What’s Needed to Set Up a New Book Release

1.  THE COMPONENTS:This is going to be a 1200 foot view of what's needed to set up a pre-order for the best results.  The Components:  It starts by having a high resolution ebook cover and a finished ebook manuscript.I have many blog posts about how to create and/or order a high-resolution ebook cover on the blog and on my YouTube Channel so I won't go into any details about those.I begin all novels and novelettes in Scrivener and then move to Word for the final proofreading as well as the final formatting before upload to Amazon KDP.2.  PREORDER BOOK MARKETING:At the very least you will need a social media post that is 1000 px by 1000 px for most social media websites and 1000px by 1500px for Pinterest.  These can be made in minutes in Gimp, a free alternative program to Photoshop, or Canva that is very popular.To the left or above is an example of one of my social media posts, which I call a description panel,  for my new novelette, Writer's Block , which I have just set up for a pre-order.3.  DON'T FORGET PINTEREST:I used to post the above social media graphic to Pinterest and just keep moving because who wants to make a separate graphic for just one additional social media site?Once I realized that Pinterest sent a trove of traffic to my website, I started making a matching Pinterest post as shown here.  If you are new, you may or may not choose to do these.Tip for newbies:  I create a few Pinterest Templates and then I copy and paste the upper panels into them.  This way, I can make the matching Pinterest graphic in about 3 minutes or less.  But it makes a huge difference. 4.  MAKE A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE EBOOK:

I like to add a questionnaire to the back of most of my ebooks, especially the ones I give away.  Not everyone fills them out, but the readers who do, I get enough raw and helpful feedback that I find so very valuable.

Above I have split my questionnaire into parts 1 and 2 to give you an idea of what type of questions I ask them.  This one is for a short story, so it is slightly less detailed than for my novels.

However, I keep it short and sweet.  No one has the time to spend 20 minutes answering too many questions.  I also make them yes and no questions or multiple choice.  This makes it easier for the readers.

If you want to see the questionnaire page in full, you can access this one here.

NOTE FOR AUTHORS WITHOUT A WEBSITE:
If you don't have a website, you can use a Google form or other online-hosted form to create a questionnaire.  Since the rise of Substack, it's possible for any author to start a Substack and make it function very much like a website.  So no worries if you don't have a website.

5.  ADD A LINK TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE Once you have a questionnaire finished, you need to add an invitation to fill it out with a link to the form into the back of the book.   I put it onto my Note to Reader page, but you can add it in the back of the book wherever you engage with your readership.  I have an example of the verbiage I use above, which I don't claim to be award-winning in any way, but it may be helpful to newbies.  When I was a newbie, I would look at how other authors handled things and that always gave me a starting point. 6.  UPLOAD TO KDP:Everything that comes after this point will require an ASIN number and/or a ISBN number which you don't get until you actual upload the book.  I use the KDP-assigned numbers, so they are assigned to the book when uploaded.  If you use your own ISBN numbers, you may be able to do a few of the following procedures without uploading your book.In my humble opinion, there's no downside to uploading your books as pre-orders.  Amazon notifies anyone who follows you as an author that they can pre-order the book.  It's like getting free advertisements from Amazon.  So why not?7.  FORMAT & UPLOAD THE EBOOK AS A PAPERBACK:

I make my own book covers because I publish on a limited budget.  All of the money I spend is in editing and ads for my books.  So this comes next in my process.  I have blog posts and videos on how to create a paperback book cover from a high-resolution book cover so I'm not going to go into any detail about how it's done, but this is the point in the process that I make my paperback cover.I also have blog posts and videos on how to format a paperback from a Microsoft Word document so I'm not going to go into any detail about it here.NOTE FOR BEGINNERS:  You will need to know how many actual pages there are in your final novel manuscript in order to prepare the paperback book cover.  Don't waste too much time designing a full paperback cover without having a KDP book cover template that is based on how many pages are in the book.Once the Paperback is finished, upload to Amazon KDP also as a preorder. Left Column

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.  PRE-RELEASE BOOK MARKETING - GIVEAWAYS

Giving away your book for free is the most cost-effective method of advertising -- bar none.  I always give away my books and don't understand the argument new authors make for refusing to give away 'their work'.   In my opinion, everyone who reads and likes a free book will be ready to purchase a second, third, or fourth book by you.

