102: The 10 lessons I learnt from launching and promoting my book
What does it take to launch and promote a book without burnout?
I know so often when we launch something in our business (especially something that has had as much love as a book), we feel we are 24/7 talking about it, promoting it.
It can feel like you eat, sleep and breathe the book.
As I am amid promotion for my book, there are a few lessons I think could help any author (or aspiring author) learn without burning out (and also having it be wildly successful).
Learn from my lessons and transfer these lessons into all product launching.
If you LOVED the episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag me @essential.shift!
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KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS
The 10 things I learnt from launching my book
How these lessons can help you, your book or business product
How to avoid burning out in the process
SHOW RESOURCES
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If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @essential.shift.
Bless it be.
With love, Laetitia!
Podcast Transcription
Laetitia Andrac 0:30
Welcome to the essential shift podcast. We are recording today episode 102 And we're going to share about the lessons learned from launching my first book light it's the 10 lessons learned. This podcast is inspired by many questions that I've received from my community from my clients, but also from the expert author communities that I'm part of and I'm one of the mentor about what have I learned when launching my book, in what I've been the success, the learnings and the things that I recommend you to explore when you're launching your book. This is applicable to any launch basically like launching a book is one thing, it's a product, it's a book and definitely you will have some nuggets in there for you to use if you're launching a book, but this applies also to launching any offerings whether it is a product or service or software. So let's get into it. I will definitely focus the angle of this lessons learned with my book lessons. And I'm sure you're gonna love this. So the first lesson The first lesson is about creating an impactful and unique creative campaign. So you may have noticed the just lighted campaign being around I created it inspired by the JUST DO IT campaign from Nike yet it's very different in its execution in its way in his feeling. It was really about sharing the journey of some of my clients about before intuition and then lighting a candle after intuition. So just light it just lighting your intuition. You can access those videos on my YouTube channel. You can access them on the page, www.lightitbook.com You have some of the video there. If you want to refresh your mind around this campaign, because when I was gearing up towards this book launch, I realized that it was very important to have a unique, compelling creative campaign. It was not just about you know throwing on Instagram, captions and content. I really wanted to tell the story because we are launching a book here. So book is all about a story. So I wanted to campaign that was surrounded by that energy of storytelling. So I really created this narrative and I surrounding myself with my team and like clients to then make it happen. So if you're launching a book and you want to create an impactful and unique creative campaign, think about what makes your book special. What are the themes that you can highlight? So then your campaign can then resonate with your audience in a unique way? For me the answer to what makes my book special was really about the light and the candle and the campaign just liked it. And the themes that I wanted to highlight. Were around the light framework and so leaning in with people sharing their before and after intuition. We're also gathering the G of the light frameworks of gathering them in circle. All of those kinds of things were very important. I wanted to highlight it in the campaign. Go and check out the videos if you haven't yet and please DM me on Instagram at Asian soul dot shift with your feedback about this. Okay, lessons to the Lesson Two is focusing on the book. When you're launching it and giving it the love. It's about not getting distracted and a lot of you know that I have a neurodivergent brain so I love to do to do everything at once and you know launch other products and all of that but it is really important to give it a love. Even if you're excited about doing other things, focusing on launching one thing at a time helps you but also help your audience know what you're doing. So I really stayed focus on the book itself. And this podcast episode is more or less clothing, the intensive campaigns that we started on the 21st of June, on the beautiful summer or winter solstice depending on where you are, so that we can now move and prepare for the next campaign which will kick off for salween in the northern hemisphere. So really embedding this into the time so we'll start the next campaign until the 31st of October and we're just wrapping this one with a beautiful bow with this podcast around the 10 lessons learned. So it's really important when you focus on one thing to engage with your reader to respond to their feedback to foster the community around this one thing, which was the book launch in that instance, if you're working on launching something else, really focusing on this and giving it love and really focus and energy because the more energy you invest in the pre launch the during the launch and the post launch of your of your book, the more it will give back to you. As I always say always start with strategy and energy. So focus your strategy and your energy on this one. thing. Okay, lesson three. Ask your community to amplify the launch. You know, I always say it takes a village to grow business. It takes a village to launch a book too. So your community is actually your biggest asset and that's why when you're talking to publisher, traditional publishers, they always ask you, who is in your audience, how many people do you have in your email list? How many people are in your community, all of those kinds of thing because those who are in your community believe in your work, and you actually wrote your book for them. So that's what I did. I didn't hesitate to ask my community. I encourage them to share about my book as soon as they posted on social media. I encourage them and I'm still encouraging you as you're listening to this because we still have the giveaway to gain one of the lightest exclusive earrings before the 31st of October if you leave