The WG2E Street Team has done it again! 15 authors have just launched new books and we’re celebrating with a four day Beach Book Blast featuring a Facebook Party!!!!
If you’re thinking about holding a Facebook Party to announce the release of your latest book, here are a few tips and tricks we’d like to share:
1. Approximately one to two weeks prior to the party, create the Facebook event. Have a set date and time. The BBB authors chose a Thursday night from 8pm to 11pm to hold our party.
2. Invite your family, friends, and readers. Don’t be offended if some people don’t show. Not everyone enjoys a Facebook event.
3. Prepare ahead. Create a folder on your desktop and fill it with items you can post during the party. You can use photos that inspired you while you wrote the story, photos depicting the setting, and photos of your characters. Remember to include character quotes and short excerpts from the story. Have questions prepared that your character(s) can answer. Or for those lulls during the party, have a list of questions frequently asked by readers and answer them during the party.
4. Plan to have giveaways. Note that the giveaway signup form needs to be elsewhere due to Facebook legalities.
5. If necessary, create a schedule. In the case of the Beach Book Blast Facebook party, 15 authors collaborated to put on this event. We decided to showcase each author individually, so created a schedule so each author would know when it’s their time to be “on stage”.
6. At the beginning of the party, welcome your guests. Give them a brief outline of the evening to entice them to hang around for the entire event.
7. Turn off your email notification. Advise your guests to do so also because the sheer volume of comments will overflow their email.
8. Engage your audience. Show them the photos you collected. Share the short excerpts you selected. Ask your readers questions. For instance, if your protagonist has a troublesome teenager, perhaps he/she needs some advice from parents on how to handle the problem. Or if your protagonist recently won a million dollars in the lottery, ask your readers what they would do if they won a cool mil. Or maybe your protagonist wants to kill their spouse, so ask your readers for some devious methods on how to do so without getting caught.
9. Reply to every comment. Your guests may occasionally get lost in the madness, because the newest comment posted always shows up at the top of the page. It’s a good idea to page through the comments every once in a while, just to make sure you haven’t missed responding to one.
10. Finally, relax and have fun! And while you’re planning yours, remember to join ours, and invite all of your friends to come along with you too. 
What: Beach Book Blast Facebook Party
When: Thursday, August 16th, 2012 at 8:00pm to 11:00pm Eastern Time
Where: Facebook
Featured Authors: Dale Amidei, Debra Burroughs, Stacey Joy Netzel, Liz Matis, Janice Lane Palko, L.C. Giroux, Tamara Ward, Sheila Seabrook, Alicia and Roy Street, Kiru Taye, Natalie G. Owens, Liz Jasper, Lizzie Starr, Christine Routon, Lily Silver
WG2E Street Team Volunteers: Rhonda Hopkins, Meredith Bond, Greg Carrico, Kristine Cayne
Door Prizes: Lots of great ebooks, mugs, and much more!
In the meantime, please like the Beach Book Blast Facebook page so you can keep up to speed on all the special events.
You’ll find all the fabulous new releases at our main Beach Book Blast blog where you can sign up via the Rafflecopter for a chance to win one our many great Book Launch Event prizes, including a Kindle Fire!
It’s Your Turn, WG2E-Land: Have you ever gone to a Facebook party? What do you think makes one a success?
The Best of WG2E Street Team Facebook Party Wishes —
Sheila Seabrook, Romantic Comedy/Women’s Fiction author of Wedding Fever
and
Kristine Cayne, Romantic Suspense Author of Deadly Obsession and Deadly Addiction
This really looks like a good idea. I might have one for the release of my first romance ebook. Have to work on what I can do from this blog.
Thank you, Julie! It’s the first one I help set up, so my fingers are crossed that everyone will have a good time
all the best wishes
Thank you, Adan!
Lovely! I am so looking forward to this Facebook event! Well done to the volunteers who worked so hard at making this a smooth ride.
Aw, thank you, Natalie. We couldn’t have done it without all you awesome authors with fantastic new books releasing this month
I’m excited to party with the WG2E followers at the BBB Facebook party on Wednesday. I’m on at 9 and can’t wait to meet you all!
We’re going to have a blast, Janice!
Thursday, not Wednesday. Just FYI.
I’ve never done a FB party, so this is new for me, but I’m looking forward to attending and seeing how it’s done. I’m part of the WG2E Street Team, but I’ve been off grid finishing up my latest WIP’s for a September and October release, so I’ll be prepping for the next round for sure. You guys are amazing–a fabulous example of team work and power in numbers! Kudos to all and congrats on the new releases.
Thank you, PJ. That’s what I love best about the WG2E – we all learn from each other!
I am looking forward to this as well! It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m getting my material together and hope I can keep up. This is my first time doing this, so I have no idea what someone may ask.
Most of us are newbies at having FB parties, so we’ll muddle through together and have a great time doing it
But with all the awesome prizes we have, I’m sure it will be a roaring success!
Applause & fireworks!!!!
Thanks for sharing your techniques for a successful FB Party!!
xx, Lauren
You’re most welcome, Lauren!
I’m looking forward to having a great time with the WG2E Street Team, readers and other writers. This sounds like a lot of fun! Best wishes to all those releasing new books!
I’m really looking forward to it as well, Rhonda! Thank you for all your support.
Thanks Kristine and Shelia for all your hard work on this party! I can’t wait to visit with everyone and have a blast.
Thank you, Stacey. I’m happy to do it for my WG2E friends. I’ve learned so much from all of you
Fab post, Kristine and Sheila! I’ve attended Facebook parties, but never created one. I know everyone in the Beach Book Blast appreciates the way you’re putting this together. I sure am.
Thank you, Alicia! In my mind, any opportunity to find bring readers and authors together is something I want to be involved with
Thanks, Kristine and Sheila! I’ve never attended a Facebook party, so I’m really looking forward to jumping in with the rest of you. Thanks so much for organizing it and helping us authors get prepared for it! Great post!
Thank you, Tamara! There’s so many great authors participating, including yourself (!), I know it will be a huge success
I’m excited to join the rest of the WG2E Street Team for the Beach Book Blast event and the Facebook party. This will be the first time I’ve attended a group party, so am really looking forward to the event.
I enjoy both Twitter and Facebook Parties! They’re a ton of fun and wow do you get the chance to really connect with your readers!
That said, it can be crazy in that updates and tweets fly fast and furious and it can be a challenge just to keep everyone on the same streams. Actually, usually they end up with several streams going at once, and that’s okay, because your readers just hang with what interests them.
Remember to constantly “Refresh” your PCs, Tablets, and/or phones so you can keep up with the superfab fun madness!!!