Book launch strategy in action

Our client Maria’s newest book The Empathy Edge: Harnessing the Value of Compassion as an Engine for Success comes out October 22nd. That’s almost a full three months away, yet we’ve been working on the marketing and publicity for months now. This is how a solid book launch strategy looks.

Why on earth did we start so early?

Because the truth is that what you do to market a book is as important as writing the book itself.

If you want your book in as many hands as possible, it’s simply not enough to wait to turn your attention to marketing or publicity for your book until 30 days…or 2 weeks…or 2 days before your publication date…

Here’s a peek at what we’ve done for Maria:

• We mailed out ARCs (Advance Review Copies) to nearly 60 reviewers – from Kirkus (the gold standard for reviews) to publications ranging from USA Today to Bustle. The big reviewers require you to send copies 3-4 months before publication, so it’s imperative you start early.

• We built out a pitch list with over 200 opportunities, ranging from podcasts to radio to guest blogs to TV and speaking.

• We started pitching long-lead opportunities such as print publications and speaking, which can book 4-12 months out.

• We started pitching podcasts, because many of the top podcasts are booked out for at least the next 2-3 months.

• We’ve developed a 90-day social media calendar for the 90 days leading up to the launch.

• We’ve strategized preorder and bulk order bonuses and started to put together landing pages and other copy to promote.

• We’ve started placing excerpts of the book in publications.

 

There’s still a TON to do, but that’s just a small peek behind the scenes of this launch so far. 

The books that you see everywhere…the ones that actually end up in people’s hands…they don’t get there by accident. You should be working on your marketing and publicity plan as soon as you turn in your final draft (or even before!) if you want to give your book the best shot at getting into people’s hands and ultimately impacting you, your business or your speaking career.

If you want a detailed checklist outlining the “must do” marketing activities that make up the bare MINIMUM of what should be done to promote your book, click here to download my free book marketing checklist.

Remember: It doesn’t matter how great your book is if no one knows you wrote it!