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.

The exact sites I book will depend on that pricing structure – particularly if the Book 1 in my series is going out at free or 99c. For example, for the launch of a Book 4 that is in KU, I might decide to go with this:

• Book 1 – 99c countdown
• Book 2 - $1.99 countdown
• Book 3 - $2.99 countdown
• Book 4 - $2.99 launch week discount, rising to regular price of $4.99

And then I would book all my recommended 99c promo sites from the list above for that Book 1.

But if I was launching Book 5 in a wide series, I might decide to go with this:

• Book 1 – free (+ staying there afterwards to become a permafree)
• Book 2 – 99c manual discount
• Book 3 – $2.99 manual discount
• Book 4 - $4.99 regular price
• Book 5 - $4.99 regular price

And then I would book all my recommended freebie sites from that list above, and probably a couple of 99c ones for that Book 2 also.

In both cases, I would also explore a handful of series promo options, where available.

Note: it’s wise to start this process more than a month out from your launch date, because while some of the promo sites won’t even take your booking until you are within 30 days of your desired date, some of the better ones (like Robin Reads and BookBarbarian) actually take bookings 60 days out, and can fill up quite quickly.

Anyway, once I have my promo pricing structure nailed down, and my first ads book, I have the makings of a schedule and the bones of a plan – which I will then slowly flesh out as the month progresses.

Other important tasks in the pre-launch period can include:

• Interfacing with your street team or finding candidates for an ARC
• Arranging any podcasts/guest posts
• Priming your email audience for the launch with teasers or excerpts or cover reveals or otherwise writing on related topics
• Doing the same on social media and also using those opportunities to drive sign-ups to your list
• Prepping your presentation: blurb, taglines, juicy quotes from fellow authors
• Optimizing your metadata: choosing categories and keywords especially
• Testing images, copy, targets, if possible. Prepping these things as much as possible, if not.

Not all of the above will be possible or desirable for everyone – you should always tailor any plan for your own specific needs. These are just the kind of things you can do in advance, if you wish, that will have a real impact during launch week. And then if you are doing a pre-order, there’s more you can add to that list as your book is actually viewable on the various retailers.

This period is often when the first thing goes wrong too.

Even when the world isn’t going to hell in a handcart, all sorts of things can crop up which can delay your launch. Quite often something will happen which will give you a tough decision about if you should push your launch back and get it sorted out properly, or whether you are better off proceeding as scheduled but with certain elements missing from your plan. It happens all the time.

I’ve done it both ways and my advice is that it’s usually better to postpone and do your launch right. In fact, most of my best launches have been when there has been some delay and the book has gone out later than originally envisioned, because I tend to use the time well. All that nervous energy must go somewhere, right?

For example, as you might have noticed, Amazon Decoded got delayed a couple of times for various reasons. But that allowed me to roll out a free course which expanded my mailing list for the launch, and it also enabled me to release the paperback simultaneously, which I rarely do. Let’s just say that I made enough from paperbacks last month that simultaneous paperback release will be a part of every launch going forward.

Next time we’ll look at launch week itself, but the key takeaway here is this: you need a launch plan, first of all, and you also need to recognize that this is something you start planning and executing at least one month before your launch date. 

A great launch requires careful preparation, and accounts for inevitable setbacks along the way.

Dave

P.S. Writing music this week is the Bee Gees (stay with me here…) with what sounds very much like a coke-fuelled breakdown, while writing a Dear John letter, and has to be experienced to be believed: Lion in Winter.