That being said, I use Bookfunnel & StoryOrigin to give away my ebooks.  This allows the book to be accessed by all of their customers, which is thousands and thousands -- again, free advertising.

I have posted above a screenshot of what the book looks like when it's offered to readers from Bookfunnel.  The giveaway at StoryOrigin is about the same.

HOW THE PRE-ORDER MARKETING STRATEGY WORKS:https://readfirstchapter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bookfunnel-Promotion-07-21-25-YT.mp4

The reader downloads the free ebook and reads it.  Hopefully, they will either fill out the questionnaire or send you an email giving you feedback.  This direct feedback from individual readers is like getting your own focus group for free.  It is well worth the price of a free ebook.

Secondly, as the readers from Bookfunnel or Storyorigin download your free ebook, they are required to give their email.  These emails can be used to send newsletters or notices of new releases for you.  It's possible to get thousands of new reader emails over the lifetime of a free book.Thirdly, by having these pre-order emails from readers, it's possible to send around an email request when the book is published asking for a review to the book.  I cover how to add this link into the book in my longer blog posts linked within this article.Fourthly, enter the book into Pre-Order and/or New Releases Book Promotions on Bookfunnel.  I won't go into detail how this works because it is a function of what Book funnel does, but all the authors in the promotion share with their individual newsletters.  It's a win/win for all authors.  I'll post a sample book promo I made for you to get a sense of how this process can widen your readership.  The video is above.

To sum up here, you may be able to collect up to 100 emails, as a new author, or many more as a seasoned author during just this pre-release marketing period.  This is one of the best marketing strategies out there.

8A.  HOW THE AMAZON PRE-ORDERS WORK AS A MARKETING STRATEGY: Readers who follow you on Amazon will get a notice from Amazon that you are releasing a new book.  This is a form of free advertising.  You can even add a link on the Note to Reader page asking the reader to click on your author name and follow you to be notified of new releases.By adding your book to Amazon early, the book will get into the algorithms quicker than starting on the actual day of release.This is another special event that you can coordinate an entire marketing campaign around:  Release of the ebook cover, sign up for a free copy when it's ready, revealing the paperback cover, revealing the preorder, etc.9.  FORMAL RELEASE OF THE BOOK:

Once the book has been released, you can then create another marketing campaign about the actual release of the book.  I have a few examples below for the newbies.

CONCLUSION:

I wrote this blog post while planning and executing a pre-order on a new novelette entitled Writer's Block which is available for preorder starting on 08/12/25 and the book will be released on 09/15/25.  This will give me a month to market the book as a preorder.

Click on the book to be taken to Bookfunnel where you can download and read the book for free!

Don't forget to fill out my questionnaire and leave a review!

 

8.  PRE-RELEASE BOOK MARKETING - GIVEAWAYS

Giving away your book for free is the most cost-effective method of advertising -- bar none.  I always give away my books and don't understand the argument new authors make for refusing to give away 'their work'.   In my opinion, everyone who reads and likes a free book will be ready to purchase a second, third, or fourth book by you.

That being said, I use Bookfunnel & StoryOrigin to give away my ebooks.  This allows the book to be accessed by all of their customers, which is thousands and thousands -- again, free advertising.

I have posted above a screenshot of what the book looks like when it's offered to readers from Bookfunnel.  The giveaway at StoryOrigin is about the same.

HOW THE PRE-ORDER MARKETING STRATEGY WORKS:The reader downloads the free ebook and reads it.  Hopefully, they will either fill out the questionnaire or send you an email giving you feedback.  This direct feedback from individual readers is like getting your own focus group for free.  It is well worth the price of a free ebook.Secondly, as the readers from Bookfunnel or Storyorigin download your free ebook, they are required to give their email.  These emails can be used to send newsletters or notices of new releases for you.  It's possible to get thousands of new reader emails over the lifetime of a free book.Thirdly, by having these pre-order emails from readers, it's possible to send around an email request when the book is published asking for a review to the book.  I cover how to add this link into the book in my longer blog posts linked within this article.Fourthly, enter the book into Pre-Order and/or New Releases Book Promotions on Bookfunnel.  I won't go into detail how this works because it is a function of what Book funnel does, but all the authors in the promotion share with their individual newsletters.  It's a win/win for all authors.  I'll post a sample book promo I made for you to get a sense of how this process can widen your readership.  The video is above.

