How to Launch Your Book on Amazon - A Quickstart Guide
Below is an example launch schedule to help you launch your Kindle book on time and professionally. This guide assumes you have a completed, polished manuscript that has been through the hands of beta readers and editors and is now ready to begin production.
In practice, the production of a book sometimes begins before the manuscript is completed or while it is still in the editing process. For the sake of simplicity and clarity, this guide assumes that your manuscript is ready to go.
Every book is different, as is every writer’s process and skill level. This guide is meant simply as a starting point. This guide also assumes that you will be publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon. If you would like to know more about the pros and cons of Kindle Unlimited, click here.
Determine your launch date
Choose this date carefully, avoiding major holidays and events (such as elections or major sporting events.) You should not launch a book any later than the first week of December as the noise of the holiday season will drown out your release.
The best date for your launch will depend on several factors and the best practices can change over time. The important thing is to not choose this date arbitrarily or based on when your book is finished. The launch date should give your book the best chance of success and not simply be the earliest you can launch after work on your book is complete.
Create a workback schedule
Once you have done your research and determined the best day to launch your book, you should create what is known as a workback schedule. This is a process where the deadline for other tasks is determined by a master deadline, in this case the day you choose to launch your book. During this process, you might end up shifting your launch date as you work out what needs to be done and the time it needs to be completed.
Example workback schedule:
Cover Design - to be completed 10 days before pre-order upload.
Research competitor covers to determine trends and best practices
Create a cover brief that follows those practices and outlines book dimensions
Recruit an artist (and a front cover typographer, if needed). Allow at least 30 days for art drafting and revision rounds.
Ebook interiors - To be completed by pre-order upload.*
Lay out ebook
Design backmatter strategically to point to other books in series or point to a pre-order for the next book in series.
Lay out print edition (if needed) and cover flats. Note that IngramSpark and KDP have different requirements for their print cover flats.
*ebook final versions can technically be uploaded 72 hours before the book launches, but for the purposes of this guide, the ebook is finalized before the pre-order goes live.
Pre-order Launch - 30 days before launch.
Determine keywords and categories based on research - 2 days before pre-order
Finalize back cover text and author bio. - 2 days before pre-order
Design graphics for social media announcing pre-order - 2 days before pre-order
Design pre-order launch email - 1 day before pre-order
Set pricing, distribution and royalty percentage based on pricing research of competitors - 2 days before preorder
Apply for promo stacks (if this is part of your strategy)
Inform your network that your book is available for preorder and call in any cross-promotion favours.
Design an ad campaign strategy either for launch or to push preorders.
Pre-order day:
Upload final cover (or in some cases, a placeholder cover though this is not ideal.)
Upload ebook interior
Fill out all needed information
Email mailing list and post on social media that the pre-order is live.
Update author website to feature pre-order
Pre-Launch Period
Create content for your social media that reminds people of your upcoming book, but doesn’t just push the preorder. For instance, share a piece of character art, a favourite quote, or an article about worldbuilding. You may also want to feature previous books in series and put them on sale to drum up interest.
Launch Day
Lay out a launch email - 1 day before launch
Complete launch graphics - 1 day before launch
Ensure any last typos or changes to backmatter are finalized - 3 days before launch (note that Amazon does not allow any changes to the book interior 72 hours before launch. You must have your book interior uploaded by then or you risk having any preorders cancelled.)
Set email to send the AM of launch (or send manually as per your preference)
Contact your ARC team by email or social media (however you organize them) to let them know that your book is now live. Remind them to leave their honest review.
Distribute launch information on social media.
Post-launch
Check your sales rank on Amazon (and other platforms) 24 hours, one week and 30 days post-launch. Amazon has a robust back end for stats but it does not record your sales rank. A sales rank will let you know how you are doing relative to your competitors.
Evaluate your launch strategy with a post-mortem. What worked, what didn’t?
Plan post-launch promotion and/or start planning your next book.
Every book’s launch will be a little bit different, depending on your genre, profile, resources and experience.
If this all feels overwhelming to you, we can help! Space to Write offers a Ready to Launch package which can be customized to your needs. Contact us today!