What It’s Like Prepping for a Book Launch…

I’ve wanted to do this post for quite some time, ever since I saw the wonderful Carol Baldwin share how she was planning to launch her YA historical fiction, Half-Truths, which sounds like a fantastic book!! I didn’t do this post mainly because, well, I wasn’t really prepping for a book launch at the time… But I am now!!!! And it’s ever so exciting and ever so chaotic at the same time, and I just wanted to give you guys a look into what I’m doing to prepare for my book launch!!!!! And you guys can also use what I’m doing as a few tips for how you could prepare for your own book launch!! ^^

Doing Cover Reveals and Teasers On My Blog…

Okay, this is probably a really obvious one, but I do all of the cover reveals, teasers, and everything on my blog!! ^^ I do think that actually having a blog is a really good idea, since it gives a certain place/platform that is all yours where readers can learn about you and your books, and you can really build a following there like I’ve done! And if you do post regularly on your blog, then that’s great! I really do recommend you do post regularly if you’re just starting out. You may not see NYT bestselling authors post regularly, but they already have an audience and don’t have the time to post regularly — if you do have the time, then do that! It helps engage your readers and really give them a look into your writing, you as a person, and whatever other bookish (or non-bookish) things you’re up to!

While prepping for the book launch, I had a lot of reveals planned out for Enchantria: The Last Hope, including cover reveals, title reveals, book blurb reveals, etc. both on my blog and YouTube channel! I also have a book trailer reveal planned sometime in June! And if you have social media (or a YouTube channel!), then post cover reveals there as well!! I don’t have social media (and likely never will because it appears to be a hot mess over there), so most of my reveals are just on my blog and YT channel. Honestly, it is quite hectic and I’m oftentimes scrambling to get the reveals out on time, so I’d say if you’re a busy person schedule the posts in advance!!!!!!!!

Seriously, it makes it ever so much easier than scrambling around to get things out on time… >_<

Reaching Out to Book Reviewers and Doing Blog Tours!!

Honestly, this might be most of the work I’m doing really. These past few weeks have been quite hectic, and I’ve been reaching out to some of the book reviewers I know to see if they’ll possibly feature my book for a blog tour!!! It’s honestly been both incredibly exciting and also a bit hectic, because I’ve been doing a lot of back and forth emails to organize interviews, guest posts, book reviews, etc!! And it is much more hectic than one might expect, believe me… Especially since this book comes out in two months!!!! Ack!! We’re on short notice! And scrambling!!! (I really should’ve started doing this three months before the release date, so if you’re doing a book launch, do reach out to all book reviewers beforehand!! They’re all likely quite busy and have their book reviews all booked in advance.)

But yeah — this is most of the work I’ve been doing, and it’s really been a lot of emails to discuss what the feature should involve, when it should go out, etc. And in the case of a guest post, well, me coming up with the idea for the post and then writing, or me answering questions for an interview! It honestly feels both like a chaotic whirlwind and also a whirlwind of excitement!!

Reaching out to book reviewers really can make a difference since they already have a group of followers, and you can also pitch your book to them! So yes, I have been reaching out to quite a few book bloggers, and we shall see if they respond. Six have responded, and so it’s been a long back and forth with them over what we’re going to do for the blog tour, when we’re gonna do it, etc.

Tip: It’s best to get familiar with the writing community and publishing industry beforehand!!

You might be confused on what I’m talking about, but what I’m saying is to really get familiar with the writing community beforehand – get yourself out there! Let others know that you exist! Make author friends!

And I know, it’s easier said than done, but a great place to start is online writing communities! I recommend storycraft.cafe, which is a lovely writing community that has some writers from quite a few genres, and they’re all ever so friendly!! Participating in challenges like Crazy Writing Week or Crazy Editing Week can also introduce you to some more writers as well!

You might be wondering why you need to do this and why you can’t just use SEO and marketing. Well… you can, but I wouldn’t recommend solely relying on stuff like that. Meeting other writers is so helpful, and you get to meet a lot of people who will support you in your writing! People who can give you helpful tips and tricks and who can tell you which font size to use in your book! (yes, I have emailed an author about this actually…)

Meeting other people, especially in the publishing industry is just really helpful, and you also really get opportunities that you might not have found alone — writers conferences, pitch contests, agents who they know personally and are looking for a book just like yours, etc. And they can also answer any questions you have that Google is absolutely useless for! 🙂

Pre-Orders and Proofreading…

Umm, okay, fine. This doesn’t have THAT much to do with book launches, but this is something I’m ALWAYS doing the months before the book launch! Proofreading!! Double-checking my spelling and grammar! Triple-checking my spelling and grammar!!! Quadruple-checking my spelling and- Okay, I think you get the picture now. But the point is, I want my book to be professional and easy to read and not make it look like I wrote this book without even knowing proper grammar!! And so I’m often just scrambling around to do that.

I’ve also been scrambling to set up pre-orders for the ebook! I’ve also been trying to figure out what price to set my ebook to. I’m an indie author, and to be honest, I always see these ebooks that are $8.99 or $11.99 and those prices are really just plain ridiculous for a reader! Especially when the PAPERBACK costs less than the ebook!!! Which is why I try to keep all my ebook prices under three dollars to actually keep it affordable. Book one was 0.99, book two was 1.99, and book three was 2.99, I believe.

Prepping for Live Events!!!

I’m planning a live launch party/event for the release of this book, and before you get too excited and start bombarding me with a million questions over live events, please note I am still in the planning stages! So do have some patience with me as I attempt to figure out what’s even going to happen in the live event! But I plan to do a live book launch on YouTube, where I can answer a few of your questions and also possibly do a live reading of my book! So there’s been a lot of brainstorming and scrambling about to get that done, but it is quite worth it!

