Behind the Scenes of a Bestselling Launch
By Dan Blank | March 25, 2016 |
Image by Eva Rinaldi
Can you imagine getting more than 18,500 preorders for something you create? Today I want to talk about what it took for one author to do just that — attract 18,500 preorders prior to the release of a new book.
Imagine that…
… for your book.
… for your art.
… for your craft.
… for your business.
… for anything creative you are launching.
That you receive so many preorders it guarantees you success.
Okay, the context of this is one author — Michael Hyatt — but I’m actually going to spend very little time talking specifically about him. Why? Because he had a team of people working on his launch, plus a co-author.
Michael’s latest book, co-authored with Daniel Harkavy and titled Living Forward, was just released. Yes, it’s nonfiction, but the points below apply to all types of books, and many other forms of launches, whether it is a business, art or something else.
Earlier this week, Michael’s head marketer, Chad Cannon, shared a post about their book launch. I want to share highlights below, and really dig into several key elements that are critical for you and your work.
#1 You Need a Team
How many people helped Michael’s book get into readers’ hands? This many:
“There were about fifteen people speaking into various pieces of the campaign with a team of three to four involved in the day-to-day details.”
In the recent past I’ve talk a lot about how important collaboration is for your career. It would be so easy for us to look at Michael’s impressive credentials, factor in those of his co-author, and assume that alone is enough to ensure success.
Well, he didn’t think so.
So he built a team. Of course, he had his publisher — Baker Books — and their team. Yet, still that wasn’t enough. So he brought in his own chief marketing officer, plus a bunch of others executing on just the marketing end of things.
If you aren’t familiar with Michael’s work, it’s worth noting that he has an “operation” that works at the professional level. When he got serious about video, he built a video studio and office in his yard; he brings in professional video folks to do his videos. A screenshot from his Instagram:
So it’s not surprising that he has a marketing team focused on the launch of this new book. The question for us becomes: how can you consider creating a team for yours? One that doesn’t break the bank, and allows you to attend to your many other responsibilities.
My advice to get you started:
- Create colleagues. Others who do work similar to yours, and are in a similar place that you are. These folks MAY be local, but they don’t have to be. Most of mine live all over the country, and really, all over the world.
- Identify a few supporters who can help give feedback and keep you accountable. Folks you ask a little bit of every so often, and who will give good feedback.
- Nurture your early fans. So often people IGNORE the five people who love their work because they are so busy trying to get 1,000 people to love their work. If you have five people who know what you do, who love what you do — reward them!
- Identify processes for your work. This allows you to begin to be able to consider who can help you accomplish them. For instance, I hire interns for some work that I do. That is only possible if I identify a process they can help take over for me.
- Create a street team (or launch team). Here is a post that explains the concept. For Michael Hyatt, and many other authors, I see them reach out to their audience inviting 100 or so to become a street team. The author provides behind-the-scenes access if the street team members agree to help promote a specific book.
#2 You Need Time for Your Launch
How long before book launch did Michael’s team begin preparing? This long:
“Our marketing team built out a launch plan over a year ago.”
I talk about this all the time. For many of my clients, our work begins a year before a launch. For the work I did with Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, we began working on the book launch a full year prior to its release. (See — it’s not just for nonfiction!)
Here is a look at how Michael’s team spent that year:
“[The marketing team] spent countless hours refining and executing [our launch plan].”
Let’s let that sink in — a team of people separate from the author spent “countless hours” for an entire year.
Do you have to spend countless hours? Of course not. My advice to get started:
- As I mentioned above, get some collaborators.
- Do an initial brainstorm. Remove yourself from your normal context — go to the library, or to a cafe, or to a friend’s work space. Leave your phone in the car. Don’t plug in the internet. Brainstorm everything you want to accomplish and the experiences you want to create. Use this time to feel a sense of freedom of what is possible, not the crushing weight of your normal responsibilities. Bring coffee, and a friend if possible.
- Focus on a few specific actions. Identify a few things you want to do REALLY WELL, then ignore the hundreds of other things people tell you that you have to do.
- Focus on moments of connection with your audience — not spinning your wheels posting content that you hope some social media algorithm picks up. Make this a human process filled with conversation, not a technical process of simply cross-posting stuff on social media.
