Making the Most of Summer Book Launches

Foreign. Hello. Happy Tuesday, Happy end of May. I don't know about anybody else, but after a long weekend I feel a little frazzled and exhausted. It was a crazy one. Not that I was crazy partying just with a six year old. So, yeah, if anybody else is feeling a little bit, a little off after a long weekend, I'm right there with you. But today we've got a fun topic which is book launching success in the summer. So if you've been here before, you know that I have talked about the challenges of launching a book in July and August and December can also be a pretty tricky time to launch a book as well. So today I thought we would. Sorry, I'm just looking at Angela saying hello and Debbie Doson saying hello. So as you join in, please do say hello. But yeah, today's topic is launching your book in the summer. And I've got five kind of mean tips topics that we'll cover today. And Lois, the relatable therapist is also here. Welcome. Thank you for saying hello. If you are joining us for the first time, we do give prizes for participation. So saying hello, chatting with each other, asking questions, participating, those are all highly recommended activities and they'll also get you entered to win some of our fabulous swag. So. All right, so today's topic, summer book launches. Well, summer book launches can stink. That is the reality of a summer book launch. We at Book Launchers, which we work only on nonfiction books, we generally recommend our authors push their launches to September, October, November if they are close to being ready for launch. But it's just July or August. That doesn't mean you can't launch a book in the summer. And it doesn't mean we never launch books in summer, because we do. And it also doesn't mean that people aren't buying books, because they are. What makes a summer book launch more challenging is getting people's attention not just to buy the books, but for all the things that you need support around a book launch. So that's what I'm going to talk about. Going to give you some ideas, some things to be aware of, some cautionary tales, if you want to call it that, you know. But if you think about the things that you need around your book launch, you need reviews, you might want influencers, you probably want some sort of an event around your book launch, media attention and more. And a lot of those things can be more challenging to do in the summer. This is not me saying don't launch in the summer. It's just being aware of these things. And planning. Planning accordingly can be really, really important. And the reality is you still can have a successful book launch in the summer. It's just there's some challenges with it. So that's what we're going to cover today. And then I also wanted to get you to mark your calendars for our deep dive session, although I think we have just had a date change. June is a busy time as well, and my team is all very busy, it seems, on the Saturdays this month, so. So we are struggling to get a person to be able to man the deep dive. It may end up being June 24th. It was supposed to be June 17th, but we don't have anybody who can actually do it on June 17th. So it may be June 24th and it might just be me solo. So it could be interesting. There are no deep dives in July and August, so you don't need to worry about making sure there's time for that. And that is because a, it's hard for us to get it scheduled, but also be, you know, everybody's busy in the summer, so we don't do it in the summer. In July, we also take a break from all new video content. You'll see some shorts coming up on the channel because we still have short videos created and ready for you, but there won't be anything new. So we won't have live streams in July and we won't have any new Tuesday or Friday videos for you in July. We've been doing that for years just to give me a break, a chance to catch up. And this year I'll be using that to put the finishing touches on Self Promote and Succeed, the book that is coming out to follow, self publish and succeed. And its launch is set for October. So not creating some extra new video content will give me a time to get some other videos ready, but also to get the finishing touches on that book so that it's ready to go to launch in October. So besides all that fun, we will also be celebrating our six, six, six years. There we go. We've been in business for six years at Book Launchers, so in June we will be celebrating six years and we have some special swag that we will be that we will be using to celebrate so on the lives that we do in June and probably have some leftover swag for you in August. So if you miss out in June, you'll be able to get your hands on it in August. But we'll be celebrating six years. So. So. And I also have a special celebratory video for you. I mean, technically, our real launch was July of 2017. My first person that I. The first two people actually, that I hired to the team, I hired to the team in June of 2017. And we had 10 beta clients, but we didn't actually start working with any of the beta clients until July. And then we started working with clients outside of our betas at the end of August of 2017. So it's. It's pretty exciting to be celebrating that milestone. And so I grabbed some cool swag. Angela doesn't know what that swag is. The one, the one new swag item should be hitting her doorstep any day now. I got the shipping notification and the other thing, I just got the design back from the designer today, and I'll be placing the order for that tomorrow. So it's going to be fun. Okay, so some summer launches, that's what we'll talk about today. But I want to give a prize to those folks to chatting and who are here. See, it's a quiet day. Like, there's. There's less. There's nine people watching live right now. So every one of you has a really good shot at winning a prize today. Again, another example of how things are just starting to get very busy as we get into the summer. I know for me being in Las Vegas, the kids were out of school. They're out of school. At least my son's school was done last week. A lot of the other schools are done this week. It is a crazy busy time of year in a lot of other places. Summer ends at the end of June and. And they're off for July and August, which makes their