Interview with Marie-Claire Thauvette, author of Honeymoon Playbook

Marie-Claire Thauvette is a friend and co-worker. She is a relationship coach and AASECT certified intimacy educator who did what many of us writers and entrepreneurs do. She saw a need and decided to do something about it. The result is a fun and helpful book called Honeymoon Playbook. It tackles everything from travel to intimacy, with a mixture of light-hearted and in-depth activities, games, tips, and tricks to enhance intimacy, making it relevant to both newlyweds and long-time partners alike.

Having watched Marie-Claire’s enthusiasm and dedication in bringing this project to fruition, I wanted to hear the details of how she accomplished what many of us writers wish for: to hit several Amazon best seller lists.

Marie-Claire, thank you for sharing your journey with me. So, tell me, what does it mean to be an Amazon best seller?

It means that your books (print or ebooks) are outselling other books in a category or subcategory on any given day. Honeymoon Playbook launched Tuesday June 12th, 2018 and on that day it hit two best seller lists in the US and three in Canada. I was over the moon!

Congratulations! What was your pre-launch plan?

I bought a great book called Book Launch Success by Shawn Manaher and RJ Adams. From that I made a step-by-step project timeline, months before my launch date. It included things like:

• Marketing goals
• Book description
• Advanced readers
• Book launch support group
• A schedule for: speaking events, videos, blog posts, podcast interviews
• Launch party

I also hired some specialists:

A launch consultant: I wanted someone who could help me grow my social media network and this consultant helped with that. She explained the whole concept of the sales funnel to me. With her help and by posting videos daily, I went from about 150 followers to 2,500 on Facebook.

An Amazon expert: This was a great investment. I looked through profiles on Upworks. What drew me to Leila was her profile and the fact that she had helped launch other bestsellers.

What was your best investment?

Hiring a publicist. Mel Carrey has been invaluable. She is a Toronto-based publicist with experience launching a best seller by an Olympic athlete. She has a media list of hundreds of contacts and has lined up podcast interviews and radio shows for me. I couldn’t have done this without her and I would highly recommend her to any author.

What was the biggest learning curve?

It takes a lot of time, energy and commitment for months before launch! The Amazon expert told me it can take at least a month of extreme effort for the algorithms to pick up on your book, so I was delighted when I hit three best sellers lists on launch day. However, there were months of input before that. I was told you need to be a best seller 6-7 days a month and receive at least 10 reviews a month to stay at the top of a list, so I’m still reaching out to people now. It doesn’t stop on launch day!

What did you do on launch day?

First, I created a Launch Support Group. I asked family and friends to be part of the group and I set up a Facebook group where I uploaded posts they could just cut and paste. Someone had advised me to make this group small but I disagree. I just kept inviting people and the support I got was fantastic. I threw a party before launch day to thank my supporters. The idea was simply to celebrate how far we’d come, but people ended up helping, posting about it, telling their friends, buying the book. I think if you’re genuinely passionate about your project, and you ask people to help, you’ll be surprised what happens.

On launch day I had a party downtown and made the e-book available for 99c for 12 days. I posted updates and videos leading up to, during and after the launch party. The result? I sold 120 ebooks and 15 paperbacks on that day, hit three best seller lists and number 21 overall on Kindle. I had been told you have to sell about 300 books in one day to be a best seller but I guess that wasn’t the case for me!

After that I hit the best seller list 5 or 6 times. Whenever I did, I would just share it with whoever I was with. I would say to people, “I became a best seller and I’m celebrating,” and people would want to know about it. It wasn’t about selling, it was about celebrating. I remember traveling back from a conference in Denver and telling the train driver about it. She was so excited for me she made an announcement on the loud speaker. She ended up promoting the book!

What would you have done differently?

I would have hired a coach. Bringing a book to completion takes a lot of effort, time and resources and sometimes you need someone to encourage you to keep going. I have an incredibly supportive husband, as well as fantastic family and friends, but an expert who understands the whole writing and publishing process – that would have been a bonus!

What would you say to a writer who is planning to launch a book?

• Start reaching out on social media a year before your launch. Join groups where you can build relationships and give something to others. Post videos – people respond to them. Also, bear in mind that if you post to too many groups on Facebook in one day, they’ll block you because they want you to pay for adverts.
• Plan every detail of launch day ahead of time so you don’t have to invent messages on the day: all your content, the food, the timeline. I started at 4:30 am by reaching out to people in Australia so it was a long day!
• Look into the categories and sub-categories and try and pick the right ones: the ones that best fits your book but also aren’t too competitive. List your book in several categories to see which one is the strongest for your book. Check Amazon daily and get screen shots of every time you’re a best seller. They won’t do that for you, you have to.
• Ask yourself who you can help and how. This is what kept me motivated when things got tough. I pictured the young couple embarking on their first relationship, or a mature couple where things were getting stale and then imagined them gaining a greater connection as they read my book. This isn’t about making money for me, it’s about helping.

Honeymoon Playbook is available as an e-book from $3.12 on Amazon.com

Would you like help launching your book? Contact me and we’ll create a plan that works for you.

*Note: there are no affiliate links on this blog post. I have not been paid to promote this book.