INSIDE CYBER LAUNCHES
by
DEE WHITE
A Cyber Launch is the cheapest, healthiest and most environmentally friendly way I can think of to launch a book. And it can get you around the whole world in a single day! It involves hosting the launch from your blog – and other than that, you can do whatever you want – cross to other blogs – do interactive activities – anything.
But, if you want it to be just as fabulous and fun as a ‘real’ launch, you need to do just as much work. And like all successful functions, it needs to be planned
THE ‘TO DO’ LIST
This is important to help relieve the stress of planning such a big event. You just cross things off as you do them:
1. Make a ‘to do list’. (This is it).
2. Make a list of people who are going to be involved in your Cyber Launch. That includes:
• guests
• publisher
• launcher
• reviewers
• blog hosts
• you
• anyone else you can think of
3. Make sure everyone who needs to be, is on the publisher’s list of people needing review copies of your book.
4. Make sure the review copies are on their way.
5. Plan your cyber launch itinerary.
6. Make a list of any articles/activities you might be having for your Cyber Launch (I know that’s a lot of lists – but lists are good – they take the pressure off, stop you having to remember everything).
7. Make a timeline/schedule of all the things you will have to do in the lead up to your launch.
8. Find out details of online booksellers so you can put their details on your blog and overseas Cyber Launch guests will know where they can buy your book.
9. Make your Cyber Launch invitations.
10. Send out your Cyber Launch invitations.
11. Write and prepare any articles or posts that you will need on the day, so you just need to insert them at the right times. This means you can enjoy your Cyber Launch day sipping cyber bubbles, greeting your guests and responding to questions and comments.
PLANNING YOUR CYBER LAUNCH ITINERARY
It’s important to do this early no so that you know who you will need to talk to, what you need them to provide and what materials you will need.
My Cyber Launch itinerary for Letters to Leonardo looked something like this:
• 10.00 am – a word from the publisher – and from me to welcome guests to this ‘unique’ occasion. And a reminder to leave your industry relevant blog details and I’ll add you to my blogroll.
• 10.15am Launch by Margaret Hamilton and cross to Robyn Opie’s blog http://robynopie.blogspot.com
• 10.30am – make available a Sneak Peek Ist chapter of Letters to Leonardo.
• 11.00am – cross to http://tips4youngwriters.wordpress.com where young writers will be able to find out all about ‘beginnings’ – how to get your reader’s attention and keep it.
• 11.15am – a book review by a YA reader will be downloaded to this blog.
• 11.30am – cross to http://teacherswritinghelper.wordpress.com for a classroom writing activity and extension task based on the ‘Sneak Peek’ made available earlier.
• 11.45am – A fun “Word Search” based on Letters to Leonardo will be downloaded to http://teacherswritinghelper.wordpress.com
• 12.00 – the link to a movie book preview of Letters to Leonardo will be downloaded onto this blog together with an article about how the movie book preview was made.
• 12.30 – Blog post – ‘Five Fast Facts’ about writing Letters to Leonardo.
• 1.00pm – another YA book review will be downloaded here.
• 1.30pm – Letters to Leonardo’s main character, Matt, interviews the author about how she used Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings to tell Matt’s story.
• 2.00pm – at the end of a BIG day, it will be time to put your feet up – and the perfect chance to start reading your copy of Letters to Leonardo
COLLECTING THE MATERIALS FOR YOUR CYBER LAUNCH
Another good thing about a Cyber Launch is that you can do all your posts and activities in advance and load them onto your blog, but just leave them as drafts until the big day. Then, all you have to do is hit ‘publish’ at the right time and everything should run smoothly.
Have a check list of things you need and make sure you have everything prior to the day including things like:
• A word from the publisher
• Materials from the person launching the book
• Appropriate pictures
• Articles and posts
• Interviews
• Reading activities
• Movie Book Preview
• A Sneak Peek at the Book if possible
• Details/links of where people can buy your book online
HOW THE CYBER LAUNCH WENT – AND WHAT I LEARNED
I learned that a Cyber Launch can be lots of fun – and a great way of generating traffic to your blogs and getting your name and your book out there.
My Cyber Launch went for four hours and involved over 20 posts. That day, I had squillions of hits, so even though there was a lot of preparation involved prior to the Cyber Launch, it was well worth the effort.
Fortunately, I wrote most of the posts earlier so all I had to do was publish them on the day – and this eased the workload. I found that I had just enough time to respond to people’s comments – and then it was time to publish my next post.
The beauty of the Cyber Launch was that people didn’t have to be there on the day – visitors can drop in today and all the posts will still be there – and can be responded to.
So, what I have I learned from this? That a Cyber Launch can be convenient, comfortable (you don’t have to leave your own home) and definitely worth doing – but the key to a successful one is preparation!
Dee White is the author of
Letters to Leondardo
Out now with Walker Books Australia.
View book trailer at
