Book Marketing with Influencers - How to Do Influencer Outreach

Getting your book in front of other people's audiences is a powerful way to sell books, expose yourself to new audiences and gain credibility, especially when that person is an influencer and their opinion or endorsement holds a lot of value in the mind of their audience. But what is an influencer and how do you go about this act of reaching out to an influencer? Well, I'm glad you asked because this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers and author of four books including this Beauty right here, Self, Promote and Succeed. And what I'm about to share with you is from the pages of that book. So if you like this video, well, definitely still hit the thumbs up when the mood strikes because it feels good for you and for me. But also grab a copy of the book to help you with all your book marketing pre launch and post launch needs. All right, let's but let's get into it. What is an influencer? We used to ask our Book Launchers clients to give us their dream influencer list so we could help them prepare for outreach to boost their book launch and promotion. And well, the lists we got typically included Brene Brown, Dave Ramsey, Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Oprah, of course Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Tony Robbins, or even Will Smith was on a handful of lists. So after getting these lists for a dozen or so times in a row, we realized this thing of asking our clients for their dream list wasn't working. So we got a researcher on our team to do the work. Now, that's not to say getting an endorsement from one of those celebrities wouldn't be massive. But the challenge on focusing on a list like this is that you rarely get past the gatekeepers. You can spend years trying to get in front of these superstars and not have anything happen. It's much easier to build momentum with people who are celebrities in a small space, and you grow from there. And also cold outreach is one of my least favorite things. So I understand any author's resistance to influencer outreach, whether it's asking for endorsements or reviews or promotional support. That's why I rarely do it without doing some groundwork. So first, I usually try to find a connection point, even if it's weak. That's where a more strategic influencer list makes more sense, because it's far easier to tap friends of friends compared to someone who's seven degrees of separation away from you. Ideally, it's best to build relationships before you need them. So so you can call in favors for your book launch. At some point, however, you'll need to do some influencer outreach and make some asks to understand what that entails. Let's discuss influencers and what matters for you. The Nonfiction Author Influencers have always been a significant sales tool, whether they were actually called that or not. If your goal is solely book sales, influencers should be one of your biggest points of focus beyond ads. A powerful influencer helps you sell books, but they're also a wonderful way to grow your leads and your platform. Influencers are notable people, thought leaders, media personalities, or, of course, celebrities. They have invested years and thousands of hours building an audience and establishing some kind of authority. Some influencers aim to be at the forefront of fashion or other industry trends. They help by lending you and your book their credibility. So what you're looking for well, a note in their newsletter, a smartly crafted blurb, or an opportunity to share a stage is the difference between selling 100 copies and selling thousands of copies. But not every influencer is the influencer who matters for you in your book marketing, you need someone respected who has a platform to share your message with an audience of your target readers. Just because you connect with someone who is on tv, for example, doesn't mean they're the best person to promote your book. Will will your reader know who they are? Will they care? Will your ideal reader trust what they have to say? Does their audience act on their recommendations? It is so much better to find people who are well known for their work in your industry or in a similar industry. You may not know who Canadian athlete Patrick Belnar is if you aren't into CrossFit, but let's say you wrote a book on improving your athletic recovery time. I can almost guarantee getting Uncle Pat, as he's known to his fans, to endorse your book would be a huge commercial boost, especially especially to any CrossFit athlete. If your book ties your business concepts back to, say, Texas Hold' Em poker, then getting a shout out from a professional poker player like Phil Hellmuth or Jennifer Harmon could be a game changer. Not everyone knows who they are, but what matters is whether your ideal reader does or not. It's much easier to connect to folks who are niche famous than people who are world famous, and the value will be just as high, sometimes even higher. And if they are the right influencers for your book and for your readers, and frankly, those names are still quite big. So you may even want to start smaller at first and build relationships that can build up to the ones you really want. Making the ask. You gotta mind your mindset when you do this. Instead of feeling needy or self conscious when approaching an influencer, do it knowing that your reader needs you to take this important step to help them find your book. You've written the book to have an impact and it will only do that if you find readers. Additionally, if you can make any outreach part of a relationship building goal versus a transactional goal, you'll probably feel better about it and most likely your results with that outreach will reflect that. Alright, so how to begin? Well, do something that might get that influencer's attention in a natural way. Your inclination might be to send an email and you can, but it's worth brainstorming other ways that are more organic. And I'm far like really far from a big time influencer, but I do have a robust and enthusiastic community of YouTube besties. That's you guys. I value comments. Hint hint my friends and engagement tremendously. So when someone comments on every single video, they