How to Get Book Reviews with Michael Brenner

Getting book reviews is one of the most important and the most challenging tasks for authors. And getting those book reviews for launch day and launch week is hard work. Today I've got a success story from one of our authors, Michael Brenner, who wrote Mean People Suck, so you can learn what he did to get tons of reviews on launch day and beyond. If you want to learn the tips of what is working today to get book reviews for your book launch and beyond, this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book broad. I'm an Amazon Overall Number 1 Best Selling Author and the founder of a fabulous company called Book Launchers. Our superpower is caring more about you and your book than anybody else as we help you write, publish and sell a nonfiction book that will boost your brand and make you money. We're starting a new author Spotlight series where we're going to introduce you to one of our fabulous Book Launchers authors and ask them what worked and what they would do differently around their book launches. Today I'm interviewing Michael Brenner, the author of Mean People Suck. And rather than me tell you who this book is for, I asked Michael to share.

I wrote Mean People Suck for anyone who's been frustrated with their boss, their company, their colleagues, their customers or their client. Basically anyone who's frustrated, who's disengaged from their work and maybe pointing the finger at other people. If you're a leader or you're an employee in a company, really, if you're anyone who deals with other people, then you should read Mean People Suck.

So you heard it from Michael. This book is for you if you deal with people in your job. I love this book and I got some great tips from it. It always helps to get book reviews when your book is awesome and it stands out in the crowd, just like Michael does when he's wearing that shirt, which is awesome branding by the way. He even wore it on his TV interview. Michael had a very strong launch. He he comfortably topped number one in several categories and moved a healthy number of books for his book launch. And he also had reviews on day one, which is going to help his sales that week and well beyond. So what did he do to create such a strong launch? Well, I asked him to share one.

Of the reasons why I think I had a really strong launch with Mean People Suck. Number one. The milestones in the calendar from Sarah Bean and the folks at Book Launchers really, really helped me to understand what were the things that I should be doing and when one of the most important Aspects of that, I think was really building my book army. Identifying the influencers that I wanted to get to support the book, getting testimonials, when to ask for those, when to let people know that the book was coming out. All of those communication activities were really helped by, I think, the calendar and the milestones that were provided by the book launcher marketing calendar that really helped.

Our book marketing team really does create a great step by step plan of what you need to do and who you need to reach out to. But you might be curious, who should you be asking to be a part of your book army? By the way, I talk about your book army in this video right here. But I also asked Michael, who did he find to be the best people to have in his book army?

I really tried to reach out to the people that were closest to me, the people who have helped me in the past, mainly the people who I have helped, I think building a network, you know, long before you start thinking about marketing your book, that was really helpful for me, building that network and then, you know, reaching out and not being afraid to ask for those favors. I don't know if you saw it, but I created an animated GIF of someone saying I love you when I said thank you in sort of a wide copied email that I sent out asking for people to go review the book. So those are some of the things that I think really helped the launch of Mean People Suck.

Truly, Michael executed his launch incredibly well and we were so impressed with the fun he injected and the responses he received. But there are always lessons to be learned. So I also asked Michael what he would have done differently if he was to do this launch over again. And here's what he had to.

What I think also helped to detract from the launch was that I reached out too late in often cases, in a couple of instances, to some of the folks who I don't really have a relationship with. Dave Grohl is mentioned in the book. I really wish I had a relationship with Dave Grohl, for example, if he and I were best friends, we could sit here and he could jam out and, you know, I think we could have some fun. And it would have been great if he would have supported the launch of the book. So creating those relationships early I think would have been something I would have done differently.

So if you're watching this and you have a book launch coming up or you're writing a book, start thinking about who you want to connect with and try connecting with them now. I love something James Altucher talks about, and that is adding value to someone with no expectation of getting anything in return. All I'm trying to tell you is build relationships today because you'll be able to leverage them later in your book and in other ways in your life. And besides, it's just nice to have friends, right? But here's the big tip you're waiting for. Michael what did you do to get so many reviews for Mean People Suck?

The things that I think really helped me to get those early Amazon reviews was I reviewed the books of the people I knew when they asked me for a testimonial or a quote or some social sharing to announce the launch of their books. And I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of friends who have posted or published their own books. That was really helpful reaching out to them and seeing them return the favor. I also loved Julie Broad's advice to treat different people differently. So for example, my social media manager, the account manager who supports my clients, I didn't really give them an option. I pretty much told them that I was expecting them to give me an honest review on Amazon, whereas when I reached out to people who are more friends and family, it was like a personal favor and then professional contacts. Obviously I was asking in a much more professional way.

The video Michael references is this video right here. So build those relationships today. Get out of your comfort zone and ask people to review your book, have fun with it and create a brand experience around your book launch and you're going to be much more likely to enjoy launch success like Michael Brenner did. If you want to learn more about Mean People Suck, buy your own Mean People Suck T shirt or connect with Michael to ask him about his book or how he created such cool Mean People Suck swag. You can find him on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and most importantly, go to meanpeople suck.com A huge thank you to Michael Brenner for being part of our very first Author Spotlight series here on Book Launchers tv. Please go ahead and smash that thumbs up button because it feels good and it will also make both Michael and I feel good for being here with you today. Now I'm curious, do you like this style of Author Spotlight video? I'm trying something different to bring you the best tips from successful authors of today. So let me know if you like them or if there's a topic you want me me to cover with one of our authors in the future. You can go ahead and share that in the comments below. And of course when you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet book launchers. Swag. And in appreciation of Michael Brenner joining us today, you'll also be entered to win your very own copy of Mean People Suck. And if you're looking for the video on Book Armies, ta da. Or the one on getting Amazon reviews, that is right here. Check those out. I can't wait to hang out with you some more.