What is a Launch Team?
From the emails I’m getting, many of you are already super awesome and acting like you’re on my Launch Team! Basically a Launch Team is a group of fans that band together to support an artist, author, band, even a product. You may have already seen book launch teams around the internet. They offer a way for authors to connect with their readers and spread the love of books. As you probably know, authors wouldn’t be anywhere without readers. So why not encourage my readers to be part of my journey? After all, it’s thanks to you that I am super excited about writing and sharing my next stories—shouldn’t you get to feel part of that somehow?
Today is the beginning of the Jamie Thornton Launch Team. You might have seen other authors talk about their launch teams. Each one is a little different. Here’s the deal with mine:
What’s in it for the fan?
- Free books. Pretty much EVERYTHING I release, whether it’s a short story, an anthology, a novel, or anything else, I’m going to send it to you free of charge… starting with Infestation (Book 3)! Yep, that’s right. This Launch Team will be the only way to read Book 3 for free.
- Extra giveaways, contests, prizes. This is in addition to what I do through my regular newsletter.
- Free other stuff. Audiobook versions, autographed paperbacks, and other swag (again, in addition to the things I do through my regular newsletter).
- Exclusive content. Deleted chapters, voting contests on the next book I should write, character dossiers.
- If you have a blog, you get first dibs in my blog tours/giveaways/special events.
What would a Jamie Thornton Launch Team member be required to do?
- Read an early copy of the book. Yay!
- Leave an honest review on Amazon and other retailer sites within 1-2 weeks of Launch Day.
- Your help spreading the word about the book before, during, and after Launch Day! (Whatever you’re comfortable with—like mentioning it on social media, talking about it with your friends, etc.) * FYI, the Infestation (Book 3) Launch Day is 8/28/2015!
What this is NOT!
- A group of spammers.
- People who just want freebies.
This is for those people who want to play an active role in supporting books they enjoy! Plus, it’s kind of fun to see where this might go. I’m a new, pretty much unknown author. I am so thrilled with the response I’ve already gotten to my stories—Top 25 on Amazon in several categories for weeks now, emails every week from readers reaching out to share how much they are loving the books, an explosion of email signups over the last two months. I’m so excited to see what’s going to happen next. If you’d like to be a part of all this on the ground floor, join the Launch Team.
Why am I doing this?
- To connect more to the readers who love my books.
- To get the word out about my books in a more personal way.
- To thank you for your ongoing support!
If you’re a fan of my work so far, it makes sense to keep sharing my work with you. I want to make this a select group of super-awesome readers. In addition to getting free copies of EVERYTHING I release before anyone else, you get to see exactly what impact your support has on the success of my work. If this sounds like something you’d like to be part of, there’s one caveat that’s really important to me. Being part of the Launch Team means you’ll be asked to leave a review of the books you receive within a certain time period after receiving your copies (usually 1 – 2 weeks). As far as catches go, I’m hoping that’s not too bad! So, if you’d like to be part of the team, just sign up below.