Last week we looked at why you should launch your book. This week we’re going to answer the question: when should I start launching my book?
As we’ve said before, without a book launch, your readers won’t know when and where to buy your book. This will affect your sales and the chances that your book will be in the bestsellers lists. Amazon updates their bestsellers lists every hour and it’s based on the number of sales made. If only a few people buy your book, then it won’t get into the bestseller lists, and people looking for something new to read in your niche won’t find it there.
I’ve been reading up on this for my clients, and Tim Grahl’s book “Book Launch Blueprint” has been very useful. It also answers the question of when you should launch your book. Launch too early and people will be bored with your promotion and switch off. Launch too late and you won’t have given people time to decide if they know you, like you and trust you enough to buy your book.
Tim found that the sweet spot when it comes to launching your book is around 1 month before your book goes live. It’s at this point that you can send out a series of scheduled emails about your book to your email list, drip-feeding them content with the sole aim of getting people to buy your book when it is life. You may even offer a lower launch price to entice people to buy your book in the early days of it being published.
So with that being said, your job as a self-publisher then is to build your author platform with the goal of building up your email list. This list will contain people who have already expressed an interest in your book and as such are most likely to buy your book when it is live. You can then provide them with people some insight into your life, your latest book, and any book signings or speaking events that you will be attending. You may also want to reward your email list followers with special bonuses if they buy your book. These could be anything from a checklist to a workbook to a short supplementary course.
I hope this post answered the question: when should I start launching my book? Next week, we’ll look at how to launch your book in a little more detail.