First BookTok reading trackers campaign checklist

A first BookTok reading trackers campaign at founder scale. Numbered so you can stop lying to yourself about which step you skipped.

Confirm a live listing whose first screenshot is a private TBR, not a social feed actually closes. Creators cannot fix packaging.
Write the avatar in a sentence: US English, 18-30, already bounced off Goodreads they feel watched on and a Notes app of titles, watches ‘Goodreads made reading a job’ and TBR-shame videos in bed with a paperback.
Write the problem in their mouth: I wanted to DNF in peace and Goodreads made it a performance.
Write what they already quit: Goodreads they feel watched on, a Notes TBR, and a spreadsheet of titles they stopped opening.
Write what they watch: Goodreads-anxiety, TBR-shame, ‘I DNF and I will not log it there’, bed-paperback.
Write the reject: the 500k BookToker whose whole grid is publisher PR.
Write adjacent so the phone does not smear: DNF shame, bed paperbacks, not publisher-haul.
Put that sentence into the brief
Scroll as them on a fresh Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube account. Example to look for: someone closing Goodreads because a 1-star felt like a performance. Signal: the same bed-paperback face two nights.
Keep a 50k average-view floor. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink.
Skip #booktok as a roster method.
Email. The contact is usually in a small TBR bio, not a publisher kit. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number.
If they won’t give a number, move on. PR BookTokers quote publisher rates.
On the call, Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Talent extra.
Send the contract while the yes is still warm. Scout $1,500 / Outreach $2,500 / Dealmaker $5,000.
A working log they can add tonight’s paperback to.
Tell them what to film: add tonight’s paperback, mark a DNF, show it is private, drop the code. Do not ask for a 20-book haul. Ask them to DNF a book in the app in peace.
Give each creator their own code. Unique App Store codes, not a BookTok unboxing.
Do not run a launch day on the same morning if you wanted isolation.
Two follow-ups, then stop. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.

Doing the scroll by hand is kind of soul-crushing. Like a publisher haul and you will leave the DNF-in-peace people. No demo. No download guarantee. You approve every creator and every rate.

Goodreads-anxiety already has the audience; a private TBR they will open in bed is the product.

First BookTok reading trackers campaign checklist

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