What I learned launching four books in four months

Last year, I launched four books in four months. It was a massive project that took the better part of a year to do. But it’s done now. Well, at least it’s mostly done. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Launching one book is a project. Launching four in four months is something I will probably not do again.

And then, of course, while I was just at the tail end of this marathon of launches, the unthinkable happened.

Was it a success? Well, the books are out, and they’re selling, so I guess so. Could I have done more? The answer is always yes. The answer is also always no. So, let’s talk about what I learned during this marathon of launches.

It’s going to take so much more time than you think it will

This is the most crucial thing to keep in mind before you even start. Everything, and I do mean everything, is going to take more time than you think it will. At no point during this past year did I think, wow, I’m ahead of schedule and everything is going smoothly. Promoting takes time. Writing additional content takes time. All the little minute details of launching take time. And all of it is going to take more time than you think it will. Especially if you’ve never done this before. Keep this in mind for the next part.

Plan everything out ahead of time

When I decided to relaunch Woven, the first thing I did was sit down and make a plan. And, being the anxious person that I am, I planned everything down to the day. When was I going to make promo material? When was I going to write and post? What sort of blog posts was I going to write that had something to do with Woven so I’d get the right audience to look at the book? When was I ordering covers? When was I announcing covers? When would the presale go up?

Most importantly, when was I going to need to take breaks? When was I going to be busy with family stuff and holiday stuff and not be able to full steam ahead on this massive project? Remember, I work a full-time job. And I had decided to launch these books during the holiday season. Now, if I ever do this again, I’ll certainly plan to do it earlier. But as I had the glorious idea of having all four books available for holiday gifts, my path was sort of set already. So I needed to make sure I had some time blocked out for family and holiday time.

This includes promotional planning

I of course had a promotional calendar ready. Before I announced a launch, I had a five-month promotional calendar set up which included what books I’d be promoting and how during which times. Even if this just meant what book I’d be posting about on Instagram, I knew.

This was important to me because I tend to suffer from decision fatigue. And when I’m already thinking of a hundred things that need to be done, need decided on and need attention right now, little things get lost. So having a written plan of action I could just follow took a few decisions off my mind. And there were days I needed that.

The work starts long before you even announce a launch date

As I mentioned before, the work to relaunch Woven started much earlier in the year. Remember, I actually launched five books last year, including Nova. The work for this marathon year started in December of the year before. I was already planning and working on the material and details. So if you’re planning to do something like this, plan for it to be a long-term project. Rapid releases only look rapid to those outside. To you, it’s going to be a long, slow process.

Plan for the unexpected

I’ll be the first to say that my launches went surprisingly smoothly. There were no issues with Amazon. The covers came back on time and looked great. There were no technical issues at all.

But that doesn’t mean things went to plan. As you might already know, my husband suffered a severe stroke in December. He was hospitalized for a month before he could be released to a rehab facility. As I write this on February 4th, he is only coming home today. And so a lot of the things I’d planned to do, like be on podcasts and do guest blogs and a bunch of other fun promotional stuff got put on the back burner.

Thanks to all of the heavy lifting I’d done at the start of the project, I was still able to release all four books. Because by the time the stroke happened, everything was pretty much set up on autopilot. I didn’t have to think about whether the book would come out on time or the sale prices would go up because I’d already seen to that.

The point is, to be ready for things to go wrong. Because really, anything could happen. This is why it’s important to plan far in advance and don’t announce a launch date until everything, and I mean everything, is ready to go.

The work doesn’t end when the books are out

Finally, I’m still working on this launch. Because this is, again, a huge project. While I delayed a lot of outreach promotions, I didn’t cancel them. And, of course, there’ll be some buzz when the books go wide. (Spoiler, that’s starting sometime soon)

Promoting and selling a book doesn’t stop once it’s out. It’s kind of a long term thing. Which in a way is a huge relief. I don’t need to rush. I don’t need to feel like I messed up my launch by not being on ten podcasts last month. I can streatch out. I can get to things when I get to them.

I can go at my own pace, and so can you.

So now I want to hear what you think. Would you ever consider doing a rapid release? Let me know in the comments.

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