top of page
Writer's pictureCharles Dunn

And another thing...


Them: You got your preliminary character studies from the illustrator? Congrats!

Me: Thanks. It's so cool to finally see them in the flesh.

Them: Have you picked out your book designer yet?

Me: Book designer? They're separate from the illustrator?

Them: And your formatter.

Me: I knew about the formatter. But that's still a long way off.

Them: What influencers and bloggers have you reached out to?

Me: I was just starting to-

Them: And your social media marketing strategy? You need at least a couple months lead up to your launch. Make sure you have a multi-platform strategy mapped out. Not just Facebook updates. You'll want to decide whether boosted posts or ads are the best way to reach your target audience.

Me: Boost?

Them: Do a few dark posts with multiple ad sets, then narrow it down with Analytics. And set up a pixel so you can measure the click-through traffic to your website, where you should already have your newsletter signup widget in place. For that matter, sign up for Google Adwords and buy KDP Publisher. You can use Google Trends to generate your keywords for better search engine optimization. Calculate your ad budget.

Me: Repeat the part about the multi-platform again.

Them: You'll want to begin assembling your launch team. Figure out which award competitions you want to enter and their submittal requirements. What endorsements or testimonials can your scrape together? Make sure you have a handful of those, along with as many reviews as you gather, to put on your Amazon author page during your soft launch. Write your author profile, book summary, and tagline. Look into Booksy, Fussy Librarian, and Bookbub for paid ebook promotion. Buy your ISBN's, apply for your Library of Congress control number, and file your copyright... Are you even paying attention?

Me: Sorry, I spaced out there for a second. We were talking about pie, weren't we? You said cheesecake was cake, and I said- No? That wasn't it? Was that someone else? My head hurts.

Comments


bottom of page