Creating a Launch Team: Who Will Be Your Book Doulas?
I first learned about book launch teams from an interview Dan Blank did with bestselling author Jennifer Louden. Jen’s most recent book, Why Bother? was launched with the help of a curated group of friends and supporters. In a launch team, each supporter does a small or large task to help spread the word, like telling three friends or posting a review on amazon.
I began keeping an ear out for new book releases and if the authors were going it alone or creating a team to help. Even considering how and where to find a team can be quite a challenge. And if you, like me, have been “trained” to take care of everything yourself, well, you assume you should.
With Dan’s interview and Jen’s response, I got another viewpoint: it could be a generous act to create community around a book’s advent into the world. To invite others to help share the celebration.
People feel good about celebrating something, about being part of a team that helps someone else. Communities support and witness major milestones for those they love, right? A birth, the new job or art exhibition or concert, a marriage or new relationship—friends help mark these life transitions with celebrations, photos, shares. When help is urgently needed in a serious illness, we get care pages and helping circles. We reach out, bring food, take care of chores. (I was so grateful to the circle of loving support when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer many years ago; my friends even threw me a hat party when I lost my hair to chemo.)
if this is a given—community brings meaning to our lives, makes us live longer, be happier and more fulfilled—why would we want to birth a book alone?
When the result of your years of creative effort is finally released into the world, it’s time to rock the house! A launch party to do your book proud! And, I’ve discovered, a launch team to help you get the word out.
I love a good party so I started there. Last week, I asked a friend to help me organize a launch party at Open Book, home of the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis where I’ve taught since 2000. A team of 12 was created to help me make it a real celebration and a success—I have two friends performing live jazz, another author setting up a thought-provoking conversation onstage, helpers contributing great food and cool aviation decorations (my book being about women pilots).
I’d helped with their books over the years; it was always a pleasure. I still had a hard time imagining they would do the same for me. Not because of them, of course. It’s my own reticence to ask for help. Every time I think of my family, friends, or readers who like my work, asking for their support, I also think: Who has time to add anything right now?
I was surprised and amazed at the offers of support for the party. So I wondered, could I also create a launch team like Jen had? Nothing on that scale, but some circle of community so my book would have birthing doulas?
But how does a writer organize such a community? How many people are needed? How do you not overwhelm them with requests? How do you make it fun for everybody?
Everyone knows that writers need support, in the process of writing and also (even more so) when the writing is released to the world. But we writers hesitate to ask. Maybe in our minds are the posts we see, day after day, about someone’s accomplishments. Or the sales pitches we get all the time to buy or support or fund. We all want to help but we run out of resources to even help ourselves.
Because of this, most writers are shy to ask anyone to the party of their book birthing, except that close publication circle. But what if there was some fun and excitement and joy in it for more people? What if there was a larger group who already appreciate what you talk about on the page, who get a lot from reading your writing, and who will gladly recommend your book to others—if only you ask?
Gigi Griffis released her YA novel, The Wicked Unseen, earlier this year, and she created a launch team to help. My writing buddy, Ginger Eager, received Gigi’s weekly launch team emails. Each contained a tiny but helpful task request: post a review on Goodreads, ask for the book at the local library, tell one friend. I loved the way Gigi made this fun, offering prizes and points for small helpful actions.
Most people, when asked, appreciate the chance to be generous to someone they admire. Plus, who can say no to prizes!
This week, I interviewed Gigi about specifics: how and why she did this, what she learned, what she’d recommend to other writers.
But first, a little about her: She is the author of the Netflix tie-in novel The Empress and creepy YA horror The Wicked Unseen (2023)—which she was launching with the launch team described below—and We Are The Beasts (2024), among other things. She’s says she’s a sucker for little-known histories, “unlikable” female characters, and all things Europe. After almost ten years of semi-nomadic life, she now lives in Portugal with an opinionated Yorkie-mix named Luna and a fancy blender that cost more than her couch. Her work has been translated into 17+ languages, and she has been featured in WestJet Magazine, Netflix Tudum, The New York Times, Noble Blood, and more.
You created a launch team or street team for your launch of The Wicked Unseen this year. Tell us about why you decided to do this. Have you done this for other books? What are the pros and cons?
Gigi: Yes! I decided to do it because of the very cool successes Elisa Bonnin had with her debut street team. She was kind enough to do a presentation with a small group of 2023 debut authors and I loved her ideas (so credit to Elisa first and foremost).
Now, Elisa’s debut was fantasy, and my YA debut is horror, so I wasn’t sure if the street team concept would go as well, but I figured there’s really no downside to trying. Before doing it, I figured the pros—if it went well—involved some good buzz before the book came out. The only real con was the time commitment. With marketing, the question is always “Where can I put my limited time for the greatest impact?” And it’s hard to know what the impact of your street team will be until you try it.
Describe the first steps you took to get this started. Did you ask a large group or just a few close friends/family? How did you choose people? What kind of response did you get?
Gigi: I actually decided to do two tiers of “street team” support.
The first (based on Elisa’s concept) was a small Slack group that I thought of as my core street team. I recruited for that on social media and via my existing blog and email list. People could apply to join via a Google Form and I reached out with invites after about a week of recruiting.
