If
you’ve never joined a Facebook Event/Party, you’re missing a great chance to
make real friendships and have a lot of fun. These events are the closest thing
to a real party you can have online, and are valuable to both the authors who
host them and the readers who attend. Although, I’m guessing Facebook will
eventually change the rules to make the events much harder to hold…just because
that’s what Facebook does…for now at least, if you haven’t looked into doing
one of these parties I highly recommend that you do.
I
do a few Facebook events a month, celebrating new book releases, genres,
holidays, anniversaries…whatever ideas the
hosts can come up with for a party! I’ve hosted a few parties of my own, but
most of the parties I attend are hosted by other authors or promotion groups
and I’m just generally assigned a one or two hour slot (though some have half
hour or even 15 minute slots!). Basically, you have a certain amount of time to
inspire some portion of the attending group to at least take a look at your
website or books to see if they look interesting. You can probably achieve that
flying by the seat of your pants. But if you really want to rock the event,
make long-time connections and sell some books, you’ll want to make a plan for
the event and spend some time preparing for it!
Making
a plan isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Here’s my formula for a typical 1-hour
event:
- · Post intro and bio with all of your pertinent links
- · Introduce the book you want to highlight during your hour
- · Introduce your first game/contest
- · Post a couple snippets of your highlighted book
- · Introduce another game/contest
- · Post another snippet of your highlighted book and something fun having to do with your book
- · Offer a Q&A session (if you have leftover time)
- · Say goodbye
Now,
obviously there’s some play in this outline. The key to success is your
interaction through each phase of the things on this list. If you just post
your stuff at predetermined increments and don't interact with your attendees, your hour probably won’t inspire anyone
to find out more about you. But if you chat with people as they respond, I
can almost guarantee you’ll have a successful party:
Post Intro and Bio with Pertinent Links
Every
author has a bio. If yours is friendly and succinct, use it here. But if your
bio encompasses two full pages and mentions everything from where you went to
pre-school to what type of undies you prefer (silky bikinis) you might want to
rewrite it to make it party friendly. You want to inspire attendees to check
you out and to do that the bio should be short enough to read quickly and it
should be fun. Nobody wants to hear about the bad case of shingles you suffered
through the year before that kept you from winning Author of the Year. #:0)
Joking of course, but you get the point. Also, and this is the most important
thing of all, make sure you include links to your website, blog, twitter,
Facebook Author page, and newsletter sign up. These are direct avenues into
your writing webworld that enable you to keep in touch with the new
friends you make at the party.
As an example, here's the intro/bio I use:
Hey Everybody! Welcome to the party. I have lots of
snippets, contests and prizes planned for the next hour and I look forward to
visiting with you. For those of you who don’t know me, here’s my bio:
USA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes romantic
paranormal/fantasy and mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the
joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy
dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author
of 50+ books and has been writing for over a decade under several noms de
plume.
If we haven't already connected, I'd love it if you
Liked/Followed me wherever you like to hang out online. Here are my online
haunts:
Newsletter:
http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html
Website: www.SamCheever.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcheever
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/samcheever1/
Tsu: https://www.tsu.co/Samcheever
Website: www.SamCheever.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcheever
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/samcheever1/
Tsu: https://www.tsu.co/Samcheever
Introduce the Book you want to Highlight
Tell
them why you’re highlighting that particular book. Is it a new release? Is it a
Christmas event and you’re talking about a Christmas book? Just a couple of
lines to tell them why they should be interested.
Provide
a blurb and all buy links. Spell out all your links. Don’t use hyperlinked terms because people using mobile devices (a high percentage of the people attending)
will have to click through a few times before they find your book. You want to
make it as easy as possible for them to make an impulse purchase!
Examples:
Introduce Games and Contests
I
generally do two contests for a one hour event. One contest per half hour. If
it’s two hours I do three, spacing them out over the two hours. Contests are
invaluable because they pull lurkers (shy attendees) out of the woodwork and
allow you to interact with them. Use your imagination on your contests. DON’T
pick something that limits your ability to chat and DO pick something that gets
them digging around in your website.
