Book Launch Craziness - I should have followed instructions.
As you might have heard, I was recently an author for an awesome book called “Ready Connect Grow” - an anthology of authors and business owners wrangled together by Connie Whitman to share our insights on the important link between connections and growth in your business.
Within 24 hours it’s launch, our book was named as a #1 International Best Seller. To celebrate this, I’d like to share my chapter with you. :)
If you would like to read the other chapters by the amazing authors in this book, click on the image of the cover above to purchase it from Amazon.
This is the first book I’ve ever been a part of, and what a whirlwind it was!
I’d love to share my experience with you - I’ve certainly learned the value in listening to what you’re told to do!
Writing the Chapter
Writing the chapter was probably the easiest part of this whole experience for me. When our cat wrangler, Connie, said that the book was about connections and relationships, I immediately thought to the relationship that kicked off my whole business’ success. (If you’re curious, I share that story in the book!)
Editing was pretty simple too - my editor was impressed with the chapter and had only minor suggestions on how to adjust the chapter.
Really, as far as the writing goes, the only part I struggled with for a short time was the ending (as do all great authors!) :P
Preparing to Launch
Preparing to launch the book was where I started to struggle. I had NO IDEA how much preparation goes into advertising and marketing a book - and I wasn’t even the one coming up with the strategy!
The authors worked with a fantastic editing company that gave us directions on what to do. It was that simple - follow the instructions and do what you are told.
Apparently I’m not that good at it! LOL!
I’m not much of a social media person, so I struggled with timing my pre-launch posts to go out, remembering to tag the other authors (because hello - we’re an anthology!), and getting the word out. This tends to be a typical Megan thing - I create something amazing and forget to tell people about it. UGH!
Book Launch Day
This is where it gets crazy for me. For easy reading's sake, let’s number out the mistakes I made.
Multi-tasking through the pre-launch meeting. The pre-launch meeting was held the day before. I was really busy with a task I wanted to finish, so I decided to multi-task through the pre-launch business. BIG mistake. I missed a lot of information I should have been paying attention to.
Not clearing out my calendar for launch day. The editor and launch coordinator highly recommended we clear our calendar for the launch day so we could be available for questions and interactions. Me, the self-proclaimed multi-tasking queen, decided that I didn’t need to clear the calendar. I could work and conduct meetings AND answer questions about the book. Hah… yeah… that worked about as well as trying to bath a cat. I was EXHAUSTED and pretty sure I didn’t accomplish anything that day.
Not scheduling time to post on my social media accounts. Going back to my thought earlier about not advertising the cool shit I do, I didn’t take the launch coordinator’s advice to book time on my calendar to post social media updates about our book. Because I was pulled too thin, and because I didn’t have reminders set to go into my social media accounts and post updates, I forgot to announce that we reached #1 International Best Seller. Seriously Megan, what were you thinking?! UGH!
Staying up late the night before bing watching tv with my husband. So… thanks to being located in Alaska, our day-of book launch prep meeting was scheduled for 6:00 am for me - 6:00 fricken am! So, a sane person would get a good night’s sleep before, right?! Oh, not me - I decided to bing watch an addictive tv show with my husband on Netflix and then show up exhausted to the day-of book launch prep meeting.
Being too hard on myself because of items 1-4. The reality is, right now is a hectic time for AK Lean. We’ve been through a lot last year. I’ve been exhausted for the last year. On top of not taking the launch coordinator’s advice and clearing my calendar, my daughter was sick with a fever all week. Yes, I didn’t do the best during book launch day, but the biggest mistake I made was being too hard on myself - I had a lot of crap going on!
Would I do it again?
Looking back, if I was asked if I would do it again, I would say yes. It was a childhood dream to become an author. While I’ve written a number of books as a ghost author, I can now say that I accomplished that dream.
I think being a part of an anthology, like I was, is a great way to dip your toes into the water of being an author. You get to experience what it’s like working with an editor. You get to experience having to outline your ideas for input/approval. And you get the experience of trying to market your book.
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