By Janet Kobobel Grant
Authors, especially new authors, often struggle to figure out the difference between an influencer and a street team member. Let alone puzzle through the best way to ask either person to help promote your upcoming book.
An Influencer
As the title suggests, this is a person with the ability to inform a significant number of people about your new title. Or, sometimes, an influencer is highly respected by your target audience.
Say, for example, your book explores the best way to have a healthy heart. Then having Dr. Denton Cooley offer to write a foreword for your book AND give a copy to every one of his patients would be a big “get.” Don’t know who he is? One of the most innovative cardiovascular surgeons in the country. His endorsement of your work would alert potential readers to just how helpful your ideas are.
Should Reese Witherspoon pick your book for her Hello Sunshine Book Club, well, you know what kind of influence she wields…
What If You Don’t Know Anyone Famous?
Influencers come in all sorts of shapes. Social media is a great place to make connections with influencers. Facebook allows you to do searches to find people based on their interests. It doesn’t take a deep dive to locate people with a significant number of friends who post about the topic your book is centered around. Yes, even your novel, which explores all sorts of issues people care about. Not to mention that some readers make clear in their posts the genres they like.
Same goes for Instagram. Or Twitter. Or YouTube.
You’re looking for individuals who don’t necessarily have the most massive platform, because those folks are paid to showcase product. But you’re searching for people with the ability to influence, say, 10,000 others.
Follow them, comment on their posts, engage with them. Always in authentic ways. After all, this is someone with the same interests as you. Eventually you’ll be able to reach out to that person to tell them about your book and why you were passionate enough about the subject to write a manuscript and professional enough to find a publisher.
Be Brave and Ask
Go ahead. Ask if you could send that person a free copy of your book. (Show the cover, if possible, in your ask. That will add legitimacy to your request.) If the individual reads your book and wants to tell others about it, he or she can pass along the recommendation via social media.
Voila! Now, that wasn’t too painful was it?
A Street Team Member
Your street team consists of fans who want to help create word-of-mouth for your new release. They pledge to fulfill certain activities to do so. The tasks could consist of:
- posting reviews on Amazon
- adding your book to their Goodreads shelf
- taking a photo of your book in an eye-catching setting and then posting the photo on Instagram and Facebook
- sharing your memes to amplify your messages about the book
- commenting on your posts to help keep them visible rather than quickly disappearing in viewers’ feeds
- whatever else your imagination and theirs can come up (ask them for ideas, if you’d like).
Forming a Street Team
Some authors assemble 25 acquaintances to form a street team. Other authors have teams that number in the hundreds. Keep in mind that, unless you can hire someone to manage your street team, the job falls on your shoulders. What’s a reasonable number for you?
You can make an open invitation on social media. Although it’s usually a good idea to have readers apply. One reader might be an avid fan, but if her social media reach numbers in double digits, she isn’t going to be able to do much amplifying for you. However, someone with 7,000 FB friends and 8,000 Twitter followers, has a much bigger megaphone. Try to find a cross-section of social media strengths for your team–some who have a bigger presence on FB, others on Instagram, etc. (Although it’s okay to focus your promo campaign on social media where most of your readers can be found.)
Ultimately, You’ll Want Both
To successfully let potential readers know about your book, your best strategy is to line up influencers and an active street team. If you feel tired just thinking about this process, remember this: Lots of people are hungry for a new read, and we know that word of mouth is the best way to drive book sales. Influencers and street team members happily bring those two elements together.
How have you used word of mouth to promote your book? If you’re not published yet, what ideas occurred to you as you read this post about ways you could ask others to help you get the word out?
TWEETABLES
Writers: What’s the difference between an influencer and a street team member? Click to tweet.
How to ask others to help you get the word out about your new book. Click to tweet.
Well, if I ever get around to pulling together “Circling The Drain: How To Die While Still Living” I’ll look up Randy Pausch, Luciano Pavarotti, and Patrick Swayze, since they all have had to deal with pancreatic canc…
Uh, wait one. They’re all, like, DEAD. That may limit their influence, unless seances are a social media platform.
Yeah, I thought not.
Harold Kushner, though, has a Facebook page (maintained by his publisher) that does have very occasional posts. He’s the author of “Why Bad Things Happen To Good People”, and he’d certainly be a very valued influencer, even though I meet the criteria for only half the title of his book.