- Schedule regular check-ins on your plan. Perhaps weekly you go back to that cafe your with game plan, and take 20 minutes (over coffee) to check in and adjust.
#3 Worry About Who Will Share Your Message as Early as Possible
Too often, we focus on the message itself, assuming that a great message will naturally spread.
Nope. It often doesn’t.
The term “influencers” has been thrown around a lot the last five years. Yes, I’m gagging as much as you are. People are not to be judged by their marketing value to you.
But…
As you develop a launch plan. As you develop content ideas. As you map out who will care about your work, and who can amplify it, consider how each piece is an EXPERIENCE that others will want to talk about.
Not because you are getting in their way, but because you are delivering something that immediately resonates with them.
#4 Overdeliver
It goes beyond the vague advice of “be generous.” Seth Godin rightly states that books are a “screaming bargain,” yet in Michael’s launch, he encouraged preorders by giving away a ton of other content for those who ordered early. This included a package of audiobooks, a virtual event, action plan, digital coloring book, and templates. It was pitched as: “Preorder my book now, and receive $360 worth of bonuses for free!” Here’s a screenshot from an email I received:
Some of the bonuses were useful, and some were just plain fun. You can almost imagine his team sitting down a year before launch, throwing out crazy ideas for bonuses that they can create for a preorder rush.
For your work, consider what would be helpful to your audience. What would create a meaningful experience for them. Everything Michael gave away was digital — it didn’t cost him a dime to send it.
#5 Fear of Missing Out is the Crux of Good Marketing
I obsess about observing launches of all types. A common theme I see for successful launches is this: lean heavily on the trigger of “FOMO,” which translates to “the fear of missing out.”
This can be married with the ideas above… illustrating that a bonus is going away, or a live event is super-special and once-in-a-lifetime. The fear of missing out is a powerful psychological trigger. If you want to master it, along with other powerful psychological triggers, study Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence.
#6 Marketing Means Being Strategic
One term hidden in the post about Michael’s launch is “bulk orders.” His team sought out bulk orders whereby companies or organizations would purchase hundreds of copies for their team, their audience, or their event.
This is what “marketing” can be all about. Thinking strategically about alignment with key audiences, and getting VERY specific on seeking out value.
This, as opposed to what I see many do, which is: “Create a broad message that should appeal to many. Tweet it, hoping to go viral. When it doesn’t, Tweet it again.”
That doesn’t work.
#7 “Luck” is the Elephant in the Room
With 18,500 preorders, and all of their other marketing efforts, Living Forward landed on these bestseller lists: USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Bookscan.
The elephant in the room? It hasn’t yet made it on The New York Times Best Seller list. Now, maybe that happens next week. But it hasn’t happened yet.
With 18,500 preorders, with all of this marketing, so far that hasn’t been enough to hit The New York Times Best Seller list.
Which is a reminder of how important luck is in this process. You can have the best book, the best author, the best team, the best plan, thousands of raving fans, great word of mouth, great blurbs, great reviews, and so much else. But you also need a little bit of luck to hit all of your goals.
(Michael’s previous book hit The New York Times list, and he has written about setting that as a specific goal.)
Congratulations to Michael, Daniel, and their team on the success of the book!
For your own work, what launch strategies have either worked best for you, or have you found most compelling for those you follow?
Thanks.
– Dan
Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers share their stories and connect with readers. He has helped hundreds of authors via online courses, events, consulting, and workshops, and worked with amazing publishing houses and organizations who support writers such as Random House, Workman Publishing, Abrams Books, Writers House, The Kenyon Review, Writer’s Digest, Library Journal, and many others.
The “easter egg” in this post is that the photo I used at the top was actually taken from a Ricky Martin appearance in Australia! Here is the other side of the photo, with Ricky in front of the massive crowd: https://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/8723108554/
Dan, you are consistently writing the best articles about “real” book marketing in the industry. I look forward to your newsletter every week. Thanks for another potent dose of overwhelm and inspiration.
Wow – thank you Leslie!
