Carrie Bradshaw's Guide to Launching a Book with *Style*

Carrie got really lucky when she was doing her book launch.

For one thing, even though she was making the typical palty writer's wages (and what little money she had she was spending on designer clothes and a closet full of Manolo Blahniks) she was somehow able to have the book launch of every writer's dreams.

Her friend Samantha, a PR big wig, volunteered to organize everything for free. Samantha found a stylist to help Carrie convey the perfect image on her book cover (I guess the stylist worked for free too). Sam planned the huge, expensive book launch party (apparently the publisher paid for that) with everybody who's anybody on the guest list and photographers lined up waiting for Carrie's big arrival. A dream!

Unfortunately, not many of us have a best friend who's a publicist. And God knows that in reality, even major publishers don't help authors get the word out about their book. There's no launch party, no all expenses paid book tour. Nada.

It's like, slam bam thank ya ma'am with the publisher's of today! Hardly any follow up care at all after your baby hits the bookshelves.

But that's okay--even if Carrie hadn't had Samantha and the fairy tale publishers, she could have had a stylish book launch simply by implementing a few online marketing strategies.

Since Andy has already been through all this book launch stuff before, I asked him for some pointers. Here are the main things I learned from him, plus I threw in a few bonus tips of my own for good measure:

1) Get a big list--A list is a database of email addresses collected from people who give you permission to contact them. Everybody's inboxes are already overflowing, so you've got to give folks a really good reason to fork over the old email addy. Maybe you lure people to your list by offering to send them a weekly or monthly ezine filled with things they want to read (this is what Andy does). Perhaps you have a promo offer--"Give me your email address and you could win a free copy of my book."  You can get creative with it, but you'll want to have a website or blog where you have an in-your-face subscription box that allows folks to sign up for the super generous thing that you're offering them.

2) Start blogging. If I were in charge of your book launch, I would have you start your blog at least 8 months before your scheduled launch. I know, I know, that takes a heck of a lot of pre-planning, plus you've got to actually write quality stuff on the blog during that time to build up your readership.

Yes, it's a lot of work, but quit your complaining already. Writing is your thing, remember? A writer should have an unfair advantage over the mere mortals who do most blogs, so play that card. Use writing as part of your marketing strategy. I'd like you to write 5 days a week, one post a day. If you can't handle that, then post at least 3 times a week. If you aren't willing to do that, then honestly, a blog might not be the best idea for you. You've gotta post pretty frequently. Of course the topic of your blog will be the concepts surrounding your book.

3) Setup a "media room" on your blog or website, then get your blog mentioned in mainstream print media. Yeah, I know. The media room part is easy. The getting national mainstream media exposure, not so easy. For a step-by-step guide on how to do both of these things, see my article over at Coachamatic.com. 

4) Cultivate online relationships. Your goal is to make friends all over the blogosphere. These friends will help you spread the word about you and your book when the time comes. To do this you've gotta leave the little lily pad that your own blog sits on and hop, hop, hop on over to your neighbor's blog. You'll go around to various blogs and communities socializing, leaving relavent comments, getting to know people, encouraging other bloggers, and eventually you'll make your way into neighboring ponds where you'll meet even more friends.

Think of yourself as Julie McCoy, cruise director of The Love Boat. In addition to writing on your own blog, socializing is your daily job. Thank God it's fun, cuz you've gotta do it pretty much every day to cultivate those relationships.

4) Execute an online article publishing campaign. Ahh, one of my favorites. When you're using online article submissions to promote a book, the trick is that you can't directly write about your book. With online articles, publishers want quality educational content, and that means nothing promo-y is allowed.

So, if your book is about an American living in Marrakesh, Morocco, then you can write wonderful accounts of what it's like to live there, where to go, what to see, what the culture is like, what the architecture is like, but under no cirucumstances can you ever say, "In my new book, My Marrakesh, I talk about..." Subtlety is the key and you'll want to start submitting articles about 6 months or more before your launch. If you follow my tips, you can launch an absolutely kick-ass online article writing campaign for your book launch.

5) Buy ads on AdWords to send traffic to your site.

6) Go on a virtual book tour. Your publisher won't spring for the 4 star hotel and the first class plane ticket for your cross country book tour, and you're not independently wealthy, so you've gotta be forward thinking when it comes to book tours.

Going on a virtual book tour means that you make arrangements with the friends that you've been making across the blogosphere to make guest appearances on their blogs. One day you'll hang out at so-and-so's blog, doing interviews, sharing thoughts, and perhaps doing a guest blogging stint. The next day, you're on to another person's blog. This is where all the time and effort your invested into your Julie McCoy impersonation pays off in terms of your book launch.   

Whew! Those are the 6 steps that Carrie (or you) would follow to do a book launch if she (or you) didn't have the fairy tale publishers and the best friend who happens to be a publicist.

Admittedly, this does require a bunch of work, some advanced planning, and a good dose of patience. Maybe this wouldn't be the book launch of Carrie's wildest dreams, but it's one that would fit her (and your) itsy-bitsy writer's budget while still making a decent splash in the market.

Comments

[Gavin Heaton]

Nice, Sharon! Now I have this image of you as a cruise director -- a cute cap, navy blazer ... and a clipboard. But you know, if I was to write a book, I think I would have to hire you as my publicist -- I am just not THAT organised.

Oh, and what a great idea for a book! Imagine an expatriate American living in exotic Morocco ... would make for a fascinating read (I'm sure) ;)

[Sharon Sarmiento]

You know Gavin, when I was watching Love Boat as a kid, Julie's cute cruise director uniform played a big part in me wanting to be like her. I think I'll start wearing an outfit like hers around town and see if anyone notices :-).

I would LOVE to be coordinator for your book launch. And it would be a cinch cuz you're already doing most of the tips! I'm ready when you are...;-)

I agree, I think there would be a big demand for a book about life in Morocco. Now, if only there was an American writer living there who would be interested in making such a book....

[Maryam in Marrakesh]

You guys are hillarious!!!! I swear writing a book just to be able to give it to the two of you would be plenty reason alone to do it!:-)

You both are like sunshine - I just have to figure out a way to bottle it:-)

[Julia]

Great information. I think the virtual book tour is a great idea and would definitely get you exposed to different audiences.

[Jennifer]

This article is soo true! I'm coming out with a book and we'll spend a good year planning. Better to take matters into your own hands I say!! Thanks for sharing :)

[Andrea]

Great article!

I'm contemplating throwing a book launch party for the publication of my masters thesis as a monograph, but there's a good chance it'll be really expensive... like $60 a book! Is it poor taste to throw a launch party for an expensive semi-academic text?