Street Teams

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brainstorm77

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Recently in the erotic romance community I've come across the term 'street teams'. From what I have heard it's a bunch of people who get together to support an authors career/books. They get swag from the other and such for doing so. Am I right in assuming that this is what it is? Has anyone else heard of it?
 

brainstorm77

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That article pretty much sums it up.
 

aliceshortcake

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Oh, FFS. Asking your street team to replace books by other writers, whose publishers have paid to have them placed in prime bookstore locations such as front tables, with copies of your own book? Not only is this outright theft, it stinks of desperation. PublishAmerica authors got hold of this idea years ago, went on book-rearranging sprees and boasted about it on the old PA message boards. If I saw anyone doing this in my local Waterstones I'd report them to the staff.

There's also a point at which distributing flyers and free bookmarks becomes straightforward littering.
 
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aliceshortcake

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I think "fans" is the operative word here. These people don't really regard themselves as part of a marketing strategy, they're just making the most of their relationship - however tenuous - with their favourite author.
 

thethinker42

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Some of my fans asked if they could form a street team on my behalf. It's run by a couple of fans, not me, but I'm privy to the group discussions and can approve or veto suggestions. They promote my books when they're released, talk them up to people, stuff like that, but I have been VERY emphatic that they're not to do anything negative towards readers, reviewers, or other authors. No responding negatively to reviews, no moving other people's books/swag/etc around, no spamming, etc. Basically, if they want to be on a street team representing me, they need to behave as if they were professionals. Anyone steps out of line and I catch wind of it, I'll be the first to loudly and publicly shut that shit down.

So far, the group has been amazing. They've been extremely positive, and have struck a pretty good balance with promotion (increasing visibility without overdoing it). I've been incredibly lucky that my street team is sane, and I haven't had any problems with them.

But yes, OMG, I've encountered some street teams that are obnoxious and downright destructive. A street team can be a very positive, effective thing, but an author needs to make it absolutely clear that nastiness and negativity will NOT be tolerated, never mind encouraged.
 

thethinker42

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I wonder how publishers and agents feel about street teams?

My publishers have never said anything negative about them *as long as* the street teams are well-behaved. If they're doing obnoxious things, ganging up on reviewers, etc., that's one thing.
 
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