Why your eBook launch needs a support act (unlike Springsteen)

The last 4 times I saw Springsteen in concert there was never a warm up act. He’s one of the few artists I’ve seen without support.

The reason?

He’s been warming up his own crowd for 40 years by producing “support” content in the shape of his songs, his concerts, interviews and show after show after show.

Which is something you should do if you want to release your eBook to a crowd rather than a trickle of your regular traffic (though you don’t have to do it for 40 years).

Writing and releasing an eBook is a lot of work. You’ve probably lived, breathed and babbled about it in your sleep for a couple of months. It completely occupies your thoughts.

But if you’re not careful, you can assume it’s occupying everyone else’s thoughts as well. After all, you’ve mentioned it on Twitter and a little in your blog. Come the launch date you’re triple testing your checkout process and prepping your VA for any customer support enquiries.

The countdown begins, you push it out on stage, open the curtains and cross your fingers…

But there’s no one screaming your name, no one scrabbling to get to the stage and the trickle of sales that comes through doesn’t look like it will pay for that cruise to Barbados.

So how can you create a “support act” through content for your eBook launch?

Start the buzz in your hometown

Before your “show” date, use your blog, newsletter or “freebie” giveaways to create a mini warm up act in the shape of posts that deal with the subject you’re solving. For example, if your eBook tells people how to turn an embarrassing stumble in the street into a nifty break dance to win over friends, your “warm up posts” could include “Why stumbling in the street is embarrassing” or “the biggest causes of stumbling in the street and why they happen.”

Take a Tour

I’m a huge fan of guest posting. Here, you take your “warm up” content, but this time you put it on another stage. But not just any old stage, you take it to a stage where there are similar audiences to yours. So if you teach tips on how to apply make-up on in the dark, you’re not going to have your “Applying mascara with your eyes closed” article published on an internet marketing blog. Make sure the problem you solve is the problem this new audience needs solving also.

Busk

Holding a mini “teaching” session or a preview of the main content through a webinar or as a teleseminar is a fantastic way of “busking” with the goal that your audience will like you and your content enough to pay and see the full show.  If you’re doing this in an audio setting, don’t be afraid to give a “sneak preview” of the main act. Just like busking, seeing a show in the street is fantastic, but it’s a different experience being able to take home the CD, sitting in a comfortable chair with a drink and enjoying the music at your convenience and leisure. That’s the difference between hearing you give an audio lesson, and then getting their hands on the full blown content that they can keep, refer to and use again and again.

Those are my 3 quick tips to building a support act to your launch, but remember,  make sure it’s relevant to the problem you solve otherwise you’re not “warming up” your crowd to get them into the spirit of the main event. This would be like having Dr. Dre open for Dolly Parton. Both fantastic quality but it’s going to completely befuddle the audience and leave fans feeling slightly uncomfortable…

Have you ever produced a support act through content that helped you launch your eBook? Or have you picked up a fantastic freebie and ended up buying a ticket to the main event? Let me know below!