Jill here. I’ve been published for ten years now and have launched 22 books so far with plans to launch ever more. So, I’m finally starting to get a handle on this whole “book launch” thing. Kidding. But also not really…

Here’s the thing. You can be strategic about planning a book launch that is right for your brand, your book, your budget, and your life.

And it doesn’t have to kill you.

Cool, right?

There is a reason that authors launch books. It’s their first chance to introduce their books to the world. But also, authors are seeking to:

• Create word-of-mouth buzz.
• Get early sales (pre-orders too).
• Make the bestseller lists (ahem, win the lottery).
• Help their book succeed.

Great, Jill. You say. So, how do we do this? Effectively?

I start by asking myself several questions:

• What kind of book is this (in regards to genre, indie or trad, debut or not, series or stand-alone [and if series, which book in the series], spin-off book, re-launch after a rights reversion, ebook only, etc.)?
• What kind of launch (hard launch, soft launch, staggered launch)?
• What kind of budget? Which means, how much money are you able to spend?

What’s a Hard Launch?

• This is where you pick a launch date and work toward the Big Day.
• You can start as early as a year, working toward creating major buzz so that when the book releases, people CAN’T WAIT THEY MUST HAVE IT YESTERDAY AHHH!
• Do all you can to ensure that release day is BIG and gets you HIGH sales and maybe even onto a bestseller list.
• Hard launches benefit the buyer, often involving pre-order sale prices and goodies.
• Hard launches give you a chance to quickly make money and see results.
• Hard launches can requires a massive amount of work.

What’s a Soft Launch?

• This is where you introduce your project gradually, like what Disneyland did with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
• You might start by releasing the ebook to see how things go before investing in a hard cover or paperback.
• You might pick a publication month vs. a single day.
• Soft launches don’t necessarily require as much work, though they can.
• Soft launches benefit the author. They’re often less stressful, allow time to plan, make changes, and get everything just so.
• Results take time to see.

What’s a Staggered Launch?

• A staggered launch can be a hard or soft launch.
• You usually release one book format at a time (print, ebook, or audio) before other formats.
• This can enable you to take advantage of platforms like Kindle Unlimited.
• This can allow for the release of special versions, like limited hard cover editions.
• If you’re not careful, you risk losing sales when someone clicks on your ad and sees that the version of book they prefer is unavailable.

Check with your publisher.

If you have a publisher, check with them to see what kinds of promotions they are planning for your book launch. They might not be planning anything, but before you invest a thousand dollars in a publicist to run an Instagram cover reveal, make sure your publisher isn’t already planning to to that for you.

What kind of budget?

Once you know what your publisher is doing and not doing, you can decide what you’d like to do. Your budget depends what you have to invest and what your plans are. Some pay for advance reader copies. Some want to create pre-order swag. Some authors want to put their investment into Amazon ads. Some want to try for a BookBub ad. Here is a link to a book launch plan I made for my book Captives. http://jillwilliamson.com/CaptivesPlan You can see how I planned to spend money, but I can tell you that I didn’t do all the things I

Let’s plan a book launch!  

Step One—Fill out the following list. Use these forms to help you plan:

Jill’s Book Launch Checklist

Jill’s Book Launch Ideas

Blank Book Launch Calendar

Title:
Genre:
One-liner:
Release date:
Format (digital, print, audio, combination):
Target Market:
Message:
Goal (hard, soft, or staggered launch):
Timing (from when to when):
Budget:
My Platform: (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blogs, newsletter, publications, events…)
My Extended Platform:
Authors I know:
Bloggers I know:
Speakers I know:
Other influential people I know:
Groups I’m associated with:
How they might help, or how we might help each other:
Ideas (List the ideas for my book launch):
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Add more ideas if you have them!

How did you do? Here are a few things to remember before the launch:

• It’s always better to do something than to do nothing.
• It’s better to plan extra than too little.
• Look outside publishing for ideas.
• You can launch a book with $0.
• No matter how much you do, you’ll always feel like you could be doing more.
• You’re in control. Set limits and boundaries to protect your investment of time and money.
• Save some time, energy, and money to promote later on, because that’s important too.

Things to remember during the launch:

• Mistakes will happen.
• Good surprises will happen.
• Some things will be forgotten.
• And that’s okay.
• Hire help if you need to.
• Rely on writing friends and family to help as well.
• Try to enjoy yourself!

Also remember to give yourself grace.

You can control:

• The story
• Your investment of time and money.

You can’t control:

• Publisher
• Sales
• People

When you’re done, go back and evaluate. Ask yourself:

• What worked well?
• What didn’t work at all?
• Was anything a waste of time?
• Did anything go terribly over budget?
• What could you do better next time?
• Poll your Street Team for info too.

If you’re not ready to launch a book right not, in the meantime…

• Work on building your online communities
• Support other authors
• Write more books
• Have fun!

Any questions? Any great ideas? Share questions and ideas in the comments. Let’s help each other.