3 Simple Steps to Set Up a Successful Book Launch

I had the opportunity to write and publish my own book. During this process, there were some things I learned along the way. In this post, I am sharing the steps that I have taken during this process.

The time between writing a book and releasing it to the world is a rather gray area when it comes to social media. Have you found yourself asking questions like…

When do I start talking about my book? 

I don’t want to give away too much about my book, but what do I talk about on social media? 

What do I talk about to get people excited without giving away the plot? 

Questions like that pop up for every author. It feels like a fine line to walk, but I want to clear that up for you today. 

First of all, I want to give you a simple visual to keep in mind when it comes to book marketing. There are essentially three phases to your book release:  

Attraction Phase

This is the time period before the two months leading up your book's release date. In this initial phase, we focus on finding and connecting with our ideal reader. This includes very little promotion - it’s establishing a solid and trusted connection with our audience. 

Promotion Phase

This is the two months right before your release date - maybe more. Because we created a trusting relationship with our audience during the attraction phase, we can add more promotions to our schedule to build excitement and activity around the release. And because we have put the work into creating solid connections with our readers, they will be more likely to respond to your posts and take action.  

Follow-Up Phase

This is the two weeks after your book releases and beyond. The life of our book doesn’t begin and end during the release week. This phase includes additional promotions after the release and creating conversations well after the book launches that will continue to boost sales.  

It’s helpful to know these phases because we need to remind ourselves that book marketing and promotions are a marathon, not a sprint. When we pace ourselves and break things down into simple phases, we can get clearer and more effective with our social media and book marketing. 

Over the next three weeks, I'm going to get more detailed and share what is included in each phase and specifically how you can apply it to your own book launch. 

In the comments below share with me which phase are you currently in. What questions do you have specifically for that phase that you are struggling with? I'd love to hear and answer your questions to make sure your book launch is a success!