get my attention and I remember who they are. And I remember Steven Searle has commented on my YouTube videos for a long time and then one day when he connected with me on Twitter, which is now X Anyways, it's actually kind of annoying because I put Twitter in the book and now it's called X. So Stephen, when he connected I connected back because I recognized his name. And then one day Steven posted a request for pictures of people in dinosaur costumes with his book. My son happened to have a dinosaur costume so I bought the book and got my son to pose holding the book. Steven didn't ask me directly, I just did it to support someone who supports me. A of course if he'd asked I would have done it too. Other ideas to garner attention include going to an influencer's event and finding a way to get an introduction. I highly recommend posting on social media your favorite parts of their event with pictures. Speakers love this and they will notice. You can also apply the advice they've given and then post on social media the results of that advice with a thank you. Jesse Itzler has talked about how he hired his former right hand Amanda McCrate into his build you'd Life resume company. She's now gone on to start a company of your own, which he has enthusiastically supported. But she was one of the first people to take the Bylr program and she posted her results along the way. That got his attention and he hired her for the amazing and surely adventurous job working alongside him as he does Ultraman races and all kinds of wild adventures for his community. It doesn't happen with one post or one comment. But being a true fan, a regular supporter, an implementer and commenter can be invaluable to many influencers and and that's friction free connecting at its best. Of course, you can also try good old fashioned email or messaging on LinkedIn or another platform. But here's what you should not ask so this is the do not do list. Can I send you my book to read and write a review? Will you please retweet this to your audience? My book is relevant to your audience. Will you share it with them? Still no. Our companies have a lot of synergies. Can we chat to discuss how we can help each other? And the one that I like the least also just really don't like. Can I pick your brain about something? No. No. Leave my brain where it is. Leave it where it is. All right. I get more than a dozen of these a week, and while I sometimes give them a polite reply, usually I just hit delete. If you're trying to connect with someone else who has a big audience already, I can guarantee they won't even give your message a second look. If they're even the ones reading their own messages. Things that might work. However, if you ask them to potentially contribute to your book or request advice, those are other ways to get them to say yes. And essentially that's the goal. Think about what you can do that makes an easy yes and makes the other person feel valued, not used. In other words, be a sniper, not a torpedo. Be patient and focused and to achieve your goals, take the time to aim. If you still have difficulty creating connections, say send your desired influencer something of value. Robert Workman was a client of ours who successfully got his books into airport bookstores with a rather unconventional approach. He would follow up a sales call to list his book with a box of cookies, and it worked quite a few times. So who doesn't love a thoughtful gift? This is again where you have to be a bit of a stalker and pay attention to them. Eavesdrop to find a way you can help. Most influencers are on social media or they do live streams or podcasts. Listen for clues as to how you can help them or connect with them. Please don't tweet them and say, how can I help you? They don't know you, nor do they really want to share where they need help. I mean, who really likes asking for help, especially from a stranger? They're going to ignore you or be uncomfortable with that ask. Instead, listen and pay attention. You may find the perfect gift or perfect opening that will help pave the way to a relationship. And again, my favorite is knowing someone who knows someone. That is a phenomenal way to get connected. It's also where being a part of an organization can really help for me. Entrepreneurs organization is a great one. Nsa National Speakers association, fincon. You can post in your group what you're looking for, who you're looking to connect with, and you know you might just find somebody who gives you an introduction Deliver value to others Frequently. If you are thinking of others and offering support where you can when you need it, others will offer it to you. If you put in the work to listen and learn and then follow up with a generous, thoughtful offer to assist people, they will remember and begin to recognize you. Often they'll ask you how they can return the favor. Voila. Now you've got an opening. Even if everything I've mentioned worked, or you need added momentum, there's still value in highlighting the work of others. Jim James does something similar by collecting experts for his podcast and then taking the best interviews and turning them into a book. I'm in the second volume of the Unnoticed Entrepreneur book. 50 more experts share their ideas for your company to stand out. The same approach can work if you do a series of articles, videos, podcasts, or expert interviews. Not everyone you ask will say yes, but some will, and you'll build some powerfully strong bonds with people who are influencers in their space. All of this is work, and that's why it's effective. But most people won't do it, which makes it that much easier for you to do and stand out. And connecting to an influencer takes time, patience, and persistence. So what have you done that has worked? Let's chat about it in the comments below. Grab a copy of Self Promote and Succeed, and when you post your review of the book, send us an email@teambooklaunchers.com to let us know your review is up. And then you should watch this video on collaboration ideas for working with influencers, and this one on getting reviews with booksprout and Book Sirens, because the more social proof you have for your book, the better. So go ahead, click on Over. I'll see you there.