a review, to send me a screenshot on your review on Amazon booktopia or good reads so that you can be in the drought to win the earrings, but really encouraging everyone to recommend your book to share about your book to amplify your book. And this is how we reached number one bestseller in entrepreneurship category in less than 48 hours post launching the book because I asked my community to support it and to help me get there. And I shared with them I was cheering I don't know if you were you know, following me at that time on Instagram, but I was doing stories I was at the time in knees with my husband and I was sharing on story how we were going up the rank and it was happening we will make number one so word of mouth marketing is incredibly powerful. And often we underestimate the power of those we know and our close community so your community can really exponentially increase your book Rich, so ask ask for help. That's the lesson number three. Okay, lesson number four. Budgeting, budgeting in advance the different pieces of the launch, so that you can make sure you dedicate the investment it needs. I am still in the midst of the launch. We're closing you know with this podcast and I'm telling you, there are various costs that are involved in launching a book from my in person book launch party I'm doing on Fridays this Friday, the one in Melbourne, we've done the one in Sydney, the PR the content creation so organizing the campaign filming and the execution. There is also creating the audiobook and hiring a voice for that all of those things. Were budgeted in advance, getting a photographer for the book launch all of that and rejecting all of these aspects of the book launch in advance is essential in aligning those investments with your goal with your strategy with your intention. All of that is critical. So then, you can allocate your resources wisely, and you can ensure that each component gets the attention and investment it deserves. Because it's not just about spending the money or not knowing what you're spending and where you're spending it and all of that it's about investing strategically to maximize your book, visibility and impact in the time that you're launching it. So for me, I tracked all of this I had my projection and then tracking my actuals which is something I teach in all of my program if you want to work with me on that. Just DM me on Instagram at isn't shoulder shift and we can find together what's the best way for me to help you do that. But really working on what am I assumptions and what are the actuals so maybe some of the investment will be a bit higher, some will be a bit lower, but then you have a clear ballpark
of budgets that you want to allocate because as we know cash flow is everything as a business owner and when you launch a book, you want to have the cash flow for that. I always say it's not the book sales that will make you money. Selling a book, writing a book. Launching a book is an investment for your brand. Okay, so be prepared to make the investment strategically. Okay, lessons five, use an omni channel strategy omni channel is really clear. It's about being online offline on the own on the online space on borrowed and paid channel together with a clear omni channel strategy. I used to be a strategy consultant as you know and I used to specialize a lot in omni channel marketing strategy when I was in my last row Intel strat so I know a lot about this, but this is where you need to diversify your marketing efforts across different channels with a clear strategy what are you expecting from this in this channel? What investments you want to make in this in this channel? Don't solely rely on posting on your Instagram or on your facebook or on your LinkedIn or the traditional advertising? really utilize all of this channel so that they can amplify one another. And really, the offline events are as important as the earned media which are as important as borrowing some plaids some influences media is this integrated approach will help you reach a diverse audience effectively. Okay, number six of my lessons learned making space to nourish yourself and avoid burning out. Imagine if I had burned out while launching a book which is about you know lighting your intuition so that you build a thriving business without burning out. So I know when you launch a book and I have witnessed some of my clients, some of my colleagues some of my peers, people in the in the community that I'm part of the author community where I'm the mentor now I have seen many of them mentioning that they are on the verge of burning out when they're launching a book. I am not available for burnout anymore. I share that in my book since my burnout in 2014. I am always planning everything intentionally so then I know there is a space for myself for self care today don't burn out. So that's why during the light at launch, I took a break we went away as a family on a weekend away. I went on a retreat with my Aboriginal mentor for five days in the middle of my book launch between two book launch party events in person. I enjoyed quiet time quiet moments. I didn't launch anything else as I said I was focused on the book so I didn't do anything and those quiet moments to reach out are not just luxuries, they are essential. Because remember, you are the driving force behind the launch of your book. You are the author, so prioritize your well being because a refreshed mind body and spirit and soul. Can you really feel this creativity this enthusiasm and people notice when you're tired or when you're energized? So really looking after yourself making space for that. Okay, Lesson Seven, being patient. A book launch is a long term game. And I know patience is hard. Because I'm not the most patient person. But patience is key there. Because it's tempting to measure the success of your book in the first week in the first few weeks in the first month of launching it around the numbers of cells, the numbers of you know PR that you get and all of those kinds of thing. But actually, your book is on journey when you launch it. There is no such an open and closed cart. Like if you're launching a course or if you're launching a preorder for product. It's something you can go on forever. Books have a long shelf life. And actually some things that I heard from my book mentor was that a book is even more successful in its second year in market. So really rolling this impact over time and keeping investing is really important. So don't be disheartened if you don't see immediate results. If you don't reach number one bestseller like we did for light it keep going