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[00:00:00] Welcome to Beyond the Book presented by Juxtabook. I'm Zach Kristensen. It's our weekly, Q&A episode. Answering your questions about writing publishing and launching your book. Let's begin.
[00:00:13] / There are so many ways to launch a book. How do you know what path to go down to make the most noise? You know, are you using your social network? Uh, do you, you know, is it worth it to pay for ads? Uh, speaking engagements? What, what are the kinds of things to really help make some noise so that the book will, um, sell at the launch and also really have legs going forward?
[00:00:38] This is a great question and it's probably one of the things that contribute to author procrastination and creates a lot of anxiety, especially after you've put in a lot of hard work to write your book, and now you have to do the other half and launch it.
[00:00:57] So just like launching a book, there [00:01:00] are a lot of different answers. I could give you, but the shortest answer is that it takes persistence. And understanding that there is no one best path for every author.
[00:01:12] It all depends on you as the author to determine your goals, budget and really the effort that you're willing to put in to making your books successful.
[00:01:23] Being an author is an overnight success over a 10 year period. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't any methods out there that you can still use to have an amazing launch.
[00:01:35] At Juxtabook, we follow four steps to help our authors put their launch plan together.
[00:01:43] First. Launching a book is all about connection.
[00:01:46] Second. Conducting an author platform audit.
[00:01:51] Third. Rating the level of those connections.
[00:01:56] And forth, determining the activities that will create the [00:02:00] highest engagement.
[00:02:02] So let's start with the first one, launching a book is all about creating connection. Now, this is more of a foundational principle, but you need to understand that launching a book is all about creating, building and enhancing your new and current connections wherever they are.
[00:02:22] Understanding these relationships that you've built throughout your career with friends and family and colleagues will really help you unlock what activities are going to be the highest value for you and for those that you've connected with over the years, because as you, as the author, you also need to enjoy what activities you're doing.
[00:02:42] That leads us to the second step, conducting an author platform audit. And this is really where we're getting into the meat of identifying your activities. So what you're going to do is you're going to list out all the platforms where you have some degree of influence, and as you list these out, you're going to split [00:03:00] them into two camps. The platforms you have the most influence over and the platforms you have the least influence over.
[00:03:08] Now the platforms you have the most and highest influence over will be things such as your author website, your blog your email newsletter, a podcast that you host. A video series that you are in control of and other value based content that you consistently publish . These are the ones that you have the most influence over because you own them. You make the decisions on your website, who your email is sent to and what content is put in your blog, your podcast, and your email list.
[00:03:41] Now you'll notice I didn't include social media. Granted you do have control over what you post on social media, but you do not have influence over the control of who engages with it, how it's distributed and frankly, what the future of social media is and how your content [00:04:00] will be continued to be distributed.
[00:04:02] So therefore social media falls in the second camp of platforms you have because you have the least influence over it.
[00:04:12] Now additional areas that you can include in the software platform audit. We'll be the communities you're involved in, whether that's online or offline organizations associations or networks that you have enjoyed being a part of, and that you have a consistently engaged with over a significant period of time.
[00:04:29] The third step in this audit will be to rate your connection level with each of the platforms that you have on your list. So use a scale from one to three, with one being the highest connection level. This will help you understand where your book launch opportunities are and how much work you need to put in before, during, and after your book launches.
[00:04:51] This will help you understand where your book launch opportunities are and how much work you'll need to put in before, during, and after your book [00:05:00] launches to create that connection.
[00:05:02] Now once you've completed your author platform audit, the next step is to create marketing and launch activities that will engage and connect with those most likely to buy your book on each of those platforms. Now, this is where you will determine which launch activities could be the most effective, such as Facebook ads, Amazon ads. Being on podcasts or booking, speaking engagements that will help you increase that level of connection with that target audience.
[00:05:30] Now, remember this isn't a last minute process. It's crucial to start planning your book launch at least six months in advance. There are too many authors who reach out to me and that I connect with that are two or three months out. It's still possible to have an effective book launch, but the further out you plan your launch, the better launch that you will have and the better marketing you will have after your launch.
[00:05:55] So to wrap up.
[00:05:57] Launching a book is all about connections. [00:06:00]
[00:06:00] Conduct an author platform audit.
[00:06:02] Rate the level of your connection that you have with each of those in your author platform audit.
[00:06:08] And then finally determine the activities that will create the highest engagement.
[00:06:12] So thank you for your question and good luck on your book launch.
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[00:06:22] If you have any questions about a recent episode, I'd love to hear from you. Visit juxtabook.com/beyondthebook and click the appropriate button to leave your question and we will include it in our weekly Q&A episode.
[00:06:38] Your book is just one chapter in your author journey. Think beyond the book as you craft your path. Thank you for your questions and thank you for listening.
