How to Prepare for Your Book's Release

How to Prepare for Your Book's Release
Friday, April 21, 2017 by Ginger Monette

Your manuscript is in the hands of your editor, and you've got the big release day circled on your calendar.

What now?

Should you start advertising? Tweeting?

It's little early to alert the media, but there are a host of pre-launch “foundations” new authors need to put into place before they release their baby to the world. Let's get right to the checklist.

Create a new email address to use exclusively for your author correspondence. It will keep your writing correspondence separate from your emails from Aunt Sue and Old Navy. With your author emails in a separate mailbox, you can see at a glance any unopened correspondence and emails needing immediate attention.
Create an email signature line and maybe a “one-liner” that describes in a nutshell what you write. Begin using it so your friends and associates will know you're an author. Mine is:

Ginger Monette

Author Wholesome WW1 and Historical Fiction

www.GingerMonette.com

Research web hosts and build a website. If you're leery about making a long-term financial commitment, choose a free hosting service that has the option to upgrade later. Before you start designing, take advice from experts like Tim Grahl and Jane Friedman. Then look at other authors' websites and make a list of what you like.
Research social media platforms and start getting active on those that best reach your target audience. (Nonfiction writers need to do this way before they pitch to editors and agents to start building their platform.)
Develop a bio—a short, middle length, and long one.
Create an author page on Goodreads. (When your book goes live, add your bio to your Amazon author pages in ALL the countries where you'll be selling.)
Get a headshot. Add it to your website, Amazon and Goodreads author pages. Use it as part of the header of your newsletters as well. Readers are more likely to remember you if they can attach a face to your name.
Will you do a blog tour? If so, research blogs that could be a good fit. Don’t contact yet, just make a spreadsheet that includes blog address, contact email, number of followers, and a few sentences about why it made your list.
Subscribe to book marketing experts like Nick Stephenson, Tim Grahl, and Chandler Bolt. Take notes on what you read/watch.
Make a list of potential people to be on your launch team who will be willing to leave a review of your book on launch day and share it on their social media. Friends and family are fine if that's all you have, but readers who love your genre are MUCH better.
Start formulating a long-term (written) marketing plan: Who specifically is your audience? How will you reach them? Will you offer your book for pre-order? What pricing strategies/sales might work well? What book marketing services/promotors look like good fits? What’s your marketing budget? What are good places to advertise?
Will you need a book cover? If so, what ideas do you have how it should look? Browse other covers in your genre for ideas, then search stock image sites to find appropriate images. If you are self-publishing, research designers, or choose a service like 99Designs, Upwork.com, Reedsy, or even Fiverr.com if your budget is bare-bones.
Will you offer some sort of freebie to entice people to sign up for your newsletter or pre-order your book? If so, create it now. Authors commonly offer a short story, bonus chapters, downloadable notes, or other exclusive material.
Compile a media kit to have all the necessary advertising elements in one place: Blurb, bio, excerpt, book info, images, etc.

Feeling overwhelmed? It is a LOT of work, and most of these tasks take an ENORMOUS amount of time. If you have deep pockets, you can hire experts to do many of these tasks for you, but they will still require your input. So start early and give yourself plenty of time. I spent nearly three months just educating myself on current trends in book marketing. (Yes, I believe in being thorough.) But when I launched my book with a 23-day blog tour, I was able to do it with confidence as I had my marketing foundation firmly in place.

What would you add to the list?

Ginger Monette . . . Grand prize winner of Char/Meck Library's 2015 “Picture This” contest, Ginger currently writes romances set in the era of Downton Abbey and WW1. She lives with her family in Charlotte, NC, where she enjoys dancing on the treadmill, watching period dramas, public speaking, and reading—a full-length novel every Sunday afternoon. Visit Ginger at www.gingermonette.com.

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Comments

Ginger Monette From Charlotte, NC At 4/21/2017 9:17:18 AM

Thanks for hosting me today! Setting up an author platform is an enormous task, but ongoing marketing is crucial as well. Setting aside a few hours a week to promote your books and keep up with current marketing trends will help you keep your books in front of your audience.

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