summers extra busy with the kids in tow, vacation plans and all those things. So. All right, so today I am going to give a shout out to the first person who said hello on the live. I know I see a hello from Debbie Docent, but that was before the live. So I do. See, the first person was ask Lois, the relatable therapist. So congratulations, you have won one of our three prizes. And I'm a little sore today. I did a big workout yesterday, so reaching across my desk to get our mug, which is option one, and option two is our oh so soft journal. And option three is a copy of Self Publish and Succeed, which you can see a picture of the COVID behind my plant there. I don't even think I have a copy here today. I gotta get more copies here. I took them all. I took them all home and took them to an event last week. I think that was Last week and I don't have any more, so I got to get some new ones. All right, so congratulations, Lois, and thank you for being here today. Okay, so point number one, summer launches. Getting people to follow through on the things you need them to do can be hard. So when you ask people to write a review, again, this is not that they don't intend to, they genuinely do. But I know, you know, I'm going to use myself as an example because I have never been so busy. And part of it's that my husband has a new job, so he's got a full schedule and I am the one that has the more flexibility. So I am, you know, doing the drop offs and the pickups of my son to his summer camp. So I had to get him into summer camp, get the waivers signed, you know, all that fun stuff. And then I got to go pick him up and it's extra. And so even though school is all, you know, similar in some regards, there's still just a lot going on. And so I've got that going on. I've got my own trips, I've got a vacation coming up. And, you know, some people have family coming into town. It's, it's a new routine and lots of different things. So when you've got all of that going on, even though I genuinely may want to review my, you know, somebody's book that they've given to me, a colleague, and they did, they did the same for me, I may genuinely want to, but I am just weeks behind on the, you know, the to dos that need to be done or that I've committed to doing that aren't, you know, urgent and pressing as far as my business goes. That's me. And I know I am not alone in this. I, I talk to a lot of people who find the summer just way too intense. Now there's other people where things slow down for them in the summer and they get more space and they're taking more vacation time. And so maybe those people are able to follow through on their reviews. And so it doesn't mean again that they're not going to do the things they say they do. It's just to be mindful of all of the things that can be happening in the summer and that it's a schedule change which can wreak havoc with a lot of people, especially those with kids. You know, it really can change everything up, having a completely different routine. So give them grace, follow up, and then try again in the fall. But this, this really goes for anybody that you need things from. But this is really an emphasis on rout reviewers because, you know, especially, you know, when you're launching a book, your pre launch activities largely revolve around getting that early reviewer momentum. And so you'll be hopefully keeping track of all those people who you give a copy of your book to who say they're going to write a review. And I do hope you are following up with them and you know, doing that more than once. But then, you know, if they aren't getting the review done, just give it, give them grace and try again in the fall because they just might fall under that category. They've bit off more than they can chew. My second tip or kind of topic, I don't know whether these are tips or topics really, but my second thing is to realize that media already is on skeleton crews. They are functioning with very minimal staff, their margins are low and they just, they're just already on a skeleton crew. But then when you add summer vacations into that, they're even tighter now. And some shows go on complete hiatus in the summer. They don't shoot new shows like some of the talk shows and major national media, they stop shooting new content in the summer. But local media goes on. So whether it's magazines or newspapers, those kind of things. So my tip here, or even my thought is what can you do to make you the easiest guest or the easiest writer, whatever it is to work with. And if you've been asked to write an article, I mean, I do this no matter what time of year it is. But if somebody asks me to write an article for their outlet, I get a proofreader to proofread it before I submit it, full stop. I'm not going to send them something with errors and mistakes, so I get somebody to proofread it before it is submitted. But especially in the summer, the better you, the better quality of whatever it is that you can submit, the easier it will be for them to just take it and go to print. If they give you a word count or a word guideline, stick to it. Be very, very mindful of those things and be the easiest person for them to work with. If you get an interview opportunity, whether it's on a local radio, a TV or you're doing a podcast interview, same thing. Be prepared. Give them everything they need in one email. Here's a link to my author, my author photo. Here's a link to my bio, or even here's my bio. Keep it short and concise and keep in mind the person who has to Read it. You don't want to make them read five sentences because it's really awkward. So give them something punchy, short, fun to read, that will set you up for whatever they're going to be interviewing you about. Have a link to your media kit, include a link to your book, or ask them if they want a physical copy, send it to them, and follow up to make sure it gets there. But just be the easiest person by sending everything all at once, making sure that you're prepared, and even following up afterwards with new ideas for topics. I do this anyways, summer or not. But being mindful of this, especially in the summer, can be the opening you've been waiting for. And that can be whenever you can be that kind of. I don't want to say savior, but you can be that person who fills