jOURNEY TO A nEW bOOK lAUNCH

Book mock-up created with Mock-ups Design and Affinity Designer

This post is all about the nitty gritty set up that I have done so far to get ready to launch a kickstarter for my newest picture book entitled THE MEANIES.

Do you want to create realistic book mock ups like the one on the left? #bookmockup

It is so important to have professional looking book mock-ups for all of your pre-launch ads. I knew I wanted  to create clean looking variations of my new book with both white and transparent backgrounds. I tested out a few options but the one I fell in love with was offered by www.mockups-design.com. I was able to take their template files and import them into Affinity Designer and add my own cover image to create beautiful book mock-up images.

Are you looking for a video ad or trailer for your book?

I know that a video book trailer is a versatile and effective way to get my book's bio out to the world. In a short clip I can show and tell what my book is about. This is critical to promoting my book on social media sources like TikTok and Instagram/Facebook Reels. 

Did you know that Canva has a template for TikTok videos? If you don't already know Canva is a free online tool for graphic design creation. I love it because it is so user friendly and it has so many FREE images and video. I actually opted to do a FREE 30 day trial of Canva Pro for this book launch. If it proves to be helpful and fast for content creation and I see sales conversions from the ads I am creating with Canva, I will choose to pay the monthly fee. Only time will tell. 

Here's an example of the first Canva TikTok video I created 

While I admit this is not the most complicated video to create, it was the first one that I tried.  I was sure I wanted a clear question presented to create interest. I also wanted some flashy movement and then a concise statement about the content of the book. 

This is the next TikTok ad I created. This one incorporates a video I designed using #Moho Animation software. Moho is a professional tool to create quality animations. If you have no desire to learn how to animate, that's okay. The book image and icons used were animated using Canva!  I am super impressed with the versatility and professional quality of the finished animations that Canva provides for the Free version. However by adding on the Pro, you add more videos and graphics to your creation arsenal.

Posting several times a day to social is super important.
I follow social media guru, Rachel Pedersen (#themrspedersen), to help me learn more about what is important about gaining social media attention. Not only does she offer tons of free advise her new book, Unfiltered, she also offers great tips and motivational stories that have really inspired me to keep going. ( #unfilteredbook ) She often speaks about how important it is to post on various social media platforms several times a day. She also shares that your posts shouldn't all be direct ads. She encourages creators to post human interest videos, still shot short form statements, and other types of content. I encourage you to check out her YouTube for more tips.

Comment below with strategies that you have used to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign! I am open to learning everything I can to make the launch of THE MEANIES (#themeanies) as bountiful as possible!