The Book Launch

This month I’ll be discussing launching your book, the importance of timing, and the type of launch that’s right for you.

Firstly, do you need a book launch?

There are different ways to launch a book as well as different reasons for doing so. Here are a few of the most common types:

1. A small gathering of family and friends as a more casual social launch
2. An online launch through one or more of the online bookstores
3. A large launch designed to attract your audience and influential individuals such as booksellers who can help raise the profile of your book
4. An event for raising awareness for the cause you champion
5. A fundraising event

Let’s look at these a little closer:

The small gathering. These launches are usually held in restaurants, independent bookstores, libraries or anywhere else an author might want to stage one. It’s usually a casual affair for the author to celebrate the publishing of their book with family and friends.

The online launch. It’s very popular now for authors to conduct online launches for their books. This system of marketing has many advantages starting with cost;, there should be very little, if no cost at all to set up the launch. Your book will be available worldwide and if you’re doing your marketing correctly it will be available to your target audience.

The large launch. If you’re planning a large launch, make sure you have a motive for doing so and the budget to cover it. If you have lots of contacts in the publishing and marketing industries or if you feel you can attract a celebrity and perhaps the odd politician, you could be creating a newsworthy event, which if handled correctly could bring in some invaluable exposure for you and your book.

Raising awareness. Depending on the type of book you have written, you may have an important topic you’d like to shine a light on, or you might be an expert in your field whose book has been designed as a tool to lift awareness to your cause. These kinds of launches also work well with the next type of launch…

The fundraiser. Last year I launched a murder mystery novel called X. After choosing a charity to donate to (The Smiths Family) I rallied around local businesses and persuaded them to donate prizes for a charity raffle. I hired a large hall, catered the event, provided entertainment, and sold tickets for $20 each. All proceeds from ticket sales, raffles, and book sales (after costs) were donated to the charity. Although I didn’t make any money from the sales of my books (around 200 books) it didn’t end up costing me very much, we raised a lot of money for The Smiths Family, lifted awareness for the charity, and had a fantastic night.

So, as you can see you can easily tailor a launch to your needs, it doesn’t have to be all about business, it can be fun. And very good for the ego! ?

And if you’re still wondering why I’m launching my next book in January, here’s why:

For a book to be ready for the Christmas market everything needs to be in place much earlier than you might expect. Marketing will need to be underway in one form or another at least by Aug/Sept. If this is your aim, that’s great go for it … but bear this in mind first:

If your book hits the market at this time of the year – say November or December – you only have two months left to market a 2023 book. Come 1 January, your book is already a year old. However, if you launch in January registering your book with a 2024 ISBN, you have 12 months to market a 2024 book, including all the holidays (Easter, Christmas, etc.) instead of just one. Does this make sense?

Write on …
Andy