the gap, makes somebody's job easier. Then that's always going to lead to an opportunity for you. So. So again, this is something I do all the time, but I find that in the summer, you may uncover other opportunities for this because people are on vacation and yet the show must go on in many places. So local media in particular, this can be a great time to kind of lean into that and take advantage of it. All right, let's see what you guys are talking about over there. Clash is here. Hello from Ottawa. And Dave's here. Hello. Welcome. Thank you. Mike Herd's in the house. Hello and welcome. And so Lois. Oh, I didn't tell. Okay, so Angela tied that in. So when you win a prize, you need to email Angela@teambooklaunchers.com you need to let her know which prize you want, which I think you wanted the oh so soft journal. And also let her know your mailing address. And Mike did a workout yesterday, too, called Three Days of Garden Remodeling. Well, mine, the workout I did that I'm. I'm sore on my shoulders for is because it's. I don't actually go to a CrossFit gym anymore, but my style of working out remains very much CrossFit. Like, after doing CrossFit for, I think seven or eight years, I still like that style of workout. I just work out alone in a gym here in Las Vegas, but I still stick to certain traditions, which is doing on Memorial Day, even in Canada, we did this for. For the long weekend, that is, before. Before Memorial Day weekend, which was this weekend. For those of you not in the U.S. in Canada, the long weekend is the weekend prior. We always did the same workout in Canada, too, that, that Americans do here that are CrossFit followers, which is called Murph. And Murph is a one mile run followed by and you can break up this next chunk in however you want, but it's 100 pull ups, 200 push ups and and 300 air squats followed by another one mile run. And technically the prescribed is to do it with a 20 pound vest. I have never done it with a 20 pound vest but yesterday I did it. And the 200 push ups always just gets me in the shoulders because I'm also stubborn and I won't go to my knees. So I do every push up from my toes, all 200. And so it hurts me. Every year it hurts me. So I'm a little stiff, but I think that would probably be how I would feel if I was gardening and remodeling too. Mike. So Tony, hello, welcome. And Tony said, took me four months to get my cousin to write a review. Yes. I mean this is something I'm talking about summer. And yet as I'm saying these things to you, I'm kind of like this is how I approach it anyways. But it's something to be extra mindful in the summer because it is harder to get people to follow through. We've also got Real World Witness Chrissy in the house whose book launched on May 20th. Congratulations. It's called the Mystery of Gold Coin Hard and it's been hard getting reviews. There's also a video on the site which is or on YouTube on the book launchers TV which is about getting reviews what worked for getting reviews for self publish and succeed. So that might help give you some ideas. So Angela will probably post it in the comments here and and then of course Quizmaster China's here. Welcome and just reading any other comments before I carry on. And Mike, is that that question? Angela will collect and we'll do those at the end. Okay, I'll come back to your comments afterwards. And for now let's go to my thought number three. That's what I'm going to call these now, summer book launch thoughts. Number three, if you are working with any influencers on your launch, make sure that they have lots of time with your materials. So some people may rush to create and the materials that they may be using will be different for every book launch and what you're doing. But you may have what's called email swipe copy, which is simply you've written some copy that they can use to send to their email list to promote your book. It may include some intense incentives that you might be including, including for launch. So anybody buying a book this week will get X incentives. And so you want to have that copy in their hands weeks and weeks before your launch. Same with any social media imagery. Anything that you're going to want them to have to be able to promote the launch, especially in the launch week, if that's what you're going for. If you're trying to kind of get that momentum to get, you know, a bestseller or whatever strategy you're going for and giving them lots and lots of time so that they can set it up. You know, many influencers have somebody on their team that's setting up the entire social media calendar for a month in advance so that core content needs to be in their hands well before that, that, that time, that time. And same with the email copy, they may be going on vacation or taking a month off. And so they're scheduling out all the content that's going to be delivered to, to their audience well in advance. So if you're sending them, you know, they promise to support your launch and you're sending it to them the week before, if they're out for any reason, you're going to miss that window. So give them lots of time and still follow up. Make sure that you're checking in to make sure they've got the stuff, they have plenty of time, that they, they've got it all ready to go, that they know the launch date because again, it's a busy time, it's easy for people to forget or not get it done. But if you're giving them lots of time with the materials, you're able to get them get into their calendar and get into their schedule and their cycle. So just planning ahead. This is a smart thing to do regardless because I do find, you know, even at Book Launchers are right now, we don't have anybody posting social media content or fixing. We're fixing that situation right now. But they were scheduling our launch posts and a lot of the content, they were scheduling it a, a month in advance and then just some of the other content in between, like some of the stories we'd post and things like that were a little bit more impromptu. But our bigger pieces of content around the ebook sales, the launches, the video reels that we were sharing, that was all pre scheduled a month in advance. So any time of year we're scheduling and planning that out well in advance. So just oops. Just being mindful of that