How to Lead a Book Launch Team

Why You Need a Launch Team

When I launched my book, my platform was small: I had about five hundred followers on each social media platform, including my email list. I needed help.

My launch team spread the word about my book to their virtual and real life friends and churches. They asked their libraries and local independent bookstores to order my book. They pre-ordered, did giveaways of my book on their blogs (I offered twenty-five of my author copies to them for this purpose), and they recommended me to podcasts.

But more than all that, they rallied around me and reminded me I was not alone in launching my book into the world. They gave me confidence, encouragement, and believed my book would and could make a difference in neighborhoods and communities. They were my people.

This was not the only thing I did to launch my book (you can see the rest of my book launch plan here), but I do think the team was an essential component during the weeks leading up to my book release and after.

I have only launched one book into the world (so far), but I’ve been a member of at least a dozen teams. Here is everything I know about launch teams to get you started on this new endeavor. Best of luck!

Launch Team Tips:

Ask an enthusiastic friend to help you lead it. My friend Annie Rim did this for me and was amazing. Some people, like Anna LeBaron and Amy Oden, do this for pay. If you can, find a friend who is savvy on social media and not afraid to lead a group, and ask them to spearhead your group for you. This way it doesn’t feel so smarmy and like you as the author is constantly asking people to share about you.

Begin early. I started my team eight weeks before my book launched. I was afraid my group would lose momentum, but since I only had digital copies available, it took awhile to work out some of the kinks in downloading my book. And by the time my book released, they had plastered it all over social media for weeks and weeks.

Focus on Goodreads. Encourage your team to share their reviews on Goodreads as soon as they complete the book. This makes it very easy for them to copy and paste the reviews on Amazon on launch day.

Create forms for people to sign up for your launch team using Google Forms. It’s free and easy. Don’t forget to collect email addresses and add them to your mailing list (you can upload them from the spreadsheet you generate from your google form).

Do weekly Facebook Lives. Even if you hate yourself on video (which is ME–I loathe myself on video), do a weekly Facebook live. These weekly FB lives were always a technological disaster for me, but I think they helped me and my launch team to bond over the weeks. I usually asked them if they had questions ahead of time, but also had a mini-agenda.

Find fans, not other writer friends. I recruited my launch team from Instagram, Facebook, the writing groups I’m a part of, other Facebook groups (i.e. Sorta Awesome hangout), Twitter, and my email list. I didn’t require them to purchase the book or have a certain number of followers. Anyone could join. I had 206 sign up and about 160 ended up joining the Facebook group.

Think about doing a pre-order bonus. I did this, but I’m still not sure how effective it was. I figured it couldn’t hurt! I also added these emails to my newsletter list, so it helped my list to grow.

Offer the launch team tasks via email AND Facebook. I emailed my group every Monday with some specific tasks (below). Annie shared them in the Facebook group.

Make sharing easy for your team. Provide images, memes, and lots of photos of your book for them to share. These can also be stored in the “files” or “photos” section of your FB group.

Be sure to foster community within your group. I asked my group to share about themselves and their businesses, books, blogs, podcasts, or artwork as well. And be engaged–reply to your launch team when they ask you questions! Facebook favors engagement.

Have your group follow your book’s hashtag. This seemed to be the most useful on Instagram, but if they followed the #InvitedBook hashtag, then it was easy for them to like and comment on one another’s posts about the book.

Launch Team Checklist

This is a list we shared with my launch team and kept it handy in the “files” section. I also emailed it out and posted it within the Facebook group.

  1. DOWNLOAD: Download/read the book
  2. JOIN: Join the Facebook group and introduce yourself! (Set notifications to “all posts” and check out the “files” section for lots of useful info.)
  3. PRE-ORDER: Pre-order the book. Here are some reasons why:
  • Pre-orders help with Amazon algorithms and will put the book in front of more eyes in the days to come.
  • Pre-ordering a book locks you into the lowest price (you won’t be charged until the book actually ships).
  • Pre-orders ensure that Amazon will have enough books in stock after the book releases.
  • Pre-orders convince bookstores that enough people are interested in the book to make it worth their while to purchase it.
  • You will be eligible for some bonuses only available to those who pre-order the book.
  • If you’re a blogger, consider using the pre-order as a giveaway on your blog or on social media to grow your email list or blog subscribers. For the rest of you, you’ll have a copy to share with your friends, family, or church who might be interested in discussing the book. Leslie won’t be offended if you want to give away her book;-) Here’s a useful article that explains more about why pre-orders are important.

