The Ultimate E-Book Launch

I have been told that the biggest highlight in an author’s career is their first book launch. What says ‘I made it!’ better than a party? It also provides a bit of promotion, some good snapshots (sober and otherwise) and you may even sell a couple of books.  But if you’re an indie author (or even an established author) releasing an e-book, how do you get the word out? How do you launch that sweat soaked manuscript you’ve been slaving over without being able to entice an audience with a wine or two?

Why, you make it an event.

If you haven’t heard of Isobelle Carmody’s launch site for her e-book Greylands, then you better hop over there before it self-destructs at the end of the month (http://greylands.theslipstream.com.au **18/03/13 since the end of the launch the site/debates have been archived to here and here.). This folks, is how it’s done. Isobelle has taken the book launch one step further and made it into a month long forum complete with special guests, book trailers, and prizes.

Isobelle is a world renowned fantasy author of over thirty books for adults and children. After taking back the rights for her out-of-print book Greylands, she decided to rerelease the novel in e-book format. It was clear this needed a bit of a fanfare and what better way to do that then to have a debate about the publishing industry’s move into digital? I can already hear you weary Indies crying, “Of course this is working for her. She knows people, she has fans, she can call on big name authors because they’re friends.” Being an established author is of course very helpful, but it is not what makes this launch so successful.

Everything Isobelle has incorporated can easily be replicated by indie authors to great effect. She used the forum to build up the hype for the book several weeks before it was released. In those weeks she announced the prizes (kindles, print books and audio books) for the best comments on the forum, and released a trailer for the book complete with addition video on the making of the trailer (See below).Creating anticipation is key, whether you’re newly published, or an established author whose fans have been fighting over out-of-print copies of your books at their local library. On the day of the e-book’s release she had another fantasy author ‘launch’ the book for her in an online speech, again a brilliant move by getting other people involved and promoting her work.

The major stroke of genius in this launch however, was conducting a month long debate over a contentious subject, in this case the digital vs. print debate.  There are many contentious subjects out there *cough *cough *religion* *cough *cough *politics* *cough *cough *guns *cough *cough, that an indie author can tap into to create a bit of a buzz around their release.  Every day this month a different person has posted their perspective of the topic on the site, taking the debate in a new direction and allowing the general public to join in. While Isobelle did use her connections to well know authors, she also invited opinions from journalists, editors, librarians, readers, teachers, professors, emerging authors such as myself (See my post here), and high school kids who will be the generation leading this revolution.

 So perhaps it’s time to start harassing your contacts on Facebook and include an e-book launch in your marketing plan. Every book has an angle it can launch a debate around; what’s yours?

Note: The Great E-Book Debate will end on August the 3rd (**2012). Why not head on over to the site and make a comment or two. You could win some great prizes.

My recent novel a comedy set in Facebook, The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain, is available at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/the-grand-adventures-of-madeline-cain. You can also purchase E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to E-Book Success at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/e-book-revolution-the-ultimate-guide-to-e-book-success.