anyways, but being extra mindful of it in summertime. All right, another thought in the summer, where are people hanging out? It is different than the rest of the year. And there's things like farmers markets, flea markets, other kind of outdoor community events that are happening. Sometimes they have local festivals. I know my local library here in Summerlin has a huge summer event. And so. And check those farmers markets out, because they go. They go really big in the summer and sometimes not. In places like I know Los Angeles, where I used to live, their farmers market tables were expensive. Even Las Vegas has. Has a couple. Like in downtown Summerlin, I think their tables are fairly pricey. But in some of the smaller markets or this, the suburban markets, you might be able to find a local event or a flea market and get a table for 100 to 200, $250. And, you know, if that seems high, then you could always try to find another local author and partner with them. But having a table there could be a lot of fun. And you can sell books. And I can tell you, having been at a lot of different kinds of events where you're one of the only people with books on your table, there's something about books that people just kind of magnetize to. Not everyone, because not everyone's into books, but those people who are. Are readers, they just naturally gravitate to a table with books. So even if you don't sell all the books that you'd like to sell at an event like that, you're going to have some really great conversations and you can uncover some cool community partnerships doing something like this. Because I've seen it at the farmer's market where the vendors talk to each other in setup and takedown, and you might find the perfect partner to do a collaborative kind of promotional event with at one of these events. And at the very least, you should be able to sell some books because people will buy books from you at that event. So check it out. But think about where are people hanging out in the summer and how is there a way for you to get in front of them? And especially if it's a good fit, especially if your reader is likely to be at that event. I mean, if you are selling a book on some sort of healthy living or, you know, eating fresh food or. I'm trying to think of what other topics. Aromatherapy, you know, all of that kind of stuff. They're really. I mean, the farmers market is a fantastic place for you to be with your book and your message. So just check it. Just kind of get creative and check out your local market. I think a lot of people, especially authors, they don't think locally as much as they used to. And before Amazon was such a dominant force, it was these kind of grassroots, I'll call them, kind of approaches to selling your book. That was how you actually got momentum and gain traction with your book. And so think about, think, you know, think creatively and have some fun with it. Because even if you're an introvert, you've written this book to have an impact or to tell story and you probably will really have a lot of fun just talking to people about it. So there is a video on the channel that Angela has a link to that she can drop on prepping for these live events. So you have a checklist of the things that you will probably want to have on hand if you want in order to make the most of this kind of an event. So Angela can drop that in the comments for you. All right, let's do a couple of prizes. So every Tuesday and Friday, except in July when we're going to take a break, we have a new video. And when you comment the day a video is released, you get entered to win. And I entered everybody in and I'm going to try and see if I can show you guys the draw here. So I'm just going to be brave today and try. I know there's a way to share screen here. Is this it? That's a new layout. We don't want that. Leap Studio present Share screen and okay, this might show you select. Let's see. Here it is. Okay, I think this is going to work. So what I do is every Tuesday, Every Tuesday and Friday when you comment the day a video is released, you get entered to win. And so I collect all the names into random name pickers. And so it's really this ad filled thing that I use. But I've got the names of everybody who commented and it's showing, I think the screen but I can't see that. I can't actually press my button. Okay, let me go. If I go into that screen, if I could do it. Okay. Hopefully you're still seeing this. I am going to. There's an ad in the way of my name picker. Here we go. So you see everybody's spinning around that's commented. And our first winner today is Brian K. Morris, Rising Tide. So thank you, Brian for commenting on the day a video was released. And I put your name in and you won. So let Angela know. I feel like you've won almost everything, so you're probably going, darn it. I was hoping for the six Year swag surprise. But not today. So you can choose from the mug, the Journal, or of course, I'll publish and succeed, which I know you already have a copy of, but perhaps there's someone you want to give it to. So let her know teamoklaunchers.com what you want to win at, which prize you want, and where she says should send it. And then I'm just going to do this again, and hopefully you guys are seeing it, because I had to go to a different screen, so I can no longer see you while I'm doing this. And I'm going to see who our next winner is beyond placebo. So congratulations and thank you for commenting on the day a video was released. Let me see if that all worked. I'm back in here now I want to stop sharing, so can I stop? Okay. Hopefully that worked. I don't know. Okay, let's see if it worked. Congrats, Brian. How cool is that? Oh, you did see it. Okay. Yay. That's great. And hopefully now it's back to normal and you're not seeing that screen. But that's what I've been doing all these days. All these times when I have been choosing a winner, it's been that there's another one that doesn't spin, so I usually use the spinning. The spinning one. And that's what I. I collect everybody's names, put them in, and then I draw it when we're live or on the rare occasion that we miss a lot, I still do that and post them there. So thank you all. And you can email Angela@teamoklaunchers.com with your prize and your address, and she'll