keep engaging with your audience keep promoting it. And that's what I'm doing. I'm keeping promoting it because I want this book to be on as many bookstores as possible. We are right now on a few bookstores you know handful bookstore, even more than a handful now bookstore across Australia and I will keep keep doing this with my team. And I will keep asking you here on this podcast to read light it to leave a review, to buy for Christmas for your friends gift it to your family, share it around because you need to keep writing about your book. You need to keep talking about your book so that it stays front of mine so weave it in any blog article, anything that you're doing, because a successful book launch is not measure in the first few days. It's about building a long lasting connection with your readers. Okay. Okay, lesson number eight building relationships with influencer is key. In this moment of digital age and this moment of you know, amplified word of mouth through social media and things like that influencer can significantly expand your books rich. So it's all about building genuine relationships with those individuals working in your niche or your industry so that you can create great partnerships. And for me what happened is like the collaborations that I did on podcasts, the guest blogging I've been, you know asked to be a paid speaker on some conference. All of this didn't happen overnight. Those are relationship people in my network that I've built over the years. And now is a beautiful time to leverage it as I'm launching light it and as I'm working towards reaching new people, new readers new eyeballs with this beautiful book. So remember authentic relationships yield authentic promotion. So really focus on meaningful connections that aligns with your book message. Don't get out there and just approach a random person that you barely know and try and get them to read your book, review it or share it with their audience. really bring that mindful Heartland connection into it. And for me, it was really like all this time that I spent in person networking, I recorded a podcast about networking and your network is your net worth. So it's like reaping the benefits of this time but also organizing my in person book launch. An online book event was really a great way to create those deep connection and amplify light it enriches enriching new audiences. So think about what works for you. Okay, Lesson Nine, celebrating the milestones and acknowledging the supporters, the one that are by your side. So it takes time to reach those key milestone. publishing a book is not an overnight thing, unless you want to do it quickly and dirty but if you really want to put it the love and the care that people feel when they're reading lighted, it takes a year and a half like it did for me like 18 months. So celebrate the launch day, celebrated like oh my gosh, I've carried this baby for 18 months, it's time to celebrate this celebrates a best seller status. When we reached number one bestseller, I was back with my parents in the south of France and we had champagne. We enjoy that we celebrated it so really celebrate it and also celebrate the smaller achievements and acknowledge those who have been by your side and enabling this to happen from your fair friends, your family, the best readers, the reviewers, your editor, your publisher, your fans. All of that because this is gratitude, we foster a positive environment and strengthen all of this positive dynamics that's happening around your book. And I love to make people included in this success. So I love to celebrate them as long as long celebration of the results so that's why I organized this giveaway, giving away the lighted earrings to everyone was leaving a review with this unique you know, design and all that. So think about a creative way to give back to those while helping you you supporters to celebrating the milestone and acknowledging the supporters is a key lesson as well. Okay, and lesson 10 which is one that came to me a bit later in the journey, but I think it's very important is cultivating a strong author brand. It took me some time to feel comfortable declaring that I am an author. I am a published author. I am a best selling author. I'm still practicing it. I am not yet introducing myself in this way but I'm telling you I am practicing. I am practicing it because I am a published author.
So it actually took me a month within you know, in the launch to change my bio on my website on my social media and call myself an author. So whatever is holding you back from building the strength of a brand, please do it because he's trying this strong author brand. We're bringing you opportunity for Speaker gig for things that you will not have planned ahead. So your book is not just a product. It's a representation of you as an author. So invest time in building your author brand, which includes your online presence, as I've mentioned, your author, page and your social media profiles, all of that, because it consistency in your branding creates this trustworthy image and it makes your reader more likely to buy it, you know, so that's where I'm investing time in this. And I'm going to disclose in this podcast as an exclusive that I'm starting to brew within my womb, the next book. It's out there now, so I better get to do it. So thank you so much for listening to those 10 lessons learned. Let me read them out loud again to you the 10 lessons learned. So the first one creating an impactful and unique creating campaign creative campaign. Second one, focusing on the book and giving it love when launching it not getting distracted. Lesson three asking your community to amplify the launch, as I always say takes a village lessons for budgeting the different pieces of the launch in advance to make sure you dedicate the investment it needs lessons five using an omni channel strategy that was all the channel working together lessons Lesson Six making space to nourish yourself and not burn out during your book launch. Lesson Seven being patient. A book launch is a long term game, lessons eight building relationships with influences. Lesson Nine, celebrating milestones and acknowledging the supporters and Lesson Eight. Lesson 10 Sorry, cultivating a strong author brand. Let me know if you have any lesson any other lessons that you've learned when you launch your book if you're already a published author, and let me know if you have any question around my book journey. I would love to come back and do another podcast episode about it if you have any specific question and so DM me on Instagram at essential.shift