To sum up here, you may be able to collect up to 100 emails, as a new author, or many more as a seasoned author during just this pre-release marketing period.  This is one of the best marketing strategies out there.

8A.  HOW THE AMAZON PRE-ORDERS WORK AS A MARKETING STRATEGY: Readers who follow you on Amazon will get a notice from Amazon that you are releasing a new book.  This is a form of free advertising.  You can even add a link on the Note to Reader page asking the reader to click on your author name and follow you to be notified of new releases.By adding your book to Amazon early, the book will get into the algorithms quicker than starting on the actual day of release.This is another special event that you can coordinate an entire marketing campaign around:  Release of the ebook cover, sign up for a free copy when it's ready, revealing the paperback cover, revealing the preorder, etc.9.  FORMAL RELEASE OF THE BOOK:

Once the book has been released, you can then create another marketing campaign about the actual release of the book.  I have a few examples below for the newbies.

CONCLUSION:

I wrote this blog post while planning and executing a pre-order on a new novelette entitled Writer's Block which is available for preorder starting on 08/12/25 and the book will be released on 09/15/25.  This will give me a month to market the book as a preorder.

Click on the book to be taken to Bookfunnel where you can download and read the book for free!

Don't forget to fill out my questionnaire and leave a review!

 

I have posted above a screenshot of what the book looks like when it's offered to readers from Bookfunnel.  The giveaway at StoryOrigin is about the same.

HOW THE PRE-ORDER MARKETING STRATEGY WORKS:https://readfirstchapter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bookfunnel-Promotion-07-21-25-YT.mp4

The reader downloads the free ebook and reads it.  Hopefully, they will either fill out the questionnaire or send you an email giving you feedback.  This direct feedback from individual readers is like getting your own focus group for free.  It is well worth the price of a free ebook.

Secondly, as the readers from Bookfunnel or Storyorigin download your free ebook, they are required to give their email.  These emails can be used to send newsletters or notices of new releases for you.  It's possible to get thousands of new reader emails over the lifetime of a free book.Thirdly, by having these pre-order emails from readers, it's possible to send around an email request when the book is published asking for a review to the book.  I cover how to add this link into the book in my longer blog posts linked within this article.Fourthly, enter the book into Pre-Order and/or New Releases Book Promotions on Bookfunnel.  I won't go into detail how this works because it is a function of what Book funnel does, but all the authors in the promotion share with their individual newsletters.  It's a win/win for all authors.  I'll post a sample book promo I made for you to get a sense of how this process can widen your readership.  The video is above.

To sum up here, you may be able to collect up to 100 emails, as a new author, or many more as a seasoned author during just this pre-release marketing period.  This is one of the best marketing strategies out there.

8A.  HOW THE AMAZON PRE-ORDERS WORK AS A MARKETING STRATEGY: Readers who follow you on Amazon will get a notice from Amazon that you are releasing a new book.  This is a form of free advertising.  You can even add a link on the Note to Reader page asking the reader to click on your author name and follow you to be notified of new releases.By adding your book to Amazon early, the book will get into the algorithms quicker than starting on the actual day of release.This is another special event that you can coordinate an entire marketing campaign around:  Release of the ebook cover, sign up for a free copy when it's ready, revealing the paperback cover, revealing the preorder, etc.9.  FORMAL RELEASE OF THE BOOK:

Once the book has been released, you can then create another marketing campaign about the actual release of the book.  I have a few examples below for the newbies.

CONCLUSION:

I wrote this blog post while planning and executing a pre-order on a new novelette entitled Writer's Block which is available for preorder starting on 08/12/25 and the book will be released on 09/15/25.  This will give me a month to market the book as a preorder.

Click on the book to be taken to Bookfunnel where you can download and read the book for free!

Don't forget to fill out my questionnaire and leave a review!

 

https://readfirstchapter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bookfunnel-Promotion-07-21-25-YT.mp4