Guide to Building a Book Launch Team

A Book Launch Team is a collection of people who participate in your book marketing by completing promotional events as required. As a result of their participation, the team members earn incentives or do it as a goodwill gesture.

A book launch is not one event, even though it is based on one week. There are a lot of moving parts that must all come together the first week your new book is published. A book launch will feel daunting without any structure if you don’t have the intention from the start. A good book launch, on the other hand, has structure—structure that begins with the book’s basic targets.

The true purpose of your book may be to:

increase sales for your company, increase your reputation or influence in the industry, get paid speaking opportunities, build a forum to launch a new venture, recruit investors, or something else that benefits your company or profession.

Always have your target in mind when making any book marketing decision, even decisions about your book publication.

In this post, we’ll cover the topics why creating a book launch team is important and explain how to create one at the first place.

What is a Book Launch Team?

Your launch squad, also known as a street team, is a group of individuals who can ensure that your book launches successfully. They may be fans of your past work, blog followers, friends who want to help you, or community members. And, in an ideal situation, a mix of all of these.

The success of your book launch, as well as the long-term success of the book, is heavily influenced by the launch team. They’re a group of people who are as enthusiastic as you are about your book and brand, and they want you to excel.

As the book’s author, it’s your responsibility to lead your team in taking steps both before and after the book’s release. During the launch, members of the launch team will assist you in obtaining ratings, sharing the book launch, and obtaining downloads for your book.

If you have a bad launch, you’ll have bad book sales and can spend the rest of your life trying to get people to read your book.

Your launch team will read the book ahead of time and write a truthful review of it for publication during launch week.

Why should you have a Book Launch Team?

• The first week, when the book will get 50 to 100 consumer reviews on Amazon
• Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pre-orders have been placed with major retailers
•  A community of people who are dedicated to spreading the word about your book
• Readers who are as enthusiastic as you are for your latest book

Book sales are also boosted by positive reviews. If you can get 20-30 ratings in the first week, your book can gain a lot of traction in the rankings. It’s the strongest social evidence that your book is being read and that people are interested in what you have to say.

How to Build Your Team?

Everyone enjoys receiving a free book, particularly when the book is brand new and unavailable to the general public. Offer them any options for joining your book launch team if you want to initiate the partnership by asking them about your book. Explain what you’ve done in a few sentences and have any credentials. Describe what you want to do in your book. Finally, because this is a huge one, give special presents to those who join the book launch squad, such as a copy of the book but not a bribe.

Ideas for forming a book launch team:

• Make a list of 20-30 people that you can personally touch. This may be corporate partners, online relationships, or email list subscribers. This is your core squad, or what I refer to as your level 1 launch team. They’re the ones who care the most about your launch. Perhaps they participated in a previous launch and now want to sign up right away.
• Make personal contact with others. By contacting people, you meet on a personal level, you can obtain a firm pledge from them via email.
• Create a procedure for filling out an application form. This establishes an entrance barrier. Serious players will fill out and stick to the game. You inform the prospective member about what is required of them and what they will be responsible for during the application process. The selection process establishes transparency and gives applicants preferential access to launch team materials.
• Invite individuals you’ve collaborated with and trust to assist you with the project, such as podcasters, writers, and influencers.

Asking your new followers, such as those who enter your mailing list or track you on social media, is the best way to fill up your launch team. NEVER purchase a mailing list or make a solicitation of people you don’t know. You’ll come off as desperate and dishonest if you do this.

Steps for Creating a Book Launch Team

Here’s a rundown of the steps to putting together the launch squad:

• To begin the recruiting process, contact at least 20-30 people directly. Request their approval to join the launch virtually or physcially.
• Extend your reach to social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• Assemble a reward package: a free downloadable download, a paperback, a question-and-answer community call, or a behind-the-scenes look at the launch.
• Choose between a Facebook, WhatsApp or Telegram Group as a medium of communication.
• Make it clear what you want from the launch. What steps do they take? When should it be taken, and how should the action plan be implemented?
• Submit a “review alert” a week after the launch, and stay in touch with the community on a weekly basis.

Inviting people to enter of their own free will to your team is a good idea. Do not use coercion or shame to get others to participate and especially not bribing them.

But the question is, how serious are they about carrying it out?