Seriously, though (although I would seriously like to get Rabbi Kushner on board!) I do know a couple of prominent authors, and though they work in a different genre, they’ve offered endorsements and any help they can give.
And a prominent megachurch pastor has asked that I keep him posted. No, I’m not saying who.
But the thing is, these relationships were developed and nurtured over years, and started with my sincere interest in their work. I never mentioned that I was an author until the friendships – and they became that – were on solid personal foundations – exchanging Christmas cards, asking about kids and dogs, and swapping really bad jokes.
My mentioning that I was an author came from their running across my blog themselves (I never gave a link and said, “Hey, read THIS!”), and offering help if I ever turned it into a book. (And they were kind of surprised to see my other books listed therein, and I think a bit awed that I hadn’t mentioned the books as ‘leverage’.)
I may be too cautious, but I have been told that being prominent draws a lot of requests, and it gets really tiring having to say “No” a lot.
You typically get one chance with an influencer (or, for that matter, a mentor); don’t blow it with haste.
I think I could put together a street team, as I have a lot of engagement on my blog, but I do really work at it.
1) First and foremost, I really value my readers’ presence, and let them know when they comment.
2) Speaking of comments, I answer every one, as quickly as I can (which is sometimes not so quick, these days). But they all get a personalized response (ALWAYS using their name in the reply), and reply content keyed to what they’ve written. No fobbing them off with a “Thanks for your comment!” generic reply.
3) I post content regularly, holidays included. Even if I can’t say much, it’s important to post something, and at a regular time so that readers know when to expect it.
4) Blog content is specific, and rabbit-trail-following is not allowed. I might want to write about, oh, say, the navy’s lighter-than-air programme in the 1930s and its effect on US aircraft carrier doctrine in WW2 (yes, there’s a connexion), but it’s not what my audience expects, and I owe them consistency.
So if ‘Circling The Drain’ ever emerges from the shadows (doubtful; I’m too tired) it will have pretty significant support.
But the thing is, the support would come from influencers and readers who have become friends, and are individuals whom I have come to love.
Thanks for such a useful post, Janet. Even as a deliberate indie, I find so much at the B&S blog to encourage and help. The only famous person I know well enough to feel really comfortable asking has a Nobel Prize in physics. He is a Christian, but I don’t think he would have much influence with my potential readers of Roman-era romantic historicals. Then again, who knows? Success comes to those brave enough to take a risk.
Carol, yeah, I’m not so sure I see the connection between physics and Roman-era novels…And there should be a connection; the goal isn’t just to ask someone famous, but someone who has the credentials to meaningfully endorse your work.
That doesn’t mean you can’t locate that type of person online. We’re ALL online in some shape and form.
Thank you Janet for laying out plainly two types of people writer’s need to get their words out to readers: the influencers who have a large enough audience or platform to influence others to go for the book. And, the street team members, individuals who are die hard fans and are willing to go the extra mile in promoting an author’s book.
I have several influencers but as yet have not talked with them about doing anything because I’m not at that stage yet. Until, I have an agent, I will be thinking of them but not moving on it until publishing is closer because I respect their time. Their plates are always full, and I don’t want to place my fillet on that same plate with all the other courses, until it it passes the taste test by someone who knows the business–the agent.
I know pastors, founders and leaders of varied ministries, the founders of a local music ministry and theater. There are plenty of opportunities for influencers in the Twin Cities themselves to be willing to help me.
I connect well with people and am sure I could find others, as I have many friends and family that would love to see my writing in print. They have been after me to quit doing everything but write for years.
To me, finding influencers and street team members is half the fun of marketing. What fun to meet all these people willing to promote writing that you have been living and working at to make a difference in lives. To spread words that I believe will have a huge impact.
Although, I appreciate and understand the importance of the influencers, I think having a street team as a living, breathing, creative force of like minded people for the book bringing their game and abilities to support the author is extremely exciting.
I’m such a creative that really for me the sky is the limit. I’m a risk taker and am willing to do the unusual because I love people, I’m committed to my message and my writing and my future readers.
I just want to do this in order, and at the right time. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. But when that horse is hitched in the front of the cart, watch out. Let’s ride!