The concept for that core group was that I would provide a list of challenges (everything from reviewing the book on Goodreads to posting about it on TikTok to tagging me in opportunities on Twitter) and each challenge would earn people points. As points accumulated, street team members would level up and each level came with different prizes (like advance audio copies of the book, access to ARCs of other anticipated books—thanks to some writer friends—and entries in a larger prize drawing for book bundles and such at the end of the street team period).
In the end, I had about 10 people in that core street team. (I would have been happy to take more, but I’m still pretty small potatoes online, so I’m just happy we got to 10 in the end.)
For the second tier of my street team, I decided to offer a low-commitment option. Where the core team was given tons of challenges they could choose from and tons of prizes up for grabs, this email group was for those who wanted to help but didn’t think they’d have a ton of time or energy in the lead-up to my launch.
For this second tier, anyone could join. No Google Form required. All they had to do was join my book news email list (which I promoted in a blog post about my street teams and which already had a little over 100 people on it).
Every week (on Wednesdays), I sent an email titled “your Wicked weekly request” with one small ask. Typically, these were things that would take less than a minute to complete (like retweeting an important tweet or clicking “vote” on a Goodreads list).
How did you choose what tasks to ask them to help with? Can you share a list of requests and how they went—did you find some were easier for your team than others?
Gigi: The core team was given a multi-page Word doc with a long list of challenges, each with a point value attached to it. They were also all given access to eARCs of the book (so that they could easily review). Challenges included high-value tasks like leaving a review for the book (50 points per review platform before launch; 30 points post-launch) and small easy tasks (5 points to re-tweet my posts about the book).
Requesting the book from your local library got you 40 points. Creating fan art got you 40 points. Pitching the book to a book club was 25. Etc.
For the core team, I found that it was less about the difficulty of a task and more about how motivated the person was. About half the group was super engaged, with one person even getting into the highest tier of the prize packages (which I set at over 1000 points). The engaged folks did a mix of things, including reviewing, library requests, Goodreads list voting, and even creating mood boards on social media for the book.
For the Wicked weekly requests group, the asks were much smaller, and it was harder to track how many people were engaging (since not all my email list folks are mutuals with me on social media and not all the asks – like recommending Wicked to a friend - are trackable). But I will say that when I asked people to vote for The Wicked Unseen on a Goodreads list in my very first weekly request, it shot immediately to the top of that list.
When did you begin asking (how many weeks/months before launch) and how often did you send the requests?
Gigi: The Wicked weekly request was (perhaps obviously) weekly. I announced both groups on April 17 and started the actual asks about six/seven weeks from launch. The weekly request emails stopped when the book launched (a decision I made in order to not fatigue the lower-commitment group).
The core group also started about six weeks from launch and that group will stay active until about six weeks after launch, which is when the prize drawing will happen and all the prizes will go out. We’re still in that window, and that group is still actively accumulating points, though I have noticed a dip in engagement post-launch. Since that group is in Slack, I don’t have a specific schedule for my asks – I just pop in when I have something for people to RT or if I want to remind them to leave reviews, etc.
What was your overall experience with doing this? Do you have a sense of whether it impacted sales or invitations to speak, etc.?
Gigi: With the Wicked weekly requests, there were several times I saw some impact—like rising to the top of that Goodreads list and seeing people posting on social media on request—but many of my asks weren’t trackable things (e.g. recommend The Wicked Unseen to one friend who you think would enjoy it or watch this TikTok video of me listening to a snippet of my audiobook for the first time).
With the core team, I think it did help to get those early reviews, social media shares, etc., but overall I don’t think I would do that kind of street team again. The effort from me appears to outweigh the benefits, especially with such a small group.
I’ve now acquired a few ardent readers who will be out there promoting me beyond the street team close date, so the ripple effect could still prove me wrong about the impact of the team. And since some of the prizes for levelling up include ARCs of my future books, I hope this also turns into more early reviews for my 2024 and 2025 YAs.
For this book, being involved in my marketing meant two things: 1) making sure I did things that I *know* work— like PR placement (like this and this) and Goodreads giveaways. 2) doing a lot of experimenting! Would a street team be a good approach? Should I run a social media contest? (Watch for that in the fall.) What about TikTok filters? Storygram tours?
The most effective marketing approaches typically involve tried-and-true staples but also testing out new ideas, trying things even when you aren’t sure what their impact will be.
Your Weekly Writing Exercise
Of course, not everyone feels ready to gather their team—you may just be starting or still wondering if your book will ever see readers. But I encourage you to start to imagine your support community. Here’s the first step that I learned about, a really fun one that can be stretched over the entire week. Plus a party planning imagination exercise to top it off.
Start a list of possible supporters for your street team. Who do you know who might be willing to help you, even a little? People like to help others, it makes them feel good about themselves, and who wouldn’t want to help an author who creates an amazing book? Write down all the names you can think of. Go through your address book and maybe your email folders. Collect a few names each day this week and let yourself stretch this exercise into the next month. It’s REALLY never too early to do this. (This Reedys video or Kasia Manolas’s post explains it even further.)
Plan your launch party. Where do you most want it to be? Who do you want to help you, to be in conversation with you, to interview you about your writing process? What kind of music and food and special effects (balloons? cookies decorated like your book cover?) would really do it for you? Spend time imagining this—write notes, browse online for how to do it well (check out this link from Emily Freeman with some great ideas and photos or this from The Writing Cooperative). Some authors-to-be make collages or Pinterest boards to inspire them as they dream the event. Have fun and bring joy into it!