send them to you. And we still have one more live prize for everybody who's still here, so hang in there. All right, last tip that I have for you or thought, which is what I. You're sharing. Thought it still says, I'm sharing. Firefox. Let's see. Stop sharing. Okay. Hopefully it stopped sharing. Did it stop sharing? All good. Okay. Hopefully it did. Now, like any launch, you should engage your audience. So whatever your audience may be, whether it's having a fabulous, fabulous crew of folks on YouTube, your Facebook friends, your Instagram, you have a newsletter list. Hopefully you're building one. If you don't already have one, your network, whatever it is, anybody that's in your, you know, in your audience, they're listening to what you have to say, they're reading what you've written. They are excited for any content that you create. So hopefully you're engaging them because that's what you would do for any launch, whether it's in the summer, the fall, the winter, any season. But with, with summer and any time of year really, the think about meeting them, where their mind is at and how can you fit into that topic or that conversation. So what I mean by that is again, think about what's happening in the summer. They might have visitors from out of town. They may be going out of town. So do you have travel tips or do you have barbecue ideas or is your book about or touching on some unseen vacation spots? If it's a good beach read even, you know, again, we're talking nonfiction for our books, but it might still be a good beach read. It's generally not going to be a spectacular time to push a heavy topic on somebody as far as a book goes in your audience. You know, it, it might not be the time to give them a really heavy technical read. But it doesn't mean you can't, you've got your audience, doesn't mean you can't send it to them. But I would say think about how you can fit into what's happening in their world as you put promote their book. And so with summer it is thinking about the fact that people are going to be on the road more than normal. They're going to be thinking about their barbecues and their beaches. I always smile when people, you know, people try to sell fitness books in the summer. And I think of a friend of mine that's always like the beach is going to get the body that I give it. It's kind of like when it's already time to be at the beach, it's too late to sell them that, that beat that book on getting fit or you know, eating, eating well because they're, they're just going to give the beach what the, what body they've got. So it's, you know, that's why we like to promote those kind of self help books in January, February, March or at some other kind of topical time of year versus trying to sell them when they're sitting on the beach. Nobody really wants to read about the body they wish they had while they're presenting, they're in their swimsuit, presenting everyone with the body that they wish they didn't have. So it's is thinking about that mind and where they're at when they're, when they're going to be doing things this summer and how that fits into your message or your book and get creative. It doesn't have to be a perfect fit. You can also think about the fact that of what's going to be happening. So they might be thinking about going back to school, which again is one of the weird things about Vegas is that back to school is in the beginning of August. For us, in my mind, back to school is always September. But for us, you know, we're out of school now and we're back to school at the start of August. And I, I don't think that's normal for all states, but that is what they do here in Nevada or in Las Vegas in particular. So for me, back to school is August, but it still feels like September to me. So for a lot of people, you might be thinking about the back to school thoughts. So getting your kid ready for their next phase of school, if they're going to be going to university or college, it could be September's kind of another time of renewal. It's kind of that time when people go back after their goals. So that can be as you lead into that time. Maybe they're going to buy the book in August and read it in September because that's what they're planning to do. So again, just think about where their mind is at, what they're doing, how they're going to be thinking, what they're going to be planning, and try to engage that what when you're engaging your audience versus just trying to push your message on them no matter what they're doing. Because the summer is a little bit of a different time period. So you do want to change your messaging according to that. And my final thought on this before I open it up to your questions for the day is my thought about, you know, putting all putting so much emphasis on launch, and we've talked about this before, is that the whole model and the whole push behind having a big launch is actually a thing that traditional publishing drove because of that's how they would know what resources to put behind a book. That's how they would, you know, kind of decide what further resources they were going to put behind a book was all driven for that launch. And then also to make those big lists. If you wanted to make a New York Times or Wall Street Journal bestseller list, you were trying to put push a lot of books leading up into launch so that those sales counted for your launch week and you hopefully made one of those lists. If that's not something you're trying to do, then it's not that I would say don't worry about having a big launch because having a strong Launch does give you momentum and it can be a really helpful thing. But I wouldn't put so much pressure on it. Right. There's so much pressure on launch. And if you're launching in the summer, you are going to face a few challenges and it will probably be a slightly softer launch than if you launched at some other time of year. And that's okay because it's not going to always be about having this one moment in time. It's what you're going to do with the book in the long term. And I, I give the analogy of how when I was pregnant with my son, how the doctor and, you know, nurses and other kind of people in that, in that service space were telling me to create this birth plan and they wanted me to have this like, written document