4. SPREAD THE WORD: Share about the pre-order bonuses wherever you are active on social media. Be sure to tag Leslie and use the #InvitedBook hashtag any time you share about the book. If you’ve already started reading and are enjoying the book, then tell your followers that (if you say you like a book, people WILL buy it!)

5. GOODREADS: Log in to Goodreads (or open a free account) and mark the book as “want to read” or “currently reading” (small box below the image of the book). Goodreads has over 65,000,000 members. It’s the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations (so it’s a big deal to have some reviews on there!). Go ahead and writer your review as soon as you finish reading the book (see #12 for more on that)!

6. SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow the author on all social media channels, then “follow” the hashtag #Book on any social media where you hang out (especially Instagram). (add links to social media)

7. READ: Aim to finish reading by ____ if you can so we can start discussing in the FB group!

8. SHARE: Highlight parts of the book you like as you read and share short quotes on social media. Tag the author on social media and use the book’s hashtag. When you see posts related to this hashtag in the future, like, comment, and share them. Check to see if she’s posted anything related to Invited and “like” and share those posts! Feel free to make your own memes at Canva or use some provided in the file on the Facebook page. You can also find premade tweets in both of those places. If you are a blogger, consider writing a review of the book on your site, or sharing one of the posts or interviews in the “files” section of the FB group (coming soon!)

9. REQUEST: Did you know you can ask your local library, church library, and independent bookstores to order books? You can! 😉

10. ORDER: Call or visit your local bookstore or church library and ask them to order the book. Be sure to have the full book title and ISBN # in front of you (Invited: The Power of Hospitality in an Age of Loneliness by Leslie Verner ISBN# 978-1513804330). For your library, all you need to do is fill out an online form and they’ll likely be able to order the book!

11. RECOMMEND: Can you think of any podcasts, newspapers, blogs, church groups, conferences, or other speaking venues you could recommend this book to? Here is the link to Leslie’s speaking page on her website.

12. REVIEW ON GOODREADS AS SOON AS YOU FINISH READING THE BOOK: Here’s how: Log in to Goodreads or start your own free account. Go to Invited in Goodreads. Once you’ve finished the book and are ready to write your review, mark Invited “Read” by using the green pull-down arrow underneath the book cover photo. Select the number of stars. When you do that, Goodreads will open up a popup box where you can write your review. (Pro Tip: write this review in Word or notes and you can use the same one on Amazon, your blog, or on social media later on!)

13. REVIEW ON AMAZON ON _____ : Set a timer on your phone or calendar so you will remember to post. We’re shooting for fifty reviews (there are 200 people in this launch team, so we think this is a realistic goal!). When you write, use the author’s last name or “the author,” not “my college roommate” or “my best friend” 😉 You can copy and paste the same review you used on Goodreads or on your blog. This is a helpful article about writing Amazon reviews.

14. TELL: Tell your friends about the book—word of mouth is still the best way to share about books!

Thank you so much for your help! We’re so grateful for your enthusiasm and support.

Additional Resources:

How to Create a Launch Team (Ep. 157) Create If Writing Podcast. I like how the host of this podcasts advocates for doing two kinds of teams–an ARC team and a launch team. In my writer groups, I asked if anyone would like a copy of my book for review. My publisher allowed me to buy ARCS of my book, so I offered these to my writer friends who I knew couldn’t commit to my launch team.

All About Launch Teams with Anna LeBaron (Ep. 68) Declare Conference Podcast. This was SO HELPFUL. Anyone about to launch a book needs to listen to this!

10x Profit Podcast with Jeni B: How to Create a Thriving Online Community with Tonya Kubo (ep. 26) This podcast was really helpful for me as I began thinking about leading my Facebook group.

Have you led a launch team for your book? What would add to this conversation?

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