In my last blog post, I didn’t go deeper into how I was going to execute my book launch plan in detail. I only said that I would make full use of the sample chapter to promote my new book.
So, here’s a detailed book launch plan on how I use the sample chapter to promote my new book from the Trigger Locked series, A Silent Killer.
Does this approach work?
The truth is, I don’t know if this kind of book launch approach will work. Before I begin, let me make it clear here that I don’t have a large following on social media.
And I don’t have a huge mailing list either.
My goal for the book launch is to create as many awareness as I can around the book.
Do I not care about the sales?
Of course, I do. But I don’t expect much from the pre-order sales considering that I have yet to find my passionate readers.
So, I’m one happy camper if I can manage to get a few pre-order sales in between.
You can even do it in one sitting
The good thing about my experimental approach to the book launch is it doesn’t take a lot of time to get the plan up and running. In fact, you can do it in a day.
You can choose to do it even a week before the book’s release date. But if you want a better result, it’s better to get the book launch campaign up and running for at least a month before the release date.
I only began to implement the book launch plan a week before the release date.
Now I somewhat regret not starting the book launch campaign sooner.
My own approach to the book launch
My book launch plan is simple. I only use a website like iAuthor to post my sample chapter and update the permafree book with the sample chapter from the new book.
Of course, having the sample chapter on iAuthor and in the permafree book is only the initial phase.
So, here’s the detail on how I make full use of the permafree book and the sample chapter on iAuthor to market my new book.
The permafree book strategy
If you’re writing a book in series, then it’s a good idea to set the first book from the series as free. Doing so will entice your readers to give the series a try.
Not only that, but you can also use the same permafree book to build your mailing list as well.
Does the permafree book have to be the first book from the series?
Well, it doesn’t have to be the first book from the series. You can even make your standalone book as a permafree as well.
But if you’re not writing a series, just be sure that your new book is targeting the same audience for the best result.
Keep in mind that having your book set as a permafree book is not enough. You need to optimize your book page to make it easy for your target readers to find your book.
The good news is, optimizing your book page for Amazon and other retailers aren’t as hard as it sounds.
Provided that you have an amazing book cover and book description, you can increase the chance of attracting the right readers using keywords related to your book.
But you can’t just use any keywords since not all keywords have a high volume of traffic. And not to mention, the keyword itself may have a lot of competitions. That will make it harder for your book to rank well in your chosen category.
Finding the right keyword for your book takes time. But the good news is you can speed things up by using a software like KDP Rocket.
I only began using KDP Rocket to find the best keyword for A Silent Killer. So, I don’t know if I’m doing my optimization right.
I’ll share with you the outcome once I have the result.
You can stop here if you want since you can leave it as it is. But I tend to go much further by notifying my email subscribers and my social media followers about the updated edition of the permafree book.
If you don’t have any email subscribers, it doesn’t make sense to send an email with an empty mailing list. But you can still blast about the updated permafree book even if you only have a few people following you on social media.
Upload the sample chapter on iAuthor
I love the iAuthor interface since the website also allows you to add links to the retailers’ websites.
If the readers enjoy reading the sample chapter, they can choose to purchase your book at any of their favorite retailers.
Just like the permafree book strategy, I will also notify my email list about the sample chapter available for them to read on iAuthor.
Since I already have the sample chapter on iAuthor, I may as well put the link to the sample chapter on my website.
My target audience can always find the link to the sample chapter if I have the link available on my website.
The marketing channels that I use in my book launch plan
This is the meat of my book launch plan. I hate to say it, but having your book as a permafree book and posting your book sample on iAuthor is still not enough.
So, here’s a list of the marketing channels I’m using and the breakdown on how I use these marketing channels to create awareness around my book.
Email marketing
Even though I don’t have a lot of people on my mailing list, it’s still important for me to keep in touch with them.
I always send an email whenever I updated my blog. Even by sending an email to them once a week, it’s enough to make them aware of any emails from me.
I only send occasional promotional emails to them. And it’s usually when I’m about to release a new book or if there’s a seasonal promotion from the retailers.
For my email marketing need, I use MailChimp. I don’t use anything else since MailChimp has all the things I need.
