Author Marketing Timeline - Best Practices

[Cynthia]

In the September author newsletter I outline a timeline for promoting your book. Did I miss anything? Do you have a different approach? Would love to hear your feedback on this thread!

[Cynthia]

Posting the timeline here for those who missed the newsletter. Check your email settings to make sure you're receiving this, ahem, insanely valuable monthly content... if I do say so myself ;)

How to: Make Sure the Timing Is Right

6 months before publication

• Update your author profile. Make sure you have a current author profile picture and that your bio is complete.
• Review the titles attributed to you. If you see books on the list that you didn’t write, email us and we’ll fix it.
• Review the information on each of your book pages, and email us if anything needs to be corrected.
• Optional: Do a cover reveal for your upcoming title.

4 months before publication

• Shelve some books. Log books you’ve read in the past—including the ones in your physical bookshelves!—so that readers can get a sense of who you are based on what you read.
• Join groups that interest you. Start reading the conversations, and feel free to chime in. Begin to build relationships with the people you meet.
• Upload an excerpt from your new title to the book page. Give readers a taste of what’s to come!

3 months before publication
• Schedule a giveaway for galleys. The more that books are circulating, the more likely you’ll get reviews, and the sooner you do this, the better. Galleys don’t need to be typeset or have the final cover, but the content should not change.
• Actively participate in groups.
• Import or start your blog. Create an editorial calendar if you plan to maintain a blog, or post an “evergreen” message to make use of the space on your profile. (Check out Khaled Hosseini’s profile for an example of such a blog post.)

1 month before publication
• Schedule another giveaway for advance reader copies. These should have the final cover.
• Turn on Ask the Author. Don’t expect too many questions yet, but decide when you’ll answer questions.
• Create events for both in-person and online events. Tip: Answering questions on a particular date via Ask the Author—that’s event worthy!
• Schedule an ad campaign to start on your publication date. Create several ads in the campaign, each uniquely creative.

Publication week
• Schedule a giveaway for your signed, finished copies.
• Answer pending questions via Ask the Author.
• Enjoy your publication day! The sky is just a little bluer today…

1 month after publication
• Review ad campaign stats. Edit ads if needed.
• Continue to participate in group activities, answer Ask the Author questions, and shelve books that you’re reading.

Did I miss anything? Any questions? Let me know!

[P.D.R.]

Is this timeline just for authors using Goodreads? In which case it is excellent.

If it is meant to be a guideline for all the PR an author should do you have missed a bit!

[Cynthia]

P.d.r. wrote: "Is this timeline just for authors using Goodreads? In which case it is excellent."

Yep! Thanks ;)

[Cynthia]

That makes me wonder...

What would the equivalent timeline be for PR?

How (and when) do you incorporate your GR activity into your PR?

[P.D.R.]

This is what I teach my writers:

Zoom over to www.Indiesunlinmited.com and start reading all their articles on how to publish and sell an e-book. They have lots of good clear advice written in plain English and they are helpful people.

1
Testing the opening on your readers at GoodReads.com where you should have been a reader member for some months reading and reviewing and NOT pushing your book or talking about writing. Test also on librarything.com and anyone you have friendly writerly contact with at LinkedIn and Google plus, FB, wherever you hang out.
Do this 6 months before launch.
2
Testing out your different covers, asking for opinions in the same places as above.
5 months before launch.
3
Offering giveaways of your book on Goodreads, Librarything, Readers in the Know and any other sites which look decent places where your type of readers are. Make sure to do a Smashwords and Amazon Preorders for your book.
5 and 4 months before launch.
4
Ask your writer or reader/writer group to do a Beta read. You need beta readers and might find some at Goodreads if you have been around there long enough. Reward them with a free copy. Expect reviews but don’t insist and ask if they do to put ‘em up on novel launch date.
Start them reading 4 and 3 months before launch.
5
Blogging and sharing blogs on your genre of fiction sites with snippets affecting/used in/amusing/of interest about your research, characters' lives, food etc. 3,2, and 1 month(s) before launch.
6
Tweets, Google plus, writers' groups, Linked In, Goodreads etc where you announce the launch and add something about the book but keep it short and snappy.
4 weeks and down to launch date.
7.
PR in local newspapers, national media, radio and Booksellers journals - 4 weeks and down to launch date.
8
Start signing up for all the email newsletters from sites which offer free or discounted books to readers and get your book in their newsletters - 4 weeks and down to launch date.
9.
Launch party in the local library and maybe in other cities’ libraries.

[Warren]

This is a fantastic checklist (I love a good checklist) to help all authors put their best foot forward to allow readers to discover and ultimately read our books.

