I have a lovely and talented friend who is releasing her first novel tomorrow called Fraud and Fabrication (you can access details here) and it’s reminded me all over again just how incredibly time consuming launching a book can be. Most people assume the writing is the hard part, but by comparison that’s actually pretty easy. The ‘real work’ begins in many ways when time comes to launch and market your book.
Here’s a bit of a checklist leading up to launch day:
- Order print on demand hard copies for some who really want ‘real books’ not ebooks. And for review purposes.
- Get onto Twitter and Facebook and keep telling everyone you know and hopefully they will share it organically with everyone they know so that you can start getting pre-sales build up.
- Send it to a selected number of people who will review it for you.
- Get those reviews happning on Amazon and Goodreads.
- Twitter and Facebook again… and again… and again… and again…
- Tell everyone you meet in the street about your book launching.
- Ensure you have a copy with you at all times.
- PRAY!!! That people will have noticed your online and offline enthusiasm for your book launch and that some will actually BUY it and LOVE it enough to share it and encourage others to do the same.
That all might sound pretty easy – but getting through that list is hard work, frustrating at times, and nail biting stuff.
If you would like to know more about specifics of getting through this list then join me for a workshop on the 22nd February from 10 -4pm run by the Brisbane Writers Group where I’ll share lots of great marketing and online tips for getting your book launched.