Want an easy way to organize for your book launch? And repeat it for the next book, and the next, etc…? In this first part, I’ll show you how organizing your materials before the book goes live ensures you will have a great launch.
The second part of the book launch will go into various options you can use to promote your book.
How to organize your book launch
Much of the work for a book launch is done before the book ever releases, so you’ll need some sort of calendar or organizer to get started. For my purposes I use a Google calendar just for promotions and meetings that are date centric, and WorkFlowy for my to do task lists.
The 2024 calendar for Breathings of the Moon covered the development of the idea, writing and editing, as well as prepping it for the next stage, launching. My plans (which may not be yours) are to have an ebook available at Amazon and at other booksellers (a process called “going wide”), along with a paperback and a hardback book.
I’ll be breaking the steps into sections. The earliest stage is when I am developing an idea or writing it.
Pre-planning: before you start writing your book, be sure to do these steps
To give your book the best chance of success, be sure to put some time in the pre-planning stage. This is where you will research your genre and know before you start what are the essentials that are associated with that genre.
Some of the things to examine before you begin writing: what are the top published books in that genre? What do their book covers look like (color, font style, do they have a figure, landscape image, or symbol?) What words pop out at you when you read the book description? (thrilling, emotional read, page-turner, character driven?) What tropes are found in those books?
This research you can do manually on Amazon or by using Publisher Rocket.
You might want to check out my blog post about cover design as this uses the same idea. You go to Amazon, look at the top 100 books selling in your genre, and examine the covers, the fonts on the covers, and the description of the book,
I would do this research in the TOP 100 PAID instead of TOP 100 FREE which are often a mishmash of books that don’t belong. This happens because authors are trying to chase categories that don’t have a lot of competition or they don’t understand genres.
Once you found some books to research, click on one and look for what Amazon says buyers also bought? To see this, click on a book listing and scroll down. Be sure to be logged out, so your own purchase history doesn’t affect these results. This can help you get a wider list of comp books to research for covers and descriptions.
What tropes are the reviewers enjoying? These are sometimes mentioned in the book description, the book reviews, and on the author’s social media accounts.
Keyword search
When you upload your book description, Amazon will ask that you provide keywords. These are the words people would search to find your book. They should be accurate and basic but be aware that generally Amazon shoppers do not use complicated search terms.
Knowing the keywords used in your genre before you start writing will help you understand what readers are looking for. You don’t have to use them, but they will give you a better understanding of what would make your book a bit more popular.
I do use Publisher Rocket for this, but I also spend time on Amazon typing in searches. When you see the auto complete list, this tells you people are using this phrase enough that it has triggered a standard reply.
Knowing your keywords will help you write a better book description and help you focus your book on topics that readers will enjoy. Some keywords should definitely be used in your Amazon book description, maybe even the title, but remember to not go overboard with them or Amazon will punish you.
For the Madame Chalamet series I definitely wanted to emphasize the words “Gaslamp,” “ghost,” and “mystery.” But since that series is not steamy using the phrase “Gaslamp steamy romance” would have misinformed readers who would be disappointed after buying my book.
Before you use “best selling book you will love to read” be aware that Amazon would flag that.
Genre Categories
In addition to knowing keywords that fit your genre, research the categories for your future book. Savvy writers know who will be reading their book, which helps them narrow what they will be putting into their book.
If you need a general list of categories, start here with the Book Industry Study Group genre list. For a shorter list, check out this Kindlepreneur (Publisher Rocket) blog post. The great thing about Publisher Rocket is that it will show how many books you have to sell in that category to get to number 1 or to get in the top 10. This can help you understand which genres are super competitive and which ones might have some room for you as a writer to see success.
You can find category search on the Amazon toolbar, which shows the top category is Romance, followed by Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Mystery, Thriller and Suspense. Before doing this log out of your Amazon account so it doesn’t skew the results based upon your shopping habits. You may even want to clear your browser search history.
Choose books on the far right of the Amazon menu. This will give you a list of categories in a column on the left. From here you can do a lot of research on books that are in the top category and the keyword searches Amazon is using.
Here are some genre examples using my book searches. Green columns indicate categories I chose and slash through are ones I discarded. The columns show how many books you need to sell to reach #1 or be in the top 10 via Publisher Rocket data. Be aware this data changes all the time.
The first spreadsheet is for the College Fae series, which is Young Adult.
Note: genre categories differ if you choose the Young Adult category, and the ebook categories are different than the print book categories.