Some
examples:
- · Have them go to your book page and pick their favorite line from the book’s blurb or excerpt.
- · Ask them a question to be answered by checking out the same information.
- · Send them on a brief scavenger hunt or ask them to post pictures.
Whatever
you do, keep it light and make sure you comment a lot on their contributions. Prizes
for these contests are totally up to you. I generally use some combination of
gift cards, books, or goodie boxes.
Games
can be used as contests or just for fun. If you have a basic graphics software
and some imagination you can create fun games. Here’s one I used in a recent
event:
Posting Snippets of your Book
When
posting snippets of your highlighted book, make sure you pick something that
will make it impossible for them to resist buying the book. <grin> Keep the snippets
brief. Pick one that ends on a cliff-hanger, and make sure you include buy
links. Thrilling, sexy and humorous snippets seem to do best. I recommend that
you keep your snippets PG-13 or milder so you don’t get gonged by Facebook.
Spend time when selecting your snippets, they’re a very important part of the
event.
You
can also post something fun that pertains to your book. For example, if you
wrote a Christmas-themed book, you can post an online quiz such as the one
below. This site always has a lot of fun quizzes: https://www.blogthings.com/whatwillbeinyourchristmasstockingquiz/
.
Offer a Q&A Session
If
you’ve exhausted all your goodies and still have a few minutes left in your
assigned timeframe, don’t go silent. Offer an Ask the Author opportunity. Attendees really like these because, as
they’ve been visiting with you over the hour, they’ve probably found themselves
wondering things about your books, your lifestyle, your world. This gives them
a chance to ask those questions.
Say Goodbye
Make
sure you don’t just slip away at the end of your hour. Create a new post just
to say goodbye, tell them how much fun you’ve had and that you’ll see them at
the next event. Manners are important and when people have taken time out of
their lives to spend with you, you owe them that at the very least.
Part
of what makes a successful party is variety and flexibility. Don’t always do
the same exact thing or highlight the same book the same way every time. If you
consider these basic guidelines but make them uniquely your own, you’ll enjoy
much success in the Facebook party world!
Party
on, Everybody!
She
might be the enemy. He might have to take her down. But all he really wants to
do is make slow, sweet love to her.
Grimm Forbes has been captured by sexy spaceship
Captain Cari Pascale and turned into her sex vassal. But, as alliances conspire
to take down his old friends at the Authority, Grimm worries that the woman who
ignites his sexual fantasies might be at the epicenter of the treachery. It's
possible he'll have to make a choice between his friends and the woman he wants
in his bed. He only prays he has the strength to make the right decision,
because the consequences of making the wrong one will be apocalyptic.
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PUP0U6E
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-apocalyptic-need-sam-cheever/1120799369?ean=2940046412840
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/494207
USA
Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes romantic paranormal/fantasy and
mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its
forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and
exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books and has been
writing for over a decade under several noms de plume.
9 comments:
Terrific info, Sam! Thanks for sharing. :)
Thank you, Sam. I'm bookmarking this. Great advice.
Excellent article Sam:) I've participated in two FB events and floundered during the 1st one. Hopefully I'll do better, with your sage advice!
Thank you for sharing all of the great advice! You made the FB events sound like fun(loved the Zombie contest).
Hi, Sam! I just love doing FB parties and you have excellent tips. Hugs.
Fantastic advice...Thanks so much. Am going to try to print out parts of this column, but usually I have trouble with that..
The zombie contest is cute! I love FB parties and getting to know more people. After one party, I found a new beer that I love...Abita which comes from New Orleans! Who knows what you will learn!
This is great. A lot of information here.
Hey ladies, If you'd like the article and my FB party planner just send me a note: samcheever at samcheever dot com and I'll send it to you. Glad you enjoyed the post! #:0)
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