Mornin!
This is James Quinlan Meservy, and I do sincerely apologize for not posting about November’s topic before now, but I have been so busy lost in my own world of writing that I time flew by.
The November topic is one near and dear to my heart, Book Releases.
In my own writing career I have had successful releases and not so successful releases. The difference is in the planning and the execution.
There are a few different strategies on book releases. The easiest, and the one with the least amount of sales, is a soft release. A soft release is when you or your publisher uploads your manuscript onto Amazon or Draft2Digital or other book publishing sites and hits submit without any fanfare or celebration. Now I am not saying that a soft release is a bad idea. It really depends on the purpose of the book, and it is an easy way to become a published author. But if your purpose is make sales, then this may not be your best release day strategy.
I can only speak for myself, but after I finish writing a book and am ready to publish it, I want to share my book with the world, and let people know I have a new book about to come out. And I prefer to have 3 months to prepare for a book release. During those three months I am busy hosting a cover reveal party, sharing sneak peaks and previews and quotes from the book with my Newsletter Followers and Social Media followers. I am joining every applicable Newsletter Swap to my genre, and sharing either my direct purchase link or universal link on Social Media platforms.
I create a media kit, which includes book cover, blurb, sales link, and ask for blog tour swaps and invite friends to help me share the good news of my release. But here again, that is what I do. I am very busy in my 3 months leading up to a release making as much noise as possible. One other thing I do is tend to look over other fantasy author’s ideas and see what works and does not work for them.
Not every author is the same, and not every book should have the same type of release, but some general ideas leading up to release day are:
Participate in Newsletter Swaps
Participate in or Create a Blog Tour
Hold a Social Media Event (Facebook, MeWe, wherever you have a presence)
Create a Street Team, a Street Team for those of you who are new to publishing is a group of readers you send out Advance Reader Copies (or ARCs), and they in turn post reviews before or on release day on Amazon, Goodreads, Bookbub, and other book review platforms.
Mind, these are just a few ideas for leading up to a release.