The second one shows the ebooks vs print book categories for Madame Chalamet. Notice how the print book categories change from ebooks? This will also be true for audio books. Essentially you need to research categories for each TYPE of book you will be producing.
Once a book is published, you see the genre for that book listed in the book details:
Amazon has now changed how they let you select your book’s genre, so be aware they have reduced your options and they are making sure authors do not abuse this by putting their book in a category that does not fit within. If you abuse keywords or genres on Amazon you risk having your account shut down.
Despite the risk there are still some bad actors out there who are deliberately misusing the genre categories to try to get their book to rank higher. This throws off the true reader genre results.
Determine your comp authors
Personally, in the past, when I just had a few books out, I found this hard to do. But now I have a firm idea of what my brand is and the type of books I write.
Doing the research I listed above (covers, genres, book descriptions, also boughts) can help you decided what authors and even television shows your book can be compared to.
Comp authors help you better understand your brand, who your reader is, and how you will write your book description and design your cover. You will use your comp authors in your social media, website, when submitting it to Bookbub, or when making a Library sale sheet. It is especially important if you plan on doing any advertising on Amazon.
I keep my comps in a spreadsheet with each book or book series or genre on a separate tab. I record the author’s name, book title, an Amazon link to it, and a few other notes. This list is always changing.
What genre is your book? Historical Romance of a certain period, Romantasy, science-fiction, fantasy, or mystery? Start with the genre and see who else is writing books in that genre and hitting the TOP 100. If they are not well known, the comp doesn’t work.
What’s unique about your character? Are they a person of color? Have a certain disability? Hermit? Genius? Skilled fighter? Look for characters that are the same, even if they are outside the genre you are writing.
Is there a partnership in your book? Look for books or even tv shows and movies that have a similar partnership. Mulder and Scully. Frodo and Samwise. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth.
In your book deal newsletters (i.e Freebooksy, Bargain Booksy, Bookbub), be on the lookout for books that might match well with your book. This is where I get a lot of comps.
Writing and developing your book idea
Now that you know there is a market for your book idea, it’s time to get writing! Or maybe you’ve been writing all this time? Sometimes these tasks overlap and that is okay.
I won’t go into detail about the writing part (how to write) because that is a huge topic. This blog post is more about the steps of what to do to prepare for a book launch.
Here is a bullet list done in Workflowy that I use as a general checklist when I’m writing a story. By working up something simple like this you know if you are staying on track with your writing, and setting up your editing schedules with editors, proofreaders, and Beta readers.
The pre-publishing task list to get your book ready to launch
Once I’ve developed the idea and written the book (those topics won’t be covered in this blog post) I’m ready to move into all the tasks for publishing it. Publish, Launch, and Promote often have overlapping tasks.
Here is an outline of some of the tasks I do before my book goes live. This is only a suggestion of things to consider and you should just adapt my idea to fit how you work.
Do you need to file a copyright for your book?
Many authors rely upon standard U.S. copyright protection, which is once you create it, you own it (obviously free). In this day and age when AI steals from authors every day, I would strongly suggest you consider filing and buying extra copyright protection.
You can file copyright online and it costs $45 for a work by one author using the abbreviated form (cost at the time of this post). Filing copyright gives you additional benefits. If you ever have to take a case to court you can get more damages if you win.
For me, the greatest benefit is it proves I own my book and if someone ever pirates my book and puts it up at Amazon claiming to own it, I have documentation they don’t. This hasn’t happened to me (yet, knock on wood), but I have seen others suffer from this exact scenario.
I prefer to file copyright before ARCS (advance reader copies) are released to have extra protection.
Does your book need a PCIP?
If you plan on marketing to libraries, you may want to consider paying for a PCIP which is inserted at the front of your book after your copyright is listed. If libraries are NOT in your marketing plan, there is no need to do this as this feature is designed for cataloging your book. There is more information about PCIPs on a previous blog post.
It can take several weeks, even a month, to get a PCIP so be sure you know who you will be buying it through and give yourself time to receive it before your book is published.
Who should you publish with? Amazon, Ingram Spark, or Draft 2 Digital?
Before I dive into this, I want to reiterate: PUBLISHING YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON IS FREE. There seem to be scammers out there hoodwinking writers into thinking they need to spend thousands to do this. NO. Where the costs will be is in book covers, editing, and formatting your book into an epub. Yes, these things do cost but not in the thousands, and please do your research before hiring anyone.
Generally, there are two major print book publishers at this time: Amazon and Ingram Spark. I prefer to upload my ebook directly to Amazon, and use Draft 2 Digital for other bookselling platforms. Who you choose depends on your overall marketing plans for your book, but here are some general thoughts.