of how this birth was going to go. And I just didn't have the capacity. There was a lot of other things going on for me personally at the time, including a book launch, the new, brand new I was launching that I was, you know, supporting people who had licensed off the courses that I had created. And, and I was planning and working on the visa to move from Canada to the U.S. and I was planning and building book launchers, at least as far as on paper and in theory of what it was going to be. So I had a lot of other things going on and a birth plan just seemed like a lot of planning for something that I really didn't necessarily have a lot of control over in my mind. And my goal was very simple. I wanted to have a healthy baby and to have as low of risk on my own health as possible. And so to me, that was the outcome that I focused all my attention on. So I researched the process, I understood what was going to happen, but I didn't set my path to be like, this is how it's going to happen. I wanted a healthy, for both of us birth that was the ultimate outcome. And it was really good that I didn't waste a bunch of time planning the specific, like this is how I'm going to do everything, because nothing went according to any sort of plan. And I never would have planned for how it all went down. But at the end of the day I was healthy and so was my baby and that's really all that mattered. And so for your book launch, think about what actually matters and really focus on that bigger picture goal of why you've written the book and what you're trying to achieve achieve and you're still going to have a lot of work. And in Fact, I think some people who don't put, you know, 5,000% effort into launch, they actually have the energy and the enthusiasm to carry it through and nurture the book for a long, long time post launch. Because some authors really give it really hard for launch and then they've got nothing left in their tank and they're tired and they don't keep going. And the real value in being an author doesn't come from launch. It comes from getting that book into readers hands and getting it into the reader's hands and getting into readers hands over and over again. And having a book that people read and tell others about and will write reviews about and doing that over and over again over a long period of time, you'll get momentum, it will open doors. If you do a good job of stepping through the open doors, you will create opportunities and momentum. And it all that will really matter is that you have a great book that is in the world and that you can, you can make the most of that opportunity. So not saying don't plan, I, I did a lot of research as far as understanding what was going to happen. And of course books and babies are very different. But I do always like to remind people that you do have to. It's not just the moment of birthing that book. It is the many days, months and years after the book come out that really, really are going to create success or not for your book. So if you are launching in the summer, plan ahead. Take advantage of the things people are doing in the summer. Speak to them about what they're doing and how your book can fit in to that or to what they're about to do once summer winds down. And keep planning to do book promotion things every day well past your launch so that it doesn't really matter whether you launched in the summer or you launched in the winter. You're going to be able to create success and build momentum with your book. So what questions do we have today? Just give Angela a chance. And while she's working on that, your question for today is what this is going to reward the people who are here early. But still, what are we celebrating in June at Book Launchers? The first person that I see to answer that will be my winner today. Okay, question one. How about integrating everything into a QR code or a bio or similar? So I know that was way back when and Clash won by the way. So congratulations Clash. Thank you. And so I'm assuming that that goes back to the email that I was talking about or making it easy for People in book launch, the. The fun part that I always remind people of, when they put QR codes, they're like, put a QR code in your book. And I'm like, that's great. Except what do you do if you're reading your book on your phone? I mean, there's nothing more paralyzing than being on your phone and seeing a QR code. Have you had that happen? You encounter a QR code, you're like, normally, I would be scanning this QR code with my phone. So what do I do? So I think you want to have options. And so I think it's great to include a QR code, and I think it's great to have everything else listed there so that you aren't paralyzing somebody who is looking at a QR code on their phone. But if I missed what you were talking about, Mike, please let me know, because I know that question was a while back in the. In the conversation that we were having. Okay, so next question. Real world witness. Chrissy said, what's the best way to do a podcast book tour? That's a really wide open question. And I mean, for us, what we do is we kind of pitch. It's like you. We create a roadmap. And so what we want to do is look at what's going on around your launch. So is there some sort of an awareness month? Is there something else going in, going on, trending topics, what? And then we look at the podcast that we will pitch, and we try to plan pitches that will feed into those things. The part that's really difficult with podcasts is that they're often securing their interview schedule for, you know, two, three months ahead, and then that's not when the podcast will actually even be released. So what we're finding is the lead time with podcasts make it difficult to actually call this a podcast tour. In an ideal world, you're able to hit with a bunch of podcasts, you know, in a short amount of time to create that feeling of being everywhere. But the reality is that, you know, I sometimes I get an email, and it'll be somebody saying, you know, our episode is live. And I don't even remember doing the interview because it was so many months ago. And so that's the challenge. And then some of the interviews that we're booking, I've heard that we're booking the interviews for the fall, and some of them are even