You are a creative, a risk-taker, and an extrovert. Your reply belongs to someone with an extrovert’s nature! Which makes marketing so much more a natural for you. That doesn’t mean it’s easy because it’s definitely work.
The great thing is you’re thinking ahead and recognizing you’re authentically connected with people who might well want to help spread the word about your book. Bravo!
Janet, I don’t know if anyone else is having this issue, but since the website change I no longer get emails announcing new posts, even though I am subscribed (I checked by trying to re-subscribe, thinking the list may have been cleared…but Feedburner says I’m still there).
I do get notifications of follow-up comments once I leave one.
And I’d like to apologise for the length of my comment above; it could have used a lot of editing, to distill it down to two sentences:
1: Remember that potential influencers probably get a lot of requests, and saying ‘no’ a lot gets tiresome.
2) Take care of your social media followers by being kind and personal, and they’ll take care of you as part of your street team.
That would have been enough.
Andrew, thanks for letting me know you’re not receiving notifications of new posts. I’ll ask my web designer to look into what’s going on.
I appreciate your second thoughts about writing more succinctly, but we would have missed out on a lot of details if you reduced your comment to a couple of sentences.
I look for friends. Among them are potential influencers and street teamers. Looking for potential influencers and street teamers and turning them into friends makes it all about me. It doesn’t feel right.
*
Lord, bring me into the right relationships for the right reasons. Amen.
I hear what you’re saying, Shirlee. It is important to never go all fangirl over someone because you’re ingratiating yourself in preparation for your big ask.
I would hope the author isn’t so self-centered that he or she can’t develop an authentic relationship based on mutual interests. Now, if you’re aiming for the stars in terms of an influencer, just an honest ask is all you can do because there isn’t going to be a relationship. But most of us would aim lower, for people who can influence but who also have the space in their lives for new acquaintances.
It all sounds good. The problem is: influencers don’t need you. Finding one who, out of the goodness of their heart, will promote your book, is very unlikely to happen. I’ve tried to cultivate those types of relationships with some who I though could be an influencer for a book of mine. I never even got a response from anyone. Did I do it wrong? Or did they realize they don’t need me, and so carried on with their normal life and work?
.
I’d like to see an example of where a totally unknown writer was able to get an influencer to sit up and take notice.
.
As for street teams, the only time I tried it resulted in an almost 100% failure of people to follow-through with what they said they would do. Did I do something wrong in picking team members, or directing their efforts? Maybe, but I’m not wasting my time trying it again. And, I would have a very hard time saying to someone, “You only have 50 Facebook followers, and hence are unworthy to be a part of my street team.”
David, if you google “unknown writer gets key endorsement,” additional pointers on how to achieve that goal will pop up as well as inspiring stories. Here’s the first article that showed up on my feed. I have clients who developed relationships with well-known authors at writers conferences. Those individuals went on to write endorsements and to become influencers for the newbie writers. It can be done.
Regarding street teams, if you make it clear when you announce you’re forming a team what number of people a street team member needs to be able to connect with, you’re simply letting everyone know what the standard is. Being on a street team is akin to applying for a job. You get paid by getting to read the book before it’s released, having the fun of being part of a group working toward a common goal, and getting to interact with the author behind-the-scenes. Many people find that sufficient “pay.” Usually forming a street team involves having a secret FB page in which you can interact with the team. Some authors have giveaways for the most creative promo idea, or the person who got the most shares on a meme. The giveaways can be as simple as a Starbucks $5 card. People just like winning and receiving recognition for the work they’re doing.
I hope these thoughts are helpful, David.
Janet, when you would recommend forming a street team? When you initially receive a publishing contract? I’m a member of a street team, and I’m enjoying learning the process.
Shelli, joining a few street teams is a great way to peek behind the curtain. That way you can pick up ideas that resonate with you to use with your own someday team.
Generally the team is formed a month or so before the book releases. That way you can get the book to the team and give them time to read it in preparation for writing Amazon reviews and to put the book on their Goodreads shelves.
I am thankful for this article.
I want to get past the false guilt of “the ask” and own this thing!
Practice, practice,…..
I always remind myself, if I don’t ask, the person can’t say yes. That pushes me forward to ask–politely, of course.