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I’ll have more detailed thoughts on that change once I’ve ran a few tests myself, but my slightly warm take is similar to Jon Loomer’s above.
In other words, while I will be adding a little more text in my ad images, I still recommend not going overboard and making your image too busy or muddying your message. Think carefully on what you want readers to focus on. If you dilute that attention, you may not hook them at all.
OK! Back to launches.
I had a few responses to the first episode two weeks ago asking how all this applies if you only have one or two books. For anyone in that boat, my free course Starting From Zero covers that end of things exhaustively, so check that out instead. (Jump straight to lessons 4.5 and 5.4 if you like.)
Here, we’ll stick with the multi-book launch from last time.
Countdown to Launch (1 Week From Lift Off)
Just before launch week, I usually do another spot check of all the books that are going to be promoted. Aside from the not-unimportant part of having the book ready on time, I’m looking at things like:
*Blurbs. Are they as tight as they can be? Have I added the latest juicy review quotes? Is there anything in those reviews/quotes that I can pull out for ads?
*Ad assets. Do I have all the bits and pieces I need to make my ads? I’m talking about things like ad text, review quotes, hi-res covers, cover art with no lettering (for ad backgrounds), and so on. I don’t really want to go hunting for stuff or chasing designers during launch week. I’m not always organized enough to have my ad graphics actually made (and associated things like website graphics, Facebook headers, newsletter images etc.), but I want to at least have all the pieces at my fingertips for quick assembly.
*Metadata. Do I (mostly) have consistency in category metadata across the series? What about series metadata? That needs to be identical across the series. Am I going to add the latest book to the series page now and risk it going down mid-launch or will I wait until after? Do I have keywords chosen for the new book? Again, these are decisions which are better made with a cool head than in the heat of the launch-moment.
*ARCs. If I’m organized, the ARCs will go out this week (I’m often not this organized).
*Email swaps. If I do have any lined up, I’ll check in with people to make sure things are going out, and on what day etc. This usually prevents any… surprises.
If my new release goes live prior to launch week, I try not to panic and change my whole launch plan because (most) people won’t know the book is there until I tell them. If you’re a wide author, you might have some of those discounts going live early too – because wide authors can’t schedule them on Amazon. Again, I’ll keep quiet about those.
In both cases, I might use the opportunity to do a but more prep: I might run a few small test ads to get everything nailed down. I might re-upload a new version on Amazon with a proper review link in the end matter – because this really does have a massive effect on review rates.
Note: this blog post from Kindlepreneur will show you how to build proper review links for Amazon – it’s right there at the top of the post under “Create Special Links To Go Straight To Your Review.”
At some point this week I’ll figure out my budget, and, while eyeing my launch plan, I’ll try to estimate what I’m aiming to spend each day on Facebook and BookBub. The situation will be fluid, but I like to have some rough guideline to keep a handle on things.
These figures are 100% arbitrary so don’t read anything into them, but let’s say I have a launch budget of $1500. This is not a crazy amount for an experienced author with a multi-book series who has the potential to make that back, and then some.e.
(Remember: Starting From Zero will show you a highly effective, low-cost approach to launches for authors with less books out.)
Anyway, I might decide to spend $200 of that budget on deal sites to push the earlier books in the series, $500 on BookBub Ads, and $800 on Facebook Ads.
That split between Facebook and BookBub is also arbitrary, and how you apportion your funds will depend on how much effective audience you have developed at each platform as well as your respective skill, but what isn’t arbitrary is how I divvy up that spend on a day-by-day basis.
I spread it across the entire launch period to try and get a relatively consistent push, but I also try to reserve a chunk to finish strong also. In addition to that, I like to keep a little BookBub spend in reserve, to plug holes where needed… and then dump it in the Finish Strong fund if it remains unspent on the last day.
While this can change depending on the individual circumstances of the launch, ideally, I prefer to spread everything out over several days and find it’s easier to achieve consistency that way.
But we’ll get into the specifics on that next time, as we move into launch week itself – aka THE FIREWORK SHOW.
Dave
P.S. Writing music this week is Conway Twitty with It’s Only Make Believe.
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