-Dan
I agree, Leslie! Well said. I think the most informative part of this article, for me, was the bonus packages. I have a book that will be released in about 6 weeks, and I never even THOUGHT about offering bonuses! What a fantastic idea. Thanks, Dan, for your thoughtful and thought-provoking work.
Thank you Jeannie!
-Dan
And a question: If you are working with a traditional publisher, how do you go about accomplishing #4?
In Michael’s case (who had a traditional publisher) and others I have seen, this is done via their own author website. It happens separate from the publisher. -Dan
I was a part of the “street team” that helped market the book, and it was truly a wonder to behold. Followers of his blog were offered the chance to get a copy of the book in exchange for some marketing efforts through social media and leaving reviews. I jumped at the chance because I love Hyatt’s work and also because I figured it would give me an inside view of a launch–and it did. We received regular emails in the days leading up to the launch, with specific–and easy–action items to complete. For instance, tweets were pre-written and accessible from the email itself. Everything was thought out and organized. It was great fun, and a great learning experience, to be a part of the team. I’m saving this post to study how to apply it to my future efforts.
I was part of the same team, Charlotte, and loved being involved in the behind-the-scenes process. This was my first experience being part of a street team and the only reason I volunteered was because I’m familiar with Hyatt’s work and reputation. I enjoyed reading Living Forward and have benefited from its content – enough that I’ve bought additional copies to give away. But what I learned watching and interacting with Hyatt and Harkavy was invaluable.
Thanks Kathy!
Thanks for sharing this Charlotte!!
-Dan
A team of colleagues, fans, street teams, marketing collaborators, influencers, wow, this is like dreamland to me. Interesting to see how the “other side” launches a book, Dan. Thanks for the look inside the magic. I’m with a small indie house and none of this happens with my book launches (fiction though, and that may be a different approach and pitch). My books launched small time and built readership slowly over a couple of years into a steady flow. I’ve not done bonus gifts or giveaways or tried marketing ploys to hit it big coming out of the gate. I guess my mindset is not on all that since I focus my efforts and time writing. But I’m in awe of authors who can be good writers and good marketing masters at the same time. I’m curious, Dan, how much does a marketing team/plan like you’ve outlined here actually cost?
Paula,
Cost for this can really depend. For Michael, he runs a huge operation in which the book is a small part. His family is involved, he has people on staff such as Stu McLaren who may or may not be involved in the book launch, but is involved in other aspects. As I mentioned in the post, he has the office/studio complex, video teams, etc. For someone else, it can be as simple as having a friend to help you out. So the range goes from “free” to “thousands.” Sorry that is so vague!
-Dan
Don’t I wish I had friends, staff, and family like that. Thanks for a very eye-opening post today.
Paula,
Thanks. It’s worth noting that these things didn’t appear for Michael overnight. It took years of developing these things.
-Dan
But “cost” + benefit could potentially have a huge upside.
Loved this article! The ideas are scalable—instead of sending vague “review me on amazon” or “come to my launch”, giving friends/family/author friends an inside view and fun, specific weekly touchpoints involves them more meaningfully. If an author invited me, I’d play.
Thanks!
Thanks Gail!
-Dan
How does this work for fiction?
Pam,
In the blog post above, I referenced and linked to a Poets+Writers story of my collaboration with Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, a novelist. Read that to get a sense of how this MAY work for fiction. Thanks!
-Dan
I might be one of few people who read this post and did a fist pump. I’m that rare writer who’s energized by marketing. Believe me, it’s still scary, but I’m motivated by the idea of experimenting with book launches and creative ways of reaching readers and gaining followers. Great ideas here and I can’t wait to begin implementing some of them.
Thanks Grace!
-Dan
The launch plan is cool to read about, but its success seems to have hinged on the Michael Hyatt brand. The average author doesn’t have millions of blog readers and newsletter subscribers who will see those digital goodies and rush to Amazon to pre-order.
A few fiction authors have a solid brand based on personality, like John Green with his funny YouTube videos. But for most writers I think their brand is simply their books. Stephen King’s brand is Carrie and The Shining, and Nicholas Sparks’ brand is The Notebook and A Walk to Remember. Even hugely successful authors have to splash “By the author of [Bestseller Here]!” all over the place, because nobody remembers their names.