If there is one thing I'd love to see it would be links directly in the checklist to help guide us to articles or information on specific areas (i.e. how to do a cover reveal, giveaways, etc).

Also, this seems to be a blend between a Goodreads book launch list and a broader book launch checklist. I believe this would be best if it was confined to Goodreads. The challenge is that most authors (me included) have not figured out how to effectively incorporate Goodreads into our launch plans. I'd love to see just a dedicated list that highlights everything your top 5% of Goodreads authors do to get their books ready for launch. There are many book launch checklists available and I could see you all creating a new one, but for now I'd love a comprehensive, absolute best practices list that will differentiate my work in the eyes of readers.

All that being said, I've already saved the list to use for my next launch and looking forward to more ideas as well.

[Cynthia]

Warren wrote: "This is a fantastic checklist (I love a good checklist) to help all authors put their best foot forward to allow readers to discover and ultimately read our books.

If there is one thing I'd love to see it would be links directly in the checklist to help guide us to articles or information on specific areas (i.e. how to do a cover reveal, giveaways, etc).

Also, this seems to be a blend between a Goodreads book launch list and a broader book launch checklist. "

Warren - the post of mine is strictly about what to do on Goodreads after you've claimed your author profile. Pdr was sharing her personal checklist in response to my inquiry about a suggested PR timeline.

The bigger picture is, effectively marketing a book starts wayyy before publication date, and there is a lot to do for authors who are going at it alone, without employing the help of a publisher or a publicist or online marketing person.

We can definitely dive deeper into Best Practices for giveaways, cover reveals, etc. I devote each author newsletter to one topic - make sure you're on the list to receive it!

[Sheldon]

I just want to thank you all for so much advice on marketing effectively. So glad we can learn from one another.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Don't forget on goodreads to shelve your own book (even before released). In particular, shelve your book as to its genre(s); goodreads pulls the book's genre from how shelved. Exploring new releases in a genre will only show your new book if shelved in that genre (accurate publish dates also helpful). Ditto for any new release emails from goodreads that readers may have subscribed to or customized--book needs shelved as genre to be included.

Please don't anyone confuse beta readers with getting reviews or offering free-for-review offers.

And while OP is accurate to say "...email us and we’ll fix it." if books are inaccurate on your author profile or there are any book data issues -- that email request to staff in my experience usually takes way longer than just posting the request in the librarians group. (Usually 72 hours to six weeks for email responses [might be faster now for authors who now have priority on goodreads] versus 1-15 minutes average for librarians to handle).

In addition to or instead of Ask the Author, I think you can also still offer Q&A Sessions which are more of a discussion/conversation, are searchable and actually appear on the book page rather than just author page (in both cases probably more effective as you get more fans, friends or followers who will see it). As a reader, please be careful of how many "Ask the Authors" in a row (and potential likes) you flood readers' goodreads feed with--when that feature rolled out I unwillingly had to unfan/unfollow some very favorite authors so I could see other items in my feed. I know they were just nicely spending their time responding to reader questions; but just overwhelmed my feed (one answered more than 70 in a row).

[J.]

Cynthia wrote: "Posting the timeline here for those who missed the newsletter. Check your email settings to make sure you're receiving this, ahem, insanely valuable monthly content... if I do say so myself..."

many thanks, Cynthia!

[Kevin]

How does 'Ask the Author' work? How do I activate it on the Goodreads site?

[Aaron]

Hi Kevin, since you're already a Goodreads author, you'll just need to enable Ask the Author from your author dashboard. Once you've turned on Ask the Author, any member of the site will be able to ask you a question. All questions submitted will remain private until you choose to answer them. If you choose to turn off Ask the Author at a later date, any unanswered questions will remain on your dashboard until you decide if you'd like to answer or ignore them.

[Tina]

Cynthia, I can't find the video and your Sept newsletter. Please hook me up. My book is due out jan 2015 and I'd like to see what you wrote.

[Carmen]

I thought the Ask the Author feature was only for a specific event, thanks to those in the thread who have provided some tips for using it. FYI, another great resource is to have a means for email sign ups on your website so that folks can get on your mailing list. This way when the book comes out you have a ready made way of informing specific folks who have already expressed interest in your book.

[Cynthia]

Tina wrote: "Cynthia, I can't find the video and your Sept newsletter. Please hook me up. My book is due out jan 2015 and I'd like to see what you wrote."

Hi Tina!

While I'm afraid we don't have links to 'back issues' of the author newsletter, you can view the webinars right here in the feedback group on the main page, or if you click on the right hand side under 'videos.'

The October newsletter will go out tomorrow, so keep an eye out for it!

Good luck with your book promotion, it's not too soon to get started.