#13. Street Teams
Hello all. Every author
needs a support system. For me, I started the Guilty captains when my Jamieson
Legacy novels were released. At the time, I had nine women from across the
county who volunteered to take an active role to help advance my writing
career. Fast forward two years later, one woman remains my sidekick: Mia
Harris, or Mia Daniel on FB. She really is an author’s best friend. I asked her
what she thought was the most important thing for a street team, and here was her
response for the author:
Get the word out
without expense.
Get people involved.
Get involved on social
media
What I learned from a workshop at RWA. Mobilize your
street team with:
1.
Chapter Reveals—give them a tease
2.
Contest—offer weekly prizes
3.
Build anticipation, give direct links to
all retails that offer pre-orders
4.
Eliminate friction among the group
5.
Give incentives for positive actions
6.
Super fans will convince their friends to read your books
7.
Smashwords has coupons for you to use
for pre-order receipts
8.
List your street team under the
acknowledgement section in your books
9.
Give your street team a list with a
deadline to complete the tasks
10.
In the end, many people on your street team
aren’t there for the give-a-ways. They support you because of what you write***
I’m guilty of #9. In the past, the only thing I asked
of my Guilty captains was to post a review when my book was released and to help
pass out postcards. Last weekend, I asked members of my FB steam team to post, with
the Amazon link, their favorite book that I had written. Of course not everyone
did, but it was fun to see which book each reader enjoyed. I would thank them
and then share their link on my wall with a shout out to them. One strange
thing happened. A friend of one reader replied that Christian fiction wasn’t
her cup of tea and why should she read Guilty of Love. I replied, posted the
synopsis. The woman agreed to give me a try. How cool was that? I had performed
#6 from the above list without realizing it.
I hope this tip has been a blessing to you. Believe
it or not, I’m attending another conference—if the Lord wills—this week. I’ll
have notes from there.
Pat
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