So for newbies with no previous hits, building a brand is very hard. Nobody knows you and nobody trusts you, so all the free treats in the world won’t entice people to put down $15 on your novel before they can see evidence of its greatness in the reviews and preview on Amazon.
Good point, TK. An author with 4 or 5 books out there already selling fairly well has a huge jump-start and a foundation to draw from.
T.K.,
Thanks for the response. I am always reminded of John Green’s first videos with his brother. Here is the first I can find that John appeared in — back in 2007:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuMV6KCkLQI
If you want to see how lonely it felt for John back then, watch it. Then watch the next one, the next one, the next one. Today, the “network” of channels that John and Hank run has more than 7,000 subscribers. It started lonely though, just like it does for us.
For Stephen King, I was reading this interview with him last week, where he talked openly about the depth of his addictions in the 1980s: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/stephen-king-the-rolling-stone-interview-20141031
It’s easy to see Stephen’s highlights and think “I don’t have that.” But I would encourage you to see the full scope of how difficult things were for him.
I 100% agree with you. Building a brand is hard. As is writing a wonderful book. And that is the prompt. It comes down to doing the work that John did in 2007 when he was alone in his apartment posting public videos to his brother.
Thanks again!
-Dan
Thanks, Dan!
Okay. So, at first, I had a knee-jerk reaction to your article that was unlike me, and pathetically whiny. It cried, “Wah wah wah. I don’t have any money. I’m a starving artist. I already work two jobs. My agent is busy. My friends don’t review me. How could I possibly sell five kabillion copies of a novel out the gate? Nobody loves me…”
And then I slapped myself out of my pity party and got to work.
I will not tell you which part of your article came to me at midnight and prevented me from falling asleep for over an hour. Just know that I am going to try something you mentioned, and I am going to try it this week. I will let you know how it goes. Never, ever let it be said that I didn’t give EVERYTHING in my writing life–as I have for 20 years–the chance it deserves.
And if it works, it will be because of you.
; )
Leslie,
Sorry to keep you up at night! Thank you for the honesty. PLEASE let me know how your experiment goes. You can email me directly: dan@wegrowmedia.com
Thanks!
-Dan
I will! Have a great day.
Dan, it was so fun to see a post about a book I worked on behind the scenes (very behind). I am the copywriter for Baker Books, so I Michael and I worked together on both the catalog copy and the jacket copy for Living Forward. This copy is also what appears on Amazon and B&N and every other site that sells books. And one thing I wanted to mention from my own personal experience working with Michael that is so vital to his success is his collaborative, respectful attitude with everyone working on his stuff.
There are a number of authors who have outside marketing teams brainstorming ideas and supporting the publisher’s efforts. A disheartening number of those people can be condescending prima donnas who treat their book as the only one you’ve got on your plate and treat you with suspicion, like you don’t have their book’s best interests at heart or you don’t know how to do the job you’ve been doing for a dozen years. Michael, however, is endlessly gracious and positive, and makes you feel like an integral part of the team. It is so important that the people who are spreading the news about your book feel that you appreciate them and trust their expertise.
Aside: Living Forward is actually a great book for writers to work through in order to develop goals for work and life. Again, thanks for featuring it.
Erin,
Wow — thank you so much for sharing this! Much appreciated.
-Dan
Hi Dan,
I took one of your internet courses about 18 months ago and have read your blogs occasionally since. Congratulations on keeping my attention with your colloquial and spot-on approach–no condescension on your part!
My memoir appeared June 2015. It went well for a while, but it has slowed down. Right now, I have an endorsement promised by a very big player in my Christian market. I want to take advantage of that, of course. At the same time, I am about 20,000 words into a new memoir–for a more narrowly focused segment of the Christian market.
My question that’s relevant to this email string is how most effectively to use the coming endorsement, applying it to the existing book–the title that’s being endorsed–and, at the same time, using it as an important piece of a long-term launch strategy to benefit the coming book (not sold yet–therefore publication probably 18 months out…or more).
That is, the endorsement is the same, now and in the future. I foresee USING the endorsement differently, now and in the future. If you agree, how would you describe the difference?
Thank you,
Dikkon