Ever heard of an Author Street Team? Imagine you’re subscribed to your favourite author’s newsletter and suddenly, the opportunity to be involved in the launch of their next book pops up. If they’re your fave author, you’re already going to be excited about the new book release, so imagine how thrilling it is to be invited to actively participate in its launch!
This post is what it’s like being on the inside of a superbly well-run Street Team by the wonderful Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, authors of the Description Thesaurus collection. Even though I was the one promoting their new Occupation Thesaurus, I was made to feel like royalty. I’ve squirrelled away hordes of tips for my own Street Team in the future, but first, I’m going to share them with you.
What is a Street Team?
It’s a bunch of folks who voluntarily jump aboard a launch to help promote an author’s new book. Some will be signing up mainly for the free giveaways and swag, but there will be a core component of die-hard fans who also want to see you succeed (because they want more books from you in the future, or they really like your personality on social media).
Here’s a fantastic blog from Book Coach, Jennie Nash, who shares her own Street Team experience with Angela and Becca back in 2016—What Social Media Marketing Really Looks Like.
Where do You Find a Street Team?
The obvious place to start is family, friends and beta readers. If you’ve got social media accounts, you will no doubt have several folks who you’ve made a connection with, who you get really excited to see online, and who you might have created deeper connections with offline (through DMs, email or your newsletter). These are potentially your Street Team fam. If ever you’ve needed a reason for being active and connected on social media as an author, this is a great example why!
This is where Angela Ackerman’s consummate professionalism and expertise really shone. I already love her as an author because of the great books she writes, then I connected with her on Twitter, and she was always so responsive and friendly. So naturally, I reached out to her to guest blog for me (thinking it would be such a long shot), and she not only graciously agreed, but she knocked it out of the ball park with this brilliant article—Show, Don’t Tell: It’s Not Just About Emotion.
As an already avid supporter and promoter of the whole Description Thesaurus collection, I was only too thrilled to jump aboard and help launch The Occupation Thesaurus. These thesaurus resources have been invaluable to me as an author.
What Did I Have to Do?
Now I had a connection with Angela beyond liking and retweeting her Tweets. I subscribed to her excellent newsletter, One Stop Writing Tip Double-Double. And then I answered the Street Team call and signed up. Here’s an example of the kind of form I filled out. I was thrilled to see how many options were available from writing a blog post, to sharing links on social media to build buzz, to reading and reviewing an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC). A cherry on top for me as a member of The Occupation Thesaurus Street Team was the opportunity to contribute my own expertise and submit an occupation entry to go into the book’s appendix, which links their website to my website! So everyone wins!
It was a true fan-girl moment. Little ol’ me got a nod in this fantastic writing guide that is seen by squillions of eyes! Talk about a cool way to win over your fans. The added bonus is it’s also an awesome way to get your own name as an author out there too!
Angela also provided incredibly detailed emails, including a run sheet filled with pre-written tweets (including hashtags), sample page links, book info links, and social media images that just needed to be copied and pasted into my social media posts.
Angela’s pre-written social media posts came in so handy for me at a moment when I was time-poor, but dead keen to help shout about the new thesaurus from the rooftops. I simply copied and pasted the info onto my social media platforms, scheduled the posts in advance, and let Angela’s own magic do its tricks. It was so simple, yet so fun to do.
The BEST Free Street Team Info
If you tuck into the Writers Helping Writers writing tools page, you’ll find a myriad of info to assist with book marketing, but I’ve dug out this little gem for you—a FREE 48-page booklet packed with example emails, pre-written social media posts, and example images to use to communicate with your Street Team. Seriously folks, could this get any easier?
Note to self: The easier I make it for my Street Team, the more likely it is they will create a decent amount of hype for me and my new book.
Before You Go …
Here are some more practical articles to help you build your own Street Team:
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