A little momentum is a powerful thing. Think about it – if you’re trying to achieve something, the key is to get the ball to the top of the hill and then to push it down the other side so that it builds up as much speed as possible.
It’s a pretty simple concept, and it’s one that’s used in all sorts of difference [sic] industries. For example, I work in social media marketing, and it’s both common sense and an established fact that if there’s enough momentum behind something, it starts to snowball – that’s how things go viral.
For authors, there are two main ways to establish momentum – I’m not sure if there’s actually a name for either of these, because this is just something that’s been on my mind for a while and not a subject that I’ve actually tried to study academically, and so I’m going to name them.
First up, let’s take a look at slow momentum. Slow momentum is the stuff that you have to work on incessantly, just to remind people that you’re there. That includes things like social media updates, your e-mail list and regular blog updates, as well as guest posts like this one.
Slow momentum is important because it helps you to engage with your readers on a regular basis, building up relationships and priming them to eventually make a purchase when you have a new release out. It also shows that you’re alive, and it gives people something that they can read, for free, between releases.
Then there’s sudden momentum, which is a different type of momentum altogether. Sudden momentum needs planning – the key to sudden momentum is to pre-plan as much activity as possible and arrange for it all to kick off at the same time.
At work, for the clients I work with, this is stuff like Google AdWords going live on the same day as a new section of their website, and being supported by print advertisements and point-of-sale stands inside shops and supermarkets. The idea is to arrange for a bunch of different marketing methods to all launch at the same time, with the same message and the same goal – to achieve enough momentum for your new product launch to snowball and take off in the hearts and minds of the general public.
For writers, it’s pretty similar – sudden momentum is best when you have a new book release lined up, like I do with my book of poetry, Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home. Writers need to use everything at their disposal to get people to hear about (and to buy) their new release. But there’s no point asking people to buy it until the book is actually available for purchase.
Here are some sudden momentum techniques that are super useful when authors have a new book coming out:
- Book Tours: Authors can arrange these themselves or work with a specialist company. Loosely speaking, it involves arranging for at least one new blog post or review on a third-party blog site on each day of the tour.
- Launch Parties: These can take place both online and offline, and a combination of both is usually best. Online launch parties typically take place on a Facebook event page and cater to an international audience; offline parties tend to take place in real-world venues and cater to a local audience.
- Press Releases: Press releases are a fantastic way to convey the information about your new book, and I recommend that all authors create one and send it out to local newspapers and radio stations, as well as to any niche publications that cater to their target audience. Be sure to contact them at least a couple of weeks ahead of the launch so that they have time to schedule in a feature.
- Thunderclaps: I usually describe this as being like Kickstarter for social sharing. Essentially, authors can ask people to pledge to post a message about the new release on a specific date and time for maximum effect.
In the end, the most successful authors are the ones who’ve mastered the arts of slow and sudden momentum – used correctly, they both have a place in every author’s marketing toolkit, and when you deploy them to their full potential then you’re guaranteed to make a bunch of sales.
Of course, for your work to truly gain momentum, you also need to hope that each of your readers enjoys the book so much that they convince at least one other person to read it. Otherwise, you’re going to eventually run out of momentum, and you’ll have to start working on your next release.
Authors are busy creatures, and there’s one other reason why they need to maintain momentum – if they don’t, they’ll run out of steam, and they won’t be able to keep up with the competition. Which is why, now that I’ve finished writing this guest post, I’m off to write another!