booking into next year now. So. So some of them can be really difficult. So that would be one thing is when you're booking, it probably have to be flexible. If you are really hoping to have interviews go live all around the same time period, you'll need to be booking those three to six months in advance and then letting the hosts know that that's the timing that you're shooting for to get that podcast episode out live. This is a really big subject that, you know, I don't know if I'll quite do it justice, but hopefully that was some good tips that you'll find value from from Debbie Doson. Should attempts to do media appearances be done all at once within a month or two before your launch or should it be continuously layered through pre launch launch and afterwards? So I think there's lots of approaches to this and again this is where I it's going to depend on your strategy and we do have a video and content on our four launch strategies. And so if you're going for a media launch like a. If you're self publishing, really the only choice you've got right now is kind of the Wall Street Journal type bestseller. And if that's what you're going for, then you'll want to have as much activity on your pre sales in advance. So you would be layering in as much marketing pre launch. I don't know if you guys can see my shirt. Probably it's for the better if you can't because every time I take a drip a drink it's dripping onto my shirt. All right, that's water. All good. So. So I would say depending on your strategy and depending on what you're trying to do, but if you're trying to drive a lot of pre sale activity so that you have that bestseller launch, you'll want to have as much media done in the six to eight weeks leading up to launch and that kind of launch week, generally speaking that makes it sound like it's easy to get media to put you on when you want to be on and it's not. So I would say take it when you can get it. If you're paying a publicist, you can direct them to try to drive momentum at a certain time frame. But if you are trying to drive it, you're going to have to be done and ready to promote your book probably four to six months before your launch in order to do that and then think of your energy. Because I can't emphasize this enough, I don't think there's so much emphasis put on launch and launch does not matter that much in the grand scheme of things. It really doesn't My first book was an overall number one bestseller on Amazon. And that helped a little bit when I was trying to get onto the major news shows for sure when. And this was in Canada. So some of you will never have heard of these stations. But Clash in Ottawa will certainly know, you know, Global TV and CTV and some of those other major news outlets that I was on. I was also on an Ottawa local show and I can't think of the name of it right now. It was like Rogers tv, something local. I can't remember because I went to Ottawa specifically for that interview and I was speaking there too. But anyways, so it did make it easier having that credibility a little bit. But you know, it really isn't. It really isn't a big game changer to have a massive launch. The Wall Street Journal bestseller, making that list in certain, certain professions, I'll say. So if you're a speaker, if you're a consultant, you know, in finance, it can have value being able to say that you are a Wall Street Journal bestseller. And so there could be value in pushing if you think you can hit 5,000 to 8,000 sales if you have a long enough lead time, you know, it might be worth going for. But in general, I would say manage your energy and space these things out. Because at one point I was doing, I don't know, four to eight podcast interviews a month, and I just got tired because that's on top of everything else that you do as an author, as a business person, you know, in your career and with your family. And in theory, you should be prepping for every one of those interviews and following up with thank yous after every one of them. And I say in theory because they're just got to a point where I didn't prep for any of them. I would just show up, give them the best value I could. But I didn't have the energy to put into every single interview that I was doing. So manage your energy and I would say you're going to benefit the most with being consistent and promoting this book for the long term. Big launches are fun, but they take a lot of energy and resources to do. So I think if, if you have to choose, I would do as much as you can for as long as you can. Okay, next question. Oh, the 4 launches video is there. Oh, next question. Debbie Doson, where is the oddest or most unexpected place you've seen an author do a signing? Hmm, I can't think of one off the top of my head. I do think I've seen People doing them at farmers markets and flea markets and places like that. There aren't a lot of them and it's not unexpected. So I'm not actually seeing necessarily an unexpected. I did one at my local CrossFit gym when I was in Canada, you know, and that was, I don't know if that's unexpected per se. I was a very regular patron there. I became friends with the owner and so we did a big event. We called it Burpees for Books. And everybody who bought a book, I did a burpee. If they bought three books, I think I did 10 burpees. And so and we, we live streamed it and people came out and watched and cheered it on and we made a party out of it at the gym. And so I don't think there's necessarily anything unexpected as like that would surprise me per se. But I think you can be very creative and I think you can do cool things and think about the places that you have a relationship with people. You're a frequent visitor to a certain cafe. One of my favorite stories and it's not, not nothing to do with me personally, but I read about it and it was about that person and I think I wrote about it in Self Publish and Succeed. She wrote she, she was having writer's block and she ended up writing her book at a tire changing place. And so she started taking her friends in to get their cars tires changed and then they ended up carving out a little writing corner for her. So when her book launched they put her name and congratulations on the sign and featured it there. So I don't think anything is too weird or too crazy. I think