Hello, my pretties!
Your book is written, edited, covered, and formatted. You could publish tomorrow.
But should you?
Launching a book without preparation is like throwing a party without sending invitations. You might have a wonderful time alone, but it won’t be exactly what you hoped for.
Developing your pre-launch strategy is about building anticipation so readers are waiting when your book goes live. It gives your book the best possible chance of finding its audience.
How Far Ahead to Plan
For a first book, I recommend planning at least four to six weeks of pre-launch activity before your book goes live. More experienced authors with existing audiences might need less. New authors or those launching a new pen name, like me, might need more.
The goal is to create awareness before release day. You’ll want readers to add your book to their to-read lists, mark the publication date on their calendars, and get excited to buy it the moment it’s available.
Setting Up Your Preorder
Before you decide on any pre-launch marketing, you’ll first need to decide whether you’ll make your book available for readers to preorder ahead of its release. Most platforms allow you to set up preorders weeks or months before a book’s official release.
Preorders have advantages. They let you promote with a buy link immediately. Readers can commit to purchasing even before the book exists. Preorders accumulate and count toward release day sales, which can help with algorithms and, depending on the platform, bestseller rankings.
They also create a deadline that forces you to finish. This can be helpful for some authors, but it can also lead to one of the biggest downsides to preorders. Platforms often penalize authors for publishing books late and missing their preorder dates, sometimes severely. For example, if you miss an upload date with Amazon, the platform will revoke your preorder privileges for a year, so you will be unable to put another book up for preorder in that time. This could be disastrous if your publishing plan is built around a rapid-release schedule in which you encourage people to preorder the next book in the series. Some platforms let authors push back preorder dates by a limited amount without penalty—Amazon KDP gives authors thirty days of leeway—but it’s still best to only set up preorders when you’re confident you can deliver.
If you choose to set up a preorder for your book, note that most platforms require you to upload your final files a few days ahead of publication in order to allow their system time to approve the files—so keep this in mind as you’re preparing for your launch. I’ve set my preorder for six weeks before launch. My book is done, so the risk is minimal. I just need to remember to upload and hit “Publish.”
Building Your Platform
Even without an existing audience, you can build connections before your book’s launch.
If you haven’t set up an author newsletter, do that now. This is the foundation for building your audience and keeping them informed of your future releases. Offer a reader magnet—a free short story or bonus content—in exchange for email signups. These readers become your launch team.
Social media presence also helps, but it isn’t mandatory. Choose one or two platforms where your readers spend time. Be genuinely helpful and interesting rather than constantly promotional—you can share about your writing process, books you love, or topics related to your genre to pull audiences in.
Goodreads allows you to create an author profile and add your upcoming book. Readers can mark it as “want to read,” creating early visibility.
Amazon Author Central lets you claim your author page and customize it with your bio and photo.
Yes, this may sound like a lot of administrative work, and administration is something many creatives struggle with. But this is where your promotion starts. If you want publishing to be a career and not a hobby, then you can’t skip this part.
Advance Reader Copies
For any self-publishing author, reviews matter enormously. Books with reviews sell better than books without them. Early reviews provide social proof that real people have read and enjoyed your work, and more reviews often encourage algorithms on bookseller websites to list your book earlier in searches.
Sending advance reader copies, or ARCs, to reviewers before launch generates reviews that appear on release day. There is no magic number of reviews you need to generate, but a book with no reviews won’t sell as well as one with a half dozen good reviews. Be wary of asking friends and relatives, as their accounts’ “also-bought” recommendations might mess with your algorithm. Find ARC readers through bookish communities on social media, such as Bookstagram or BookTok; book bloggers; Goodreads groups; and ARC distribution services like BookSirens or NetGalley. Start reaching out four to six weeks before launch.
When reaching out to potential ARC readers, be clear about expectations. You’re offering a free book in exchange for an honest review. Not every ARC reader will review, and that’s normal. And not everyone will leave a positive review—that is a risk. Be aware, you must not bribe people to leave you a five-star rating. That is against the platform’s rules, and any good reviewer will react unfavorably to the merest hint of buying them off. Send the book to more people than you need, and expect that not everyone will leave a review. Don’t worry; a good book will be well supported.
Newsletter Swaps and Promotions
Your newsletter mailing list is likely one of the most important marketing tools in your author tool belt, especially ahead of a new release. Cross-promotion with other authors expands your reach.
Newsletter swaps involve promoting another author’s book to your list while they promote yours to theirs. This works best when you have similar audiences. Multi-author promotions and giveaways introduce your book to new readers. Services like StoryOrigin and BookFunnel facilitate these collaborations. Both strategies offer opportunities to draw more readers to your newsletter and pique their interest in your book before it publishes—and long after it has launched.
For a new pen name, I’m starting small—a few newsletter swaps with Romance authors I’ve connected with through online communities. It’s nothing elaborate, but it should be enough to build some early awareness. You will find swaps and author promos on a range of sites, including BookFunnel and Bookclicker. Many readers will sign up for free goodies like a series-related reader magnet, which is often a prequel or short story from an alternate point of view.
What Not to Do
Pre-launch can become overwhelming if you try to do everything. Your goal should be to pick a handful of marketing strategies and focus your energy on them rather than attempting to do it all and spreading yourself too thin. You also don’t want to spend so much time promoting your book that you neglect finishing it. Creating the book comes first.
Don’t invest heavily in paid advertising before you have reviews—and, ideally, additional books to market. Ads work better once social proof exists and readers can be funneled to other titles.
Finally, if this is your first book, don’t expect your first launch to be massive. Building readership takes time and multiple books—but this book will be just the start of that journey.
In any marketing push for your author business, focus on what’s manageable. A few weeks of steady, sustainable effort beats a frantic week of exhausting activity.
Reflection Exercise
Before you pull out the calendar and start planning your book launch, take a few minutes to consider your strategy before you start.
- What pre-launch activities match your current platform and energy?
- How many weeks before launch should you begin promoting?
- Where might you find potential ARC readers?
- What would a realistic, non-overwhelming pre-launch look like to you?
Reality Check-In
Pre-launch for my book is underway.
I set up my preorder last week. Seeing my book listed on Amazon with that gorgeous cover and my carefully crafted blurb is always a thrill. There’s a release date. Random readers can find it. It’s almost time to set my baby free.
I’ve started reaching out to book bloggers who review Contemporary Romance. The response rate is lower than I’d hoped, but I’ve secured five ARC commitments so far. I’m aiming for fifteen.
Usually, I have a fair idea how my ARC readers will react and can be certain they will leave positive reviews on launch day or soon after. But this is a new project, with a new audience and new ARC readers. So I will admit I am also feeling a little nervous.
My newsletter for this pen name is small—just forty subscribers gathered through a reader magnet I set up months ago. But those forty people are genuinely interested in Romance, and I’ll ask them to help spread the word.
The Cozy Mystery side of my career taught me that first launches are rarely spectacular. I’m keeping expectations realistic. The goal is not to turn this book into a bestseller. The goal is to build a solid foundation for book 2.
Happy writing,
Susan
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