Timed Delayed Release Dates

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TIMED DELAYED RELEASE DATES

When self-publishing, writers aren’t going to have the resources available to them as they might with a traditional publisher. Of course, at first, it is a lot easier for writers to self-publish. First time writers will want to get the book published and up for sale the moment they’ve completed it.
For a writer’s first book, this is understandable, but writers need to keep in mind that they still have to create a buzz around the book. Just because the book is on the market doesn’t mean people are going to see it, especially when you consider how many other self-published books are constantly coming out.


Once a writer begins to establish themselves, they’ll develop an audience, one they’ll ideally have some form of communication with, whether that is through a personal page or a social media site. In these situations, writers can benefit from announcing their release date ahead of time and warming their audiences’ interest with teasers of some sort.


If you are someone who can stick to deadlines, this first scenario is the easiest way to come up with a realistic release date.
Start by thinking of a date while you’re still writing your book and then work backwards from that date with a list of items that you want to have in place prior to release. Make sure your list has a time frame for how long each item will take to accomplish. If you find you need more time or less time, you can then adjust the release date accordingly, because you haven’t announced it yet.


Here is a second scenario, this one is a mindset amongst some authors and this version is used by many traditional publishers for setting up a release date.
This one recommends waiting and once the work is completed, focus solely on making sure the body of work is ready for the market by giving out samples so positive reviews can be acquired. In addition to waiting for positive reviews, you also wait for feedback, so if there’s something that seems to be unpopular within the book an author will have time to fix it. The marketing and promotional efforts aren’t started with any urgency until these two things are accomplished and then a release date is set.






Personally, I prefer the first scenario, planning ahead of time. I don’t mind deadlines and it helps me to stay focused and on track. I usually accomplish more than what I was expecting to since I often ‘pad’ my time frames on how long each item will take to get done.
In addition, there is almost always something you haven’t thought of that will require your attention and if that doesn’t happen, you’ll have extra time to check out new and exciting ways to get your work noticed.
I also believe through your social media or blog ‘teasers’ you can get the feedback you need from your audience about areas within your book that you may want to consider adjusting. Unlike in the second scenario, you don’t have to wait for setting up the release date.


Once you have publicly announced your release date, you must stick to it.


Setting an inaccurate release date is something that can end up hurting an author. Even famous authors can sometimes fall into this trap, where they set a release date and the actual release of their book is nowhere near that date. It can cause readers to lose interest, or just plain forget that the book was supposed to come out in the first place.
Especially when writing a series, this can happen, therefore, I highly recommended that authors have a solid idea of the plot of their next book, sometimes even having a few chapters written before the first book is released.
Again, ‘teasers’ can be used based on a few chapters so that the audience is assured that the author has a decent pace going and they won’t have to wait for a year or so until the next release.


Planning a release date should be one of those things that you look forward to, similar to the anticipation of giving birth. In many respects it is the book’s entry into the world and deserves your diligent attention.