Have you ever wondered how some authors (or speakers, or anyone looking to get noticed!) manage to build incredible buzz around what they’re doing?
Author Frank Viola just launched a new book on Wednesday that has ranked in the top #15 on Amazon.com for the last 3 days. Right now it’s at #13 which means it’s the 13th bestselling book out of Amazon’s 7 million books.
And he’s shooting to hit #1. (If you want to help with that effort, I’ll tell you how at the end of this short post.)
How did Viola get his book in the top 15 on Amazon.com on the very first day of the book’s release?
He did 8 important things:
1. Create Something Quality
Frank wrote an amazing book. God’s Favorite Place on Earth combines novel-like fiction with nonfiction, drama with principles, narrative with teaching. It’s a unique look at the story of Jesus and his encounters in Bethany.
If you want to get others on board to share what you’re creating, then make it the best you can.
2. Understand the Struggles & Feelings of Your Community
In telling the story, Viola addresses 18 big struggles that people of faith face. The struggle against fear, doubt, discouragement, and handling rejection are among them. He also talks about what to do when God doesn’t seem to meet your expectations.
Do you know what the biggest challenges are that your community and clients face?
3. Get Authority Endorsements
He was able to get 47 top authors to read and recommend his book. Among them are John Ortberg, Mary DeMuth, Jack Hayford, Tricia Goyer, Jon Acuff, Brant Hansen, and many others.
Start now and work to build the relationships and connections to help you.
4. Encourage Sharing
He made it easy for his readers to share the book with their friends. Just look at this page he created with ready-made tweets, Facebook and Pinterest updates.
Don’t just ask your community to help you spread the word, give them the tools they need and make it as simple as possible for them.
5. Provide Incentives
Viola is giving away 25 eBooks & audios by 19 different authors to everyone who buys his book this week! How can you resist that?
Think about who you know that has a complementary message or service that you could team up with and reach out to them.
6. Promotional Creativity
He had a professional make a gripping video trailer for the book that looks like a movie trailer. You can view it here.
What can you do that’s a little more creative to get the word out?
7. Create a Sample Giveaway
Instead of creating the traditional (and very boring) “sample chapter,” Viola went further and put 20% of the book into a neat looking PDF so readers could sample the book. He also made it easy for people to share it. Click here to check out the sampler.
Can you create something similar that gives people a “taste” of what you’re offering and encourages them to share?
8. Community Engagement
Viola is a best-selling author who refuses to be a celebrity. That means he’s accessible. You can contact him on his blog. And unlike many authors of his caliber, he leaves comments open. I’ve emailed back and forth with Frank many times, and he’s always approachable and kind.
Don’t forget the benefits that come with building relationships and being an engaged part of your community.
If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, click here to get the book and get the 25 free bonuses. You can help this wonderful book hit #1 on Amazon.
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Michelle,
This is quite a list with a few things that aren’t often talked about.
I especially liked the Frank Viola example, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before.
That type of thing used with clicktotweet.com or possibly some Twitter shortcodes that allow clickable tweeting would be amazing!
Great suggestion, Adam. ClickToTweet.com is fab for making it easy for others to share us.
Thanks for stopping by!
Stellar Ideas for a successful book launch from conception to publishing.
Thanks Michelle for sharing your nuggets of wisdom
I can’t take credit for these — Frank is a smart marketer! :)
Thats quite awesome. I guess they might have planned it and planned it perfectly moreover the execution would have been smooth. Most of the times execution doesn’t works out properly and then the plans start to fail. Endorsements is really a great way to build proper buzz around something.
Endorsements are gold. :)
And I agree, the planning is critical to pulling off a big launch.
All great information, but I am blown away by Frank’s “sharing” page! I could not have stumbled across this at a better time because I’ve got a book launch come up and have looking for some inspiration. Thanks!
Isn’t that cool? It’s a great page to model, Marquita.
What a list Michelle. Thanks for listing them. Certainly some action steps in amongst that lot!
Definitely good action steps. And the results he got speak for themselves. Book was a hit!
Michelle, I like #8 the best. There’s no faking “kind and approachable” is there? In this age of electronic personas, managing to be kind is an authentic quality.
Agreed, Suzanne. Can’t fake that AND can’t beat it when it comes to building relationships even in the virtual/electronic world.
This does sound like a must read book, thanks for sharing Michelle.
Hey Neil, it is. Excellent book. Really made me think about things differently.
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for sharing all of these great ideas. It is impressive that he was able to get 47 endorsements.
Sheri
Definitely. Just goes to show that building relationships really does pay off. :)
Nice share Michelle,
When we write a piece of content and send it out into the wild, we want it to stimulate conversation. We want folks to share what we’ve written with their friends. We want them to talk about it, learn something, and maybe even enjoy a chuckle or two. As our content is passed around among our fans and customers, and then among their networks, our name or brand is kept on the tips of people’s tongues.
The problem is that a lot of content out there is well-written, interesting, and intriguing. How can we stand out from the crowd? One solution is to choose content topics that are naturally shareable. After publishing enough content that people enjoy and share, people will start to look for our material on their own.
That’s definitely the goal, Okto. :) If we can stimulate a conversation and get people talking we’re moving in the right direction with our content.
I have several friends who are authors so I shared the link for Frank’s tips (in #4) with them. They’ve been very grateful.
Thanks for bringing that (along with your pointers) to my attention.
~Debra
Awesome, glad that was useful for you and your friends, Debra.
I think I love your ideas. Getting a conversation going each time on different topics is a possibility, yet demands a lot of work from us. Okto has a good point about content that’s out there, the truth is, choosing an organically-easy to share topic is the problem.
You know, that’s a conversation I’ve been having with clients lately and it really comes down to just listening really well. What are your ideal readers/clients struggling with? Do some research to figure that out. Find out what their biggest challenges are. And then find out what their real goals are — what results do they want more than anything? Once you’ve tapped into that, you’ll know what types of content to create and it’ll get shared. :)
Hi Michelle,
A very good and useful article. In my opinion, it is very important to encourage sharing. This is one of the “things” that keeps the community alive. If you do not encourage sharing, chances are the community disappears.
Once again, a very good article,
Antal
Thanks, Antal. We grow our audiences one reader at a time–and encouraging each of those to share with their friends by creating things worth sharing is what builds an engaged community.
OMG, that sharing page is fantastic! No idea what I’d use it for right now, but I’m definitely keeping the bookmark to return to it later, it is golden information, Michelle!
Isn’t that cool? It’s a great resource to create for your affiliates, too, if you’ve got products or programs you’d like them to share. :)
Awesome list of ways to build buzz for those of us new at the process! Thanks for posting great information!
Hey Pauline, you’re welcome and thanks for reading and commenting. :)
Great ways to create buzz. Specially for newbies like me :)
HI Shubham, glad this was helpful. Thanks for reading!
Hello Michelle, It would be very nice to have a blog post soon in future about how to get endorsements from other authority people in our niche. I can definitely understand the significance it holds but it would be nice if you can explain it in details on how to go for it.
Thanks.
Great suggestion, Keral. I’ll add it to my list of things to blog about. :)