Yesterday, I completed this year’s update on my Legend of Gardyan Street Team, with sooo many lovely new member additions. Looking back on the progress I made with promoting Sign of the Raven during the past year, it has once more become clear to me how important and precious a street team can be.
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Since I am aware that some are less familiar with this special aspect of promoting indie authors than others, I decided to write a little blog post about the topic, so here it is:
What is a Street Team anyway?
Building a community that enjoys reading your books is probably the most important goal for every indie author. We do not have a big label behind us on whose connections within the publishing high society we can rely, nor do we have a big promotional network behind us.
No, we indie authors do everything on our own—from finding reviewers and ARC readers to promoting our books and creating the required content for them. Needless to say, we are grateful for every soul who chooses to support us in this endeavour. This is where a street team comes into play.
Simply put, a street team is a group of people who help an author promote their book and hype new releases. While ARC readers and reviewers are “only” tasked with leaving an honest review to help indie authors build trust within the community, team members usually have a couple of additional tasks.
Congratulations, You Opted in for the Street Team! Now what?
If you did not exactly know what a street team is all about, don’t worry! Most of it is learning by doing here and there is no strict rule on how you are supposed to participate.
That being said, there are a few things you might like to consider before joining one of those promotional teams:
Spreading the Word
The simplest way for a street team member to support their author is to spread the word about their books. If you have book besties or friends you know would enjoy your supported author’s writing, please don’t hesitate to throw in a recommendation.
Sharing is Caring
In order to forward news and updates about an indie author’s publication, street team members usually share and repost the author’s social media content. This is not exclusively limited to posts but can also include
– book mockups,
– promotional assets,
– book art,
– and character design
the author makes available for promotional purposes. In that regard, the street team can often get very creative, which brings us to another task.
Creating Your own Promotional Content
Whether it is creative reviews on social media, release countdowns, character introductions, or just a lovely shoutout to your supported indie author, any type of promotional content you can think of is very much appreciated.
There is no real guideline for how your promo content should look. Some prefer traditional book photography, others enjoy working with digital presentations, arranging assets into a collage or flyer. This is your personal creative space as a team member, and you are entirely free to choose how you would like to visually represent your street team.
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Getting Involved
In my street team community, I often emphasise the importance of not only promoting my books but also supporting fellow team members. This is a team effort, and we grow together, so please like, share, and comment on other members’ content as well, if possible.
Engagement is everything on social media these days; therefore, a team members should also appear as such on the outside. Supporting, inspiring, and lifting each other up is, at least for me, an important part of the street team journey. Because I appreciate every support I get and always try to give the love back.
I hope those little hints and suggestions have helped those new to the street team sphere get a bit of an idea and maybe sparked some creative impulses. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below. 🙂
