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How to Set Up a Rager on Facebook: 7 Steps to Hosting a Book Launch Party

written by Megan Frampton July 11, 2016

A Facebook launch party is a virtual social media party, one with a specific date and time and invited guests to celebrate the release of your book. Throwing this kind of shindig can bring your new release to the attention of potential readers, and will make your release day more of an event to celebrate (although your party doesn’t have to be on your actual release date; see below). Being able to point to something substantive, such as a party, helps your message gain a lot more traction than if you were to stand on a (virtual) street corner shouting about your book.

Here are seven steps for hosting a successful Facebook book launch party:

  1. Partner with another author

Partnering means you are able to amplify your message and broaden your reach. When you invite another author or authors, find an author whose genre complements yours. The other author(s) don’t have to be writing in precisely the same genre. Just make sure that readers who enjoy one author’s books might also be interested in the other’s or others’. Make sure you share all the details with the other authors and be clear about where the party will be held and what will happen there. Don’t forget to set an end time, so that the party just doesn’t drag on and on

  1. Host the party from your official author page

Host the party from your official author page, not your personal page. You want people who are readers and potential fans, you don’t want to muddy your message by sharing the stage with your personal self. You also don’t want to force your Facebook friends to go through the party with you (because who wants to be at a party that was forced on you?). Keeping your personal and professional selves makes as much sense for when you’re a self-published author as when you have a traditional day job. If you normally don’t allow people to post on your page, you’ll want to change those settings, at least temporarily, so that your guests can “show up” at your party.

  1. Schedule your party on the best date and time

Your party doesn’t have to be on the day the book releases; in fact, it’s probably best to have the party after the book is released for sale, so you can have a chance to share reviews.

Choose a time that best suits the free time of your potential readers. We’re assuming you are in the United States, so you likely won’t be able to tailor your time for all time zones, but do keep the time differences in mind when you select a time.

  1. Prepare marketing materials

Create a Facebook banner to publicize your party, and share it prior to your party, ideally a month out from the date. Make it clear, direct, and encourage your fans to share it so more people can know about the party. Also make sure your banner adheres to Facebook’s image guidelines. Make sure that if you plan to give things away (more on that in a moment) that you include that information.

  1. Share the details

On your Author Page, write a post that gives all the details of your event so your fans can join in at the right time in the right spot. Make the post sticky so it is uppermost on your page until the event.

  1. Prepare your party participation

So what will you do at your Facebook launch?

First of all, even though you have an agenda for the party (get people to know and get excited about your book), you shouldn’t make that agenda the topmost theme of the party. The party is to have fun!* Think about the old-fashioned Avon or Tupperware parties; there was chatter, refreshments, mingling, and some underlying conversation about the products the party was designed for.

You’ll give away books, asking people to enter the giveaway by leaving a comment or saying hi or some other form of interaction. If you are doing a contest, make sure you do not violate Facebook’s Terms of Service. Try to come up with fun-to-share content, stuff that anybody can answer (“What’s your favorite television show? Why?”), and have it relate in some way to your book.

Share interesting** information about yourself and your books.

Solicit interaction organically (as well as through prizes, above), making sure the interaction relates somehow to your books.

How will you do this?

A Facebook party, like an offline party, requires that you act as a host, so you won’t have a lot of time during the party to launch discussion. You will have co-hosts and other participants, but you’ll still be very busy. Because of this, you should have your posts set up and stored prior to the party, just like you’d make food ahead of time, and not during. Set up timed tweets to direct people from Twitter to your FB page also.

Make sure you keep track of anyone who’s won prizes so you can fulfill after the party is over.

  1. Keep track of party goings-on:

When the party is entirely over, post a thank you to everyone who attended, and also post the names of all the winners.

*and also kind of let people know about your book.

**Interesting isn’t what you had for breakfast, fyi, unless you personally milked the cow for the cereal milk.

 

How to Set Up a Rager on Facebook: 7 Steps to Hosting a Book Launch Party was last modified: July 13th, 2016 by Megan Frampton
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Megan Frampton

Megan Frampton writes historical romance under her own name and romantic women's fiction as Megan Caldwell. She likes the color black, gin, dark-haired British men, and huge earrings, not in that order. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son.

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1 comment

C.A. Simonson July 15, 2016 at 11:47 am

Can this post be reblogged? I would love to share this timely information with our writers on springfieldwritersguild.org

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