It’s an unfortunate fact that not everyone on the squad can follow through. Perhaps they didn’t like the novel, didn’t have time to read it, or were unsure what to do after the launch. It’s possible that they won’t leave a review for a variety of reasons.

You will only do your utmost to motivate people in the launch to maintain the pressure momentum. This is where delivering value and team benefits will pay off in the end.

Small Tasks for the Book Launch Team:

Focus on following up on some of your earlier promises, keeping people informed about your book, and making requests. Small requests are significant because they demonstrate your members’ dedication to your book. You’re leaving a lot on the table if you just call for assistance after the book’s release date. Getting the book launch team members to complete small tasks like posting on social media would encourage them to complete larger tasks like leaving feedback for your book on the day it is published.

1. Before the launch date, read the novel. If they see something out of the ordinary, such as spacing issues or misspellings, give them input.
2. During launch week, write an honest review of the book and post it.
3. Spread the news about the book’s release by posting about it on social media, discussing it in a weekly blog post, and initiating a conversation about it in chat rooms. This could include things like tweets and Facebook status updates.
4. Inside the launch party, discuss advertising ideas. A Facebook Group will be useful in this situation. Members will quickly share marketing concepts and plans for the book.
5. Take a snapshot of yourself with a paperback copy. This will necessitate having the paperback ready ahead of time to deliver to selected team members so they can take the picture before the launch.

Provide a list of action plans for the team to use during launch week. Allow them to choose tactics that appeal to them and work into their timetable. You can motivate the team by implementing a point structure.

A number of points are awarded to participants who take action and complete each promotional campaign. It’s possible that you’ll get even more rewards as a result of this.

Offers to the Book Launch Team

• Access to the book’s digital edition before anybody else. This can be in the form of a PDF or a Mobi file. Check out the free calibre app to make a PDF or mobi file of the novel.
• A free hardcopy of the book will be mailed to you.
• A free webinar or a Facebook Live Q&A session: Hold a live webinar to get up close and personal with your team. You chat about the novel, dig through the launch’s behind-the-scenes plans, and share insider information that no one else has.
• Access to a secret Facebook network for members only.
• You will use this space to upload videos, exchange content, and have real-time conversations with your team while they get excited about the launch.
• Additional freebies that you choose to share with your staff, such as free training videos depending on the content of your book.
• Subscribers will get an advance copy of a workbook that you will be selling.
• Early access to course materials that will not be accessible until the publication of the novel.

The aim is to give a lot of value to the team so that they feel like they’re a part of something meaningful. This will boost the degree of commitment you get from members during launch week as they read and promote the novel.

Timelines for the Book Launch Team

If you’ve put together a team and know what campaign activities you need to complete, you’re ready to go. The final question has to do with timing. When do you start and when do you start making requests? Here’s a straightforward schedule that most book launch teams will follow:

• 6–8 weeks before the event: Begin shortlisting members for the launch squad.
• 30 days from now: Give the squad a digital copy of your book to read.
• 2 weeks from now: Request that the team choose their favourite quotations and put pre-orders.
• Week of the launch: Request that someone on the team publish a book review on Amazon and Goodreads.
• Following that, request that your staff post information about your book on social media.

If you build a launch team successfully and lead them accordingly, the team may last for weeks, months, or even years.

You have three options for getting the advance copy to your squad:

1. Form in PDF format. If you’re sending it via email, attach the PDF to the message. Drop the book in Dropbox or Google Drive and share the connect with your team for larger files. People can read the book without having to create an account on Dropbox.
2. Bookfunnel is a website that helps people find books. This is a fantastic place to distribute your book. There is a yearly membership fee for BookFunnel, but it is well worth it if you launch often.

Final Thoughts

A book launch team is important for every book’s success. Almost all bestselling books have book launch teams at their heart. And if this is your first book, assemble a small team to help you promote it. You should expand the book launch squad in the future.

You should also enlist the assistance of members of the first book launch team for the second book launch. You now know how to put together a book launch squad from the ground up. A launch squad, when handled right, will be a fantastic part of the author experience. There’s nothing quite about seeing thousands, if not hundreds, of people happy to share the news about you. Use these pointers to assemble a successful launch team before releasing the next novel and watch your book become an absolute hit.