they perform.

And just so you know, after the fact I'll probably know more about what doesn't work than what does.

It's a process of elimination when it comes to marketing.

Figuring out what works and what doesn't is part of the game. So if you're worried about wasting hours and dollars on stuff that doesn't work, you're screwed before you start.

You'll have to do just that.

If there's one thing we artists should never cease no matter what our fears, it's getting our stuff out there every way and as often as we can.

Through the process of elimination that is marketing, we eventually stumble on something or a series of somethings that work.

I'd love to tell you there is a template you can apply and, et voila! Tons of readers and tons of sales.

But there's not. There is no foolproof manual here.

What About The Gurus?

Every email list you sign up for in pursuit of marketing know-how will promise you the secret formula, but you won't find it. I can be truthful with you about that.

Both the self-professed and those proclaimed gods by us are good at one thing that we can be certain of…

Marketing.

Yes, there's plenty of great information out there. Stuff delivered with integrity and the benefit of the right kind of experience by people like Seth Godin for example.

But that doesn't teach.

We've got to implement and test these theories and strategies for ourselves.

Many of the books and courses, articles, platforms and principles that claim to expose us to the largest audiences will fail us.

We've just got to accept that and keep trying things because creativity is experimentation and that's what we're doing here.

If it doesn't work, try something else.

Throw the shoe at it and we fail.

So with that philosophy outlined, I figured I'd elaborate a little on some of the things I'm doing for The Artist's Manifesto launch promotion.

Maybe you can try it to market your stuff.

[Tweet “#Creativity is experimentation – that's what we're doing here. #Marketing”]

The Book Launch Giveaway

The one element of The Artist's Manifesto book launch I'm most enthusiastic about is the Giveaway.

I've managed somehow to convince 5 promoters that my promotion is a worthwhile punt for them. Only one of the businesses I approached turned me down.

Probably the best part of this giveaway is that every entrant gets a discount from the promoters in the region of 20%.

The lucky winner of this giveaway will have gold in their bin from the following people…

Cory Huff, the Abundant Artist

Jessica Chan, BestSelf Co

CJ McDaniel, Adazing Marketing

Pressbooks, Book Formatting

ProWritingAid, Writer's Tool Box

Now you can see that these prizes are aimed towards people like you, artists. More specifically, writers and bloggers, because that's who I want to attract.

This all started before Christmas when I decided I'd run a giveaway in the new year.

I didn't know what the giveaway would consist of and I didn't know what I'd put on offer, all I knew was that giveaways helped me build subscribers before.

A word of warning…

If you're going to do a giveaway make sure that the promoters are reliable. You don't want your prizes falling through due to some watery “yeah, sounds good” response on an email from them.

Get a solid commitment with details outlined clearly. If you can get the product delivered to you so you can forward on to the prize winner.

How I Got These Promoters

BesfSelf

Day one, I simply emailed BestSelf from their contact form on their website. I had no earlier involvement with them that could have afforded me credibility.

I was already an affiliate but I had zero sales. So I kept my mouth shut about that.

Lo and behold, Jessica Chan their CMO emailed me back.

She asked me to provide some information about traffic to my site and how I would promote BestSelf. So I emailed her some screenshots and traffic numbers.

Currently, I get about 3500 to 5000 visits per month depending on my activity. Not too bad but still quite small so they could well have turned me down.

If you get higher traffic numbers than that you'll be in a good position to convince promoters to get involved. If you have less than 3000 you can still make this happen.

Just be brave about asking. The worst that can happen is they'll say no.

There's other stuff you'll need to know so stay tuned to the blog for more on my giveaway process.

The Abundant Artist

If you are a creative and you work online then you know Cory Huff of The Abundant Artist.

Around September last year, on a whim, I sent him a mail with a link to the book. Turns out he actually read that email and made contact with me.

In November he was in Ireland so we hooked up for coffee and chats. That's how easy that connection happened.

So when I asked him to come on board the Giveaway his answer was straight to the point – sure.

Cory's contribution is perhaps the most valuable component of the prize. Membership of The Abundant Artist Association worth $400.00.

Deadly or what!

Adazing Marketing

I'm on CJ McDaniel's email list so I took a chance and shot him a mail.

He responded in the positive and agreed, at least in principle thus far, to get involved. I've yet to get a more detail commitment but I'm sure it will come after a couple gentle nudges.

Pressbooks

I'm using Pressbooks to write and format The Artist's Manifesto. I'm also an affiliate for the product so it made sense to ask them to get involved.

The positive response came easy here as I had already been in contact with Liz regarding the setup of my affiliate account.

They're offering a Pro account and a discount to all entrants.

ProWritingAid

With ProWritingAid I needed to show some minor credentials. I've written for The Writing Cooperative on Medium a couple of times and they are a heavy promoter of ProWritingAid.

So I made sure to mention that. I also mentioned, as I did with all outreach to promoters, who else was involved and what they were offering.

This helps keep the quality of the prizes at the same level.

How To Build Your Own Giveaway

Like I mentioned above, if you are looking to promote your own stuff with a giveaway I'll help you do that by laying out my entire process in a later article.

I'm still in the build phase so best to wait until it's over to fill you in on what I did, what worked and what didn't all in one go.

So stay tuned for that.

One thing is for sure though, you've got to be willing to stick your neck out a little to get what you need to build a good prize. All your own art probably won't be enough to sell the giveaway.

I'm obviously including The Artist's Manifesto in the prize but it's not taking centre stage. The promoters prizes will.

I'm gonna wrap things up now because this article is way longer than I had intended and I need to get my ass out the door!

Until tomorrow then…

Gluc!