a lot of people just get stuck in the box of thinking bookstore, book, event media, those kind of things. And I think the most fun you'll have is when you do those creative things that aren't, aren't something everybody does. All right, question five. Does there exist a website to match your niche to events or locations via keywords or buzzwords? A sort of KDP search for the real world. I talked about some sites that will match influencers to people. I don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for and I don't know the name of those sites off the top of my head. And that was more for finding paid promotion and paid ads. And I'm trying to think of what video I put those in. It might have been alternative ways to make money on your book or something. I'm just looking at my channel content right now to see if I can spur a memory on as to what it was, but there are some websites that are kind of like matchmaking websites for creators and people who will pay for promoting content on that site. So it was more of a get paid to to, you know, have ads on your site kind of thing. I can't think of anything specific anybody else knows. Please feel free to comment now or if you're watching the replay and you have ideas, please feel free to comment after. Okay, Dabitosin, you're making me work really hard today. Questions six from Dabby. Do we get a charade style clue on what the six year prize might be? Oh, let's see. The charade style clue would give it away immediately. And Angela doesn't have them yet. I don't think so. So. I don't think so. Not yet. I will tell you that both of them are wearables. So unlike our celebration, our 400 author celebration, which was a blanket that. It is not a blanket. Both of these things are wearables and they are one. We've had something like it before. But the design that I had made on the COVID or on the COVID on the front of it is totally new, totally different. And I tried, I tried something totally. I was, I had a moment of inspiration. So we'll see what you guys think. All right. Question seven for the Dabby Goshen show. What's the best or most successful way of requesting emails from customers when doing in person tutors? That video that Angela put down of live events that covers all of that. So definitely watch that video on the live events next. Can you tell I'm getting tired and I also have a meeting at the top of the hour, so I'll be closing this off so soon. But that video covers a lot of really great details, so. Okay. Oh, and I will say the most successful way I've tested them all is to actually just have somebody put their name in it. Like email address, write it down with a pen and paper. QR codes do not work very well. Okay. Question 8. Dave, thoughts on hiring a professional photographer to documents one's public's event. One's public events for consistency. I would. I love that. And if you do any speaking and can get a videographer and a photographer out, you'll use those photos and videos for a long time. It's something that I kind of. I keep kicking myself because I don't seem to organize and get that done. But it would be, it's very useful to do that. You don't need to do it. All the time. But I would say having it once or twice could be really great and can help with your social media, your media packets, all of those kind of things. So I would highly recommend doing it at least once, if not for a couple of events. It's a great idea. Thank you. Okay, and the last question. If your book was all about a trademarked item, a popular toy, as an example, do you need to get the manufacturer's permission to write your book? It depends. So you can talk about a trademarked item in reference to it. Like, you could write an entire book about the Starbucks brand. If you're teaching something around that Starbucks brand and it's, like, illustrative that you're using that logo or that brand. We've had an author write a book about Amazon. That's something very common. And you don't have to get Amazon's permission, you don't have to get Starbucks, but commission in that case. But honestly, I always feel really uncomfortable answering questions about trademark and copyright law because I'm not an attorney. And what I have learned since being in the States is that if somebody wants to sue you, they will sue you, and a lawyer will take the case and try to find a way to make the case work. So it's always wise to get advice from an attorney in this case, especially if you're going to be writing an entire book about the subject. I think it would be worth it to have a quick consult with a trademark or, you know, other attorney, whatever. It's specific to that subject, because I'm not an expert in that. But we certainly have published books without issue that talk about a company or a trademarked brand in reference to kind of, you know, utilizing that brand or with business lessons surrounding that brand. And they did not need permission because it was, you know, essentially, I think it. I don't know how it works with trademark, but with trademarks in particular, the issue is more making sure that the brand isn't endorsing it. Right. It needs to be clear that you're not using the trademark to sell the book and making it seem like it's part of that book. So you wouldn't want to have it be in the voice of a Marvel character or the voice, you know, be the toy talking for that. That would be something that would be, I believe, a trademark violation versus talking about the brand. Again, it's out of my realm. I would always, always defer those things to an attorney to get the best advice. All right, you guys made me work for it today. Thank you so much for being here. We'll be back here again in two weeks, and I believe our deep dive will be June 24th, and it will be me. But I will confirm all of that next time we meet here again. And yeah, I think that's it. And Real World Witness says make sure to post pics and videos on your website and social media when you launch, absolutely no matter what time of year. And Efren, this is a good subject for you, my friend. I think you're launching in the summer, so hopefully you go back and watch the goodness that you missed at the beginning. All right. Thanks, everybody. Hope you have a fantastic last two days of May, and I'll see you back here in June. Bye.