This week, I am relaunching my 3 month group programme, The Book Launch Club. The programme is designed to give people the tools and support they need to level up their book marketing, and I’m extremely proud of it.
Despite that, I feel really nervous to launch it again. The economic climate is very different now than it was just a few short months ago, and I know I’ll have to really show the value again and again to get people to invest in the programme (and in me!).
Because I’m very much an external processor, I thought it might be fun to document the launch. I will share how I’m feeling about it, anything new that’s happened, and how it’s going. If it does well, I’ll share what worked. If it doesn’t go well, I’ll share that, too.
How the first launch went
I first launched The Book Launch Club in May this year (2022) after a whirlwind period where I came up with the idea and launched it pretty much the next week. I have been toying with running some kind of group programme for authors for months now, but couldn’t seem to pin the idea down.
When the final concept came to me, it came pretty much fully formed. I knew exactly what would go into it, how much it would cost, who I wanted to join it – it felt easy. And launching it felt easy, too. I teased it a few times on my Instagram account and in my newsletter, and by the time I went on holiday at the end of May, I had enough people signed up (on the back of a Google document I shared with anyone who was interested) to make it worth my while to run.
The remaining 2 weeks of launch time also felt easy. I pre-crastinated loads before the launch period, and even created a free 30 minute training to share with my email list (you can get this if you sign up to my newsletter before the 13th of September 2022), so I always had something to say and a new way of talking about it. All in all, it was pretty dreamy.
What the programme has been like so far
So far, my expectations for the programme have also been a total dream. The authors taking part have been so engaged, the co-working sessions have been full, the feedback has been really lovely, and importantly for me, I really feel like I’m helping people. Helping authors feel better about their marketing, and get better at it, is the #1 reason that I do this, so that is hugely validating, and makes me excited to run it again.
Slower start to the second launch.
I have been mostly off social media for the past 6 weeks, so I’m starting off with a smaller number of pre-orders. There were 2 people who signed up for September when I ran my May/June campaign, so that’s my starting point.
I had set myself giant expectations for this September launch, based on the success of the first. But, as I mentioned at the start, the news cycle is very different now. I know that the cost-of-living crisis and people’s energy bills are looming large in people’s minds.
Understanding your marketing, and making it work harder, can be a really strong way to earn more money but that’s not something I can guarantee. There are all sorts of factors that play into whether your marketing is successful, and without that promise, I worry that people will find it harder to invest. As such, I’m bringing my expectations down a touch.
Having run the programme once already, the workshops will be all already written. There might be a few things I want to tweak, but on the whole, the presentations are done and I’m happy with them. That means that even if there are only those original 2 people taking part, I would still be happy to run the programme again.
So, that’s a good place to start (even if my finances will be a bit sad, and I’ll need to do some serious pivoting in the autumn!!).
My goals
Minimum number: 2 – tick, hurrah!
Low goal: 8
Medium goal: 14
Maximum capacity: 20
Most sales come through in the final week, so am trying not to expect too much in those first few days.
What I have planned
I have just over 2 weeks to run my launch campaign (any longer than that and I start to get overwhelmed), and during that time I am planning to:
- Share my free workshop again with mailing list subscribers (and email my list 3 times across the 2 weeks)
- Reach out to the current members and offer them affiliate codes to share with anyone they think would be interested
- Reach out directly to authors I think would be a good fit
- Include the programme in The Empowered Author monthly email
- Share the programme with Empowered Author Facebook members
- Share regular content about the programme on social media (focusing on Twitter and Instagram
Weekly diary updates
Each week, I’ll share what I did, what worked what didn’t, thoughts and feelings. Tune in on Friday for the first weekly diary entry…
Week one: 2nd September
Launch day!
In reality, launch day is not hugely different from other days. I’ve set this as the day I am going to start properly talking about The Book Launch Club again online, but I haven’t quite started yet. Instead, I’ve shared details of the free workshop, and encouraged people to sign up to my mailing list to get access to it when it goes into my email next week.
Yesterday I got in touch with the group of authors who are currently in the Book Launch Club to see if anyone would be interested in becoming an affiliate partner (whereby they share the programme with anyone they think would be a good fit, and earn a % of any sales that come through as a result). Affiliate sales have made a real difference for me with some of my past courses, so it’s something I’m going to be doing with all of my launches going forward.
I also emailed the people currently signed up with a proper welcome message, and some more details about what to expect over the next few months.
Because I haven’t fully launched, I’m still feeling pretty (ok, incredibly) anxious about how it’s going to go, but I had another piece of brilliant feedback about the programme this week, so if nothing else, I just feel incredibly happy about how the first round has gone, and can’t wait to do the final workshop with the current group next week.
Week two: 9th September
This week was the final workshop and co-working session with the June intake of the Book Launch Club. We had a really wonderful two hours together, first talking about some mindset shifts I think are powerful for anyone who wants to show up and promote their work online, and then sitting and working in companionship with one another. After the programme comes to an end, it looks likely that they will form their own informal co-working group, which I am *delighted* about.
