Street Teams

I recently volunteered to be on Ran Pyle’s street team. Why?

“Street Teams” was the focus at an early December Marketing Coalition meeting. During the discussion led by Skipper Hammond, members were encouraged be on a street team.

If I was going to be hawking somebody’s book, I wanted to hawk one I actually liked. I always try to be authentic. I had read Ran Pyle’s unpublished version of Beyond Suicide and knew that I loved it.

By mid-December, Beyond Suicide was for sale on Amazon, so I ordered a copy. After the book arrived, I read it again (my fourth time), and wrote a review on the Amazon book page:

This heart-wrenching but entertaining account of Dr. Pyle’s decades-long dealing with his younger brother’s death by suicide kept me riveted throughout. Authentic and gripping, the story includes religious questioning, spiritual seeking, philosophy, metaphysics, humor, grief, deep loss, guilt, and finally atonement. An unusual take on the Sigmund Freud “talking cure” brought the needed denouement through spirited conversations with his dead brother! Beyond Suicide is a thought-provoking and deeply touching read.

In my mind, the term Street Team originally conjured up images of a small, attention-getting band of circus-like troopers, with drums, fifes, balloons, and banners advertising the book. The team is led perhaps by a clown doing cartwheels. I am in my ninetieth year and will not be doing that.

But, in what other ways can a street team promote sales of a friend or colleague’s book? For one, I mention Beyond Suicide at every opportunity and put in a good word. Also, I can write this blog for the WAG website and hope it gets accepted and posted.

But wait! Am I the only WAG member who has volunteered as a street-teamer?

I strongly recommend that you sign up to help someone promote his or her book and make some sales. What goes around comes around. This may cause a close friendship to develop with the author, who will love the praise. It might even get you a free lunch date with the author! Try it. Surely something good will come from it!

Just look at the smile on my face! Dr. Ransford Pyle has agreed that, as his street team leader, I can accompany him when he travels to Stockholm next year to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature!

To all WAG authors: Simply enter “street teams book marketing” into your Internet search engine and find many tips on building your own street team. Choose a partner, and “street team” for each other. There is a wealth of useful information at your fingertips on how to use social media for this purpose.

WAG’s Marketing Coalition members meet monthly, normally on the first Saturday, 1-3 p.m. at the Library Partnership on 16^th Avenue, to discuss and share successful marketing ideas and strategies for their books. All WAG members are invited to attend to see what the Marketing Coalition is all about.