Hey,
So, how do you launch a book? Slowly, at first, and then very quickly indeed.
Aside from being irritatingly gnomic, that opening line does have a purpose: to get you to focus on what the most important part of a book launch is, i.e. the careful and methodical preparation in the pre-launch period, not the flashy part when the rocket goes boom (which is what gets all the attention).
BORING. But super necessary.
We all know that book marketing has become so much more complicated in the last five years, and given that book launches are the ne plus ultra of book marketing, it’s no surprise that they have become almost comically complex compared to the ramshackle, haphazard, fingers-crossed affairs of yore.
My first launch – almost ten years ago now! – is a pretty good example.
I had read on the KDP Help site that your book takes “up to three days” to go live and figured that would be more than enough time to come up with a launch plan — the 2011 version of me would have heartily scoffed at the idea of planning a launch in advance.
Of course, that first book was like a greased pig – it went live in an hour, leading to an almighty scramble as I updated my website, emailed everyone on my nascent mailing list, and then ran around parping on Facebook and Twitter and my blog, as well as couple of forums I frequented back before I realized they were hellscapes of bitterness and despair.
There were two or three days of this bleary-eyed madness before I realized something that should have been very obvious: I didn’t have to tell people right away. I could have, you know, waited a minute. Taken a breath. And maybe come up with some kind of launch plan.
So, here’s rule #1 for Launching a Book: a launch plan requires an actual plan!
This might seem very obvious, but it really isn’t to some people. I know, because I was one of them.
Here’s something related that I didn’t realize either – in fact, I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t cop this for several launches – and it’s really quite obvious in hindsight too: Amazon doesn’t decide my launch date.
I decide my launch date.
I used to run around all the author forums and ask everyone how long it was taking Amazon to publish books right now (it would vary between a few hours and a few days, when the site was creaking for whatever reason). And then I would try and time my upload so the system regurgitated my book on my preferred day.
Which sounds crazy to me now because here’s the thing: readers don’t know your book is out until you tell them.
(Yes, if you have a highly anticipated book, you will get some readers searching for it repeatedly on Amazon until it appears and then grabbing it before you have had time to hit your list or activate your street team or roll out your launch plan. But, even then, unless you are a really big name, it doesn’t matter. You still get to decide when everyone else hears about it.)
This point might seem teeth-grindingly obvious to some, but I promise you that many authors don’t realise that (a) they really can plan a book launch and (b) they really do get to decide the timetable – not Amazon and not eager readers.
You can make a plan, and you can stick to it.
Okay, we have the motive established, now let’s tackle the means: here’s why you need to make a proper launch plan.
Getting Noticed in 2020
A couple of weeks ago, a slate of articles appeared in the press lamenting the affects of coronavirus on publishing, and that associated publication delays meant that an astonishing 600 titles were set to be released on the same apocalyptic day.
That day was yesterday, and this morning I can see that the sun has still risen and we are all still breathing. Phew!
Of course, most self-publishers will have noted with amusement that well over 600 books were released the day before yesterday, and the day before that too, once you take the radical step of admitting that ebooks are real books and self-publishers exist.
Several multiples of that supposedly frightened total are launched every day by self-publishers and small digital publishers, which is why there are around eight million books in the Kindle Store as I type these words.
While there might be more than a few hobbyists in that bunch, or those who can’t string a sentence together to save their lives, or those who don’t bother getting a professional cover or doing anything, really, to market their books, plenty of those titles and authors genuinely do pose a challenge.
Self-publishers are a disciplined and savvy bunch in 2020 and apply all sorts of skills and techniques and strategies to their book launches these days.
A really good launch plan takes account of all the tools you have at your disposal and then comes up with a tailored set of steps to suit your needs and strengths.
A really good launch plan recognizes there are three main phases to a book launch: pre-launch, launch week, and post-launch. Let’s run through the first one this week.
Countdown to Launch (1+ Month from lift-off)
The more elements you have in a launch plan increase the upside you have in terms of potential sales, but also the chances of things going wrong. Careful preparation will help eliminate some of this, however. And certain elements of your launch plan simply need lead-in time.
The first things I need to decide:
- Launch date (this might be adjusted).
- List price of the book I’m launching.
- Launch price (is that different?).
- Pricing structure of earlier books in the series
With those decisions made, I can start booking ads on promo sites from my recommended list.
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