Live events can be a great way to engage your audience, especially if you’re doing a live reading or a brief Q&A! The wonderful Journey Bloomfield and I did a lovely live event at the end of March this year, and it was such fun!! I also did a live reading of my book for Children’s Book Week, and it’s really a great way to draw interest and engage your readers! A few people did actually end up buying the book, so yay!!!

Review Copies, Review Copies, Review Copies….

Again, I have a few people who are willing to review my book in exchange for a free review copy, and so I’ve been super busy getting all of those done and sending it to everyone! I’m still struggling quite a bit to format everything because, well, since there are people getting the review copies, the book has to be finalized with all the fancy chapter headings, map, drop caps, etc.

Finding ARC readers to read the book beforehand and leave a review really helps a lot since you’ll already have some reviews by the time the book comes out! I will also be opening ARC reader requests later in June, and so if you would like to be an ARC reader, comment on my blog whenever I announce it (an announcement post should go out sometime in June), and we shall see if we can work something out!

As for where to find ARC readers, most of my ARC readers are people I already know and trust and people who I also know will give a genuine review and won’t give a good review just because they’re my friend. Not to say you can’t have your friends be ARC readers, but you do have to have them be genuine and to leave a genuine review only if they actually did like the book. Which can be quite hard sometimes. I have never really used any of the sites people talk about to find ARC readers, so I’m not sure how much help I can be in that field!

A good place to start is the writing community I’m in – storycraft.cafe! There are a lot of wonderful, friendly writers there who’d no doubt love to help you out!! ^^ A friend of mine also says that she uses Goodreads for ARC requests, and it does appear to be working for her, so you could also try that as well!

Conclusion, Since I Need to Separate This Text from the Above Section, Even Though I Hate Using ‘Conclusion’ as a Header

So yeah!! That is what it is kind of like to be prepping for a book launch, and that is what I am doing to prepare!! As for how it mentally feels to be doing a book launch, oh my word, SO MANY THINGS I can hardly say because ack, then this post would be way too long!! But I’ll try.

It feels like… so many things. It feels absolutely terrifying to be putting myself out there. It feels like a dream come true that oh my gosh, I’m actually DOING a book launch and I’m actually able to do a blog tour!!!! Yes, it’s just so hectic, and there’s a lot that needs to be done and a lot of business things to take care of (and a lot of things where one must attempt to act professional), and yet it all just feels amazing that I’m actually here doing all this!

It feels absolutely surreal! To be honest, I’ve always dreamed of doing a book launch, and I’ve always dreamed of one day doing a blog tour, but I never really thought I’d actually be able to do it!

And really, every single time I ask a book blogger if they could possibly feature me and my books for the blog tour, I always get… well… quite terrified. Because who am I to ask for a blog feature? I’m not Tui T Sutherland or Shannon Messenger or Lisa McMann or Roshani Chokshi! I’m just an indie author who is hardly as well-known as those authors!

But most of these book bloggers have been ever so nice, and they’ve agreed to feature me! And even when they aren’t able to, they were quite friendly about it and nobody barged in to glower at me and go, “YOU? YOU want a blog feature? Who even ARE you?” as I’d been terrified they might. And it does help that I do know some of these book bloggers personally, so I’m not just emailing random book bloggers online out of the blue.

But yeah! That is basically what it’s kinda like to be prepping for a book launch! I’ve also been trying to juggle writing (though that is going VERY slowly… around 900 words a day. I’m revising over here, and just plodding through draft two and the saggy middle. >_<), and that has been……. hard. Very hard.

But nonetheless I do hope this blog post gave you an insight on what it’s like to be prepping for a book launch, and I hope you found something useful here!! I live overseas, so I’m not able to do any in-person events, so hopefully this blog also shows you a few things you can do if you aren’t able to do in-person events!

Oh yes, and before I leave you, I want to add another VERY important thing to remember:

Have Fun!!!

I personally know for a fact how boring and tasteless marketing can feel like. I often hear a lot of people saying stuff like, “Make sure all your keywords are right” and all that usual SEO stuff. And honestly, doing SEO for marketing is a bit boring for me (not that it’s not helpful, as it definitely can be!!), and for such a long time I really really dreaded marketing.

But honestly, I think I really just had to find my own way to market and way that feels fun and true to me! And I’d say that is what you should do too! Experiment around a bit! See what feels right to you!

Because really, this is you getting your book out there — your book that you’ve wrestled with for months (possibly years!). Your book that you’ve poured so much of yourself into! And now this is you getting that book out there and sharing your words with the world. It’s a huge milestone, and it should definitely be a fun one! And for me, having fun with marketing is just really connecting with people like authors, book bloggers, etc. who love middle-grade books just as much as I do!

Oh yes and another piece of advice — it’s usually best to have a platform/author brand built for yourself before your book comes out, since this means you already have people who are interested in you and your work! And I also know that a lot of the times (like in my case!) that doesn’t always happen, or you might hear this piece of advice too late. And that’s fine!

Yes, it is best to have a platform/author brand built for yourself before your book comes out, but if you don’t, you are not doomed. (I’m ashamed to say, I did indeed hear this piece of advice too late, and I did indeed think I was doomed… >_<) As the saying goes, better late than never!! You can start now! And it won’t be fast or flashy or an overnight success. I don’t really believe in overnight successes. But I do believe in a bit of good things happening every night building up over time! 🙂

Thank you so much for coming, and I cannot wait to share the final book in the series with y’all!!! ^^ Have a wondrous day!!!

Isabelle