My email campaign for the book launch is rather simple. I only send a few emails to my mailing list starting from a week before the release date until on the release date.
I will also send them a few emails once the print version of the book is already available on Amazon and other retailers.
Here’s the breakdown of my email content.
A week before the release date
The email that I’m sending a week before the release date is more like a roundup email where I list down all the options that they can choose to read the sample chapter.
And that includes the link to the permafree book as well. There’s a high chance that some of the people who are joining my mailing list aren’t aware of the permafree book.
I also use the opportunity to promote my Patreon page since those who support me on Patreon will get an early access to the book.
Well, that’s not really an option for them to read the sample chapter. But it doesn’t hurt for me to talk about one of the perks of supporting me on Patreon.
If I want to demonstrate the value of being my Patreon supporter, that should be the best time to do it.
A day before the release date
It’s only a short email telling them to read the sample chapter on iAuthor in case they haven’t read it yet.
On the release date
It’s important to send them an email to remind them that the book will be released on that day. Rather than linking to the retailers, I end up driving them to the book page on my website.
After all, the page itself has everything including the option to buy directly from me.
In case you’re wondering, I’m using Gumroad to sell my books directly on my website. You can still use Gumroad even if you don’t have a website.
Print book release
All this time, the book launch campaign is only focusing on the ebook pre-order since the print book will be available for sale a few days after the release date.
Since I’m using CreateSpace, it will take a few days for the print book option to appear on Amazon. And it will take another few weeks for the book to be available on other retailers.
In this situation, I will have to send another email to my mailing list again to notify them about the print book available for sales on other retailers.
My Twitter strategy isn’t that different from my email marketing strategy. I just need to schedule tweets a week before the release date, a day before the release date, on the release date and also during the print book release.
And yes, I also scheduled one of the tweets to promote the permafree book and my Patreon campaign as well.
There are many social media scheduling tools out there. But my personal favorite is Tweetdeck. After trying out so many social media scheduling tools, I still end up coming back to Tweetdeck.
It’s unfortunate that you can only use Tweetdeck to post and schedule posts on Twitter, though.
I also optimize my tweets by posting them at the right time, using a relevant and popular hashtag and add a picture to all my tweets.
When it comes to graphic, my favorite way to create graphics optimized for any social media is to use Canva. It’s free to use. You can use it to create pretty much any graphics, including the book cover. I only use Canva for creating social media graphics.
As for finding the right time to post on Twitter, I use Tweriod to determine the best time to post on Twitter.
The free tier allows you to identify when is the best time to post for more exposure. But the premium version allows you to identify when most of your followers are online on Twitter.
I only use the free version, in case you’re wondering.
When it comes to finding popular and relevant hashtags, my favorite place to go is Ritetag. Ritetag can identify which hashtags are overused, popular, suitable for the long-term exposure and unpopular.
Ritetag also has a premium version. But for me, I’m doing good with just the hashtag search feature alone which is free to use.
My Facebook strategy is just like my Twitter strategy. But the difference is I scheduled my Facebook post to be live at 10 p.m.
I always have all my blog update to be posted on Facebook at 10 p.m. So, the book launch campaign will be posted at the same time as my usual Facebook update.
I use Buffer to schedule my posts on Facebook.
Tumblr
I’m also active on Tumblr. So, it’s important for me to create a book launch campaign on Tumblr as well. The strategy for posting on Tumblr is the same as my Facebook strategy.
But the difference is I will add tags to all of my Tumblr posts for more exposure. Adding hashtags to your Tumblr posts will make it easy for people to discover your posts on Tumblr.
Ah, the wonder of hashtags.
How to know if the book launch plan is working
Well, it’s easy to tell whether my book launch plan is working or not. If I manage to get pre-order sales, then it means that the book launch plan is working.
At the very least, the result will also show you which marketing channel is working best for you. You can then use the same marketing channel to keep on promoting your books while building your mailing list at the same time.
What now?
Since I’ve just implemented the book launch plan as I write this blog post, I’ve yet to see the effectiveness of my book launch plan.
I’ll let you know when I have the result.