Will you only be doing an ebook through KU (Kindle Unlimited)? This means your ebook (formatted as an epub) is only put on Amazon. If this is all you plan on doing, just use the ISBN that Amazon gives you.
Do you plan on going wide with your ebook? For example, that would include Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, and others. You may submit the book to each platform or through a service called Draft2Digital. If going wide, I suggest joining the Wide for the Win group to learn more about how to do this. All of my books are wide.
Are you planning a paperback and/or hardback? You can publish it through Amazon or through Ingram Spark. Unless you are interested in marketing to libraries and bookstores, just choose Amazon. Ingram Spark incurs some extra fees, so it cost a little more.
BE AWARE that Libraries and bookstores will only order through Ingram, NOT Amazon.
So who do I use?
Amazon for my ebook and print book. I have yet to use their hardback option. Because I have plenty of experience with graphic design and computers, I often do my own covers (not recommended for a newbie with no graphic design experience) and I do all of my own formatting (using Vellum which requires a Mac; or if using a PC consider Atticus).
Ingram Spark edition in print book and hardback. This distribution is for library and bookstore sales with a 55% discount and a return policy (without a return policy, bookstores will not buy your book, sorry!). To publish on Ingram Spark your print book will need its own ISBN number.
For other ebook distribution (which includes libraries btw and online bookstores like Barnes and Noble), I use Draft2Digital. Be aware that it is recommended to go through each retailer so you can take advantage of sale opportunities, but I just don’t have that type of time and I found it very irritating.
My audiobooks are distributed through Authors Republic but most authors choose to go through Amazon’s ACX program. Audio books is a whole ‘nother ball game so this post won’t be going in-depth about them.
Formatting your book for ebooks and print books
Publishing an ebook (which uses an epub document) and a print book (which requires a formatted pdf) to Amazon and Ingram Spark can be done by an individual OR you can pay for a formatter to do it for you. If you chose to use a third party please thoroughly research who you plan on using as I’ve read some true horror stories because of unscrupulous people.
I format my own books. I write in Scrivener (on a PC) and now format my books in Vellum (which requires a Mac). Since I use a desktop PC and husband uses a Mac laptop this works for us. If you use a PC you can format your document by using Atticus.
Some have tried to format their books from Word or Google Docs, or some other word processing software. In the end, trying to format this way will be a huge headache, so if you plan on publishing more than one book, I highly recommend using Vellum or Atticus. This will save you a lot of time and frustration.
Should you list your book for a pre-order?
I generally do list my books for pre-order after I have the first draft written, but don’t do a pre-order unless you are very confident the book will be ready. If you miss this deadline, you will be punished by Amazon and other booksellers, and could even lose your Amazon author account.
PROS
The biggest benefit for me is that it gives me a listing url for my book which I can use to promote and share. I can put it in my newsletters, website, and other social media. This gives readers a chance to check it out with a simple click to their favorite bookseller.
It could give your book a splash on launch day, for when it goes live all the pre-orders are counted.
You can’t do a Goodreads Giveaway until a book has been uploaded to Amazon. With pre-orders I usually upload a book about 45 days from launch and do a Goodreads Giveaway about 28 days from my launch date.
CONS
If this is your first book, I don’t advise doing a pre-order as it puts you under too much pressure. Unless you have a following or have a plan on using the pre-order in your marketing, it’s not worth it.
When listing your book for pre-sale you need the following:
Book cover. If commissioning a book cover, be sure to factor that into the time you need before launching. If listing a book for pre-order, you will need that ebook cover ready.
Have a compelling book description written. Be sure to read your comp books and examine the style of how they are written, which differs by genre. Romantasy is often written in first person. Mystery books mention the location of the book. Thrillers give an emotional vibe.
Know what three categories you will list your ebook within on Amazon (see research above).
Have a list of about seven keywords that apply to your book when someone searches Amazon.
About two weeks before your book goes live, you will need to upload your formatted epub document. If you miss this deadline (which I think is 10 days from launch day and why I upload early), Amazon will severely penalize you. You might even lose your author account.
What else to do for a book launch?
This first post covered developing your idea, writing, and the materials you needed to prepare your book to launch. Part 2 will cover the graphics you will need, how to get reviews, a basic marketing program, and announcing your book to the reading world through a good basic marketing plan.
Need more advice for writing, publishing, or marketing your book? Check out my Writer’s Life blog posts. You can also subscribe to the blog to know when I publish another one in the Writer-help series.