I looked back at the things they wrote when they joined the programme, and it was a really special feeling to see how they wanted to feel, three months ago, and know that many of them now feel that way about their marketing.
In terms of promoting the programme, I sent out two emails, and continued showing up online to talk about it. I haven’t gone back on to TikTok since taking my summer break from social media – I’ve been creating a lot of video content for Instagram, so may come to that next week.
So far this week, 3 more people have signed up, which just over halfway to my low goal.
I’ve also booked in a new client for this month and two new clients for October, something which tends to come as a side result of me launching this kind of product. Not everyone wants to work as part of a group, and I’m always happy to work with people on an individual basis.
This all said, I do feel worried about how external affects are impacting the launch overall. We’ve had a new Prime Minister and lost our Queen in the space of a few days this week. Times are really uncertain, and when that happens, people tend to hold on to thir wallets a bit tighter!
Between the amazing changes in how people feel about their marketing and the uncertain external climate, I’ve made the decision to change the price of the programme. The price is going to go up on Tuesday 13th to £450 for the 3 months AND I’m going to offer Pay What You Can places. So, up to reflect the value people have been getting from it, but also available to people who need the help but can’t afford it right now. You can read all about that in the email I sent out today.
Weekend update: I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon as my kids watch TV downstairs. Having checked my email and Stripe account, it looks as though the programme is now up to 10 gorgeous authors! I was really nervous about sending the email out on Friday – it felt very vulnerable to talk about how the current situation of the world was making me feel.
But I’m so glad I sent it. It felt good to write, I had some wonderful responses from people and over the last 2 days, 5 more people signed up! I am going into the final week of launch feeling absolutely over the moon, and hopeful that I might get past my medium goal, which I would be delighted with.
Week three: 16th September
Doors to this intake of The Book Launch Club close at the end of the day today!
Promotion this week has felt a little bit harder than last week, I think because it does take a lot of energy, and I’m running out of steam a bit! That’s why for me, 2 weeks is a good amount of time to launch something big like this. I have lots of ideas to share, and could come up with more, but I’m also working on lots of other projects, so I start to slow down towards the end.
But it doesn’t hugely matter, because I am totally delighted at how it’s gone
In total, 16 authors have signed up so far, and unless someone very last minute comes in tonight, I expect that’s where we’ll end up.
The authors are from all sorts of backgrounds – children’s books, historical fiction, non-fiction, romance, and more, and I can’t wait to start working with them.
This week’s post is a very short one, but next week I’ll share a little bit more about what worked, what didn’t, and what I’ll be doing more of next time.
Week four: 23rd September
Registration for Book Launch Club is over, the launch is complete, so a few thoughts on what worked and what didn’t.
What worked:
Social media and my newsletter worked really well for me this season.
I have been really focused on building up my newsletter over the last 6 months, and while there is still a long way to go, I love writing this and sending it out, and am starting to see the fruits of my labour. This season, I am going to be sending out a really specific ‘getting started with your book marketing’ series, which I’m excited about (sign up for that here), and hope to grow by another 200 or so subscribers by the time Book Launch Club launches again next year.
After my summer social media break, I decided to rejoin Twitter and Instagram, but leave TikTok behind. I think that there is so much that one can do on TikTok, and think it’s a really fun channel with heaps of potential AND I find it personally too absorbing, and I don’t want to spend time there right now.
Twitter I can leave or take, from a personal perspective, but it is the water cooler for many of the authors I want to work with, so it is somewhere I consider worth spending time. It was nice to get support from some of the authors who I’ve worked with in the past, and those who took part in the summer round of BLC.
And Instagram performed better than I expected. I enjoy spending time on this platform, and I think that shows, because it’s the place most people find me.
The final thing that worked well was outreach. Earlier this year I did a session for the London Writer’s Salon, and they were kind enough to mention the BLC to their members. I had a big jump in subscribers as a result, and a couple of those people ended up signing up to join in September.
What didn’t work:
For the summer round, the big thing that worked was affiliates. This time around, I had very few takeups to BE an affiliate, and therefore very few sign ups. I don’t think I talked about this enough with people this time around, so something to reconsider for next time.
The Empowered Author Facebook group also didn’t bring in as many people as I’d hoped. Because this is a joint project, I think I need to give some thought to how I show up for my own offers in this space – something I will be reflecting on next time.
Overall thoughts and feelings:
Overall, I feel really pleased with how everything has gone. Despite my initial concerns about the economy and how that might impact people’s investments, I think I got a great group of authors signed up. It also felt really light and easy to talk about this, and after the initial days of sharing and not getting anything back (which, I have to remind myself) ALWAYS HAPPENS, it felt like it really gathered momentum as I went. I am really looking forward to working with this group, and can’t wait to launch it again next year!
Want to join the Book Launch Club?
The next round kicks off in spring 2023. Sign up to my mailing list to hear about the next round.
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