In my last blog post, we looked at some ways to help your book gain interest and popularity in the run-up to launch date. This time, we will be considering what you can do on the day itself. This includes a wide variety of things, such as promotional events, tie-in offers on your website and social media and possibly giving copies away. It is up to you how many of these you choose to do and will depend on what suits you and your book.
So, why bother with launch day promotions? Well, initial sales (or downloads if you are giving away free ebooks) will mean that your book ranks higher in sales lists, giving it a visibility boost and helping to keep sales going even after the launch event is over. Your main goal with any launch event should be to gather readers and gain exposure for your book, leading to further purchases.
Of course, you may well decide to have a launch plan which takes place over a week or two, rather than running all of your planned marketing on one day and then nothing. A slow launch gives you more time to boost sales and spread the word before the launch has finished, so it is definitely worth considering. It also gives you a bit more breathing space and can allow you to change anything that is a bit more flexible, such as price, in response to demand.
Pricing
We will now consider some strategies that you can use for launch. Firstly, you will need to come up with a pricing structure. Indeed, you may decide to offer it for free for a few days, to boost initial sales and interest. This can lead to your book appearing in the “Also bought” section of other books, again increasing its visibility.
However, do bear in mind that many platforms have separate charts for free and paid books, so downloads of your book when it is free might not help it to climb the ranks of the paid-for chart. In addition, selling platforms may limit the amount of time you can offer your book for free.
Reviews
You also need to start gathering as many reviews as possible. Ask people to review it within the book itself, on your email mailing list and on your social media. You could also ask people to review it in exchange for a free paperback copy, as long as you make it clear that you are asking for an honest review, not necessarily a positive one! Provided that they have read it, they are entitled to give their opinions on it and asking for a positive one would result in negative consequences for your book.
Reviews are an excellent way to improve sales. They show that other people have read your book, that they enjoyed it and that they would recommend it or read more of your writing. All of this encourages people to try your book. In addition, reviews give people more to go on than what is just in the description, making it easier for them to tell whether it is something that they would be interested in.
Community
One way to encourage sales on launch day is by making sure you have built your mailing list and followers on any social media. Make sure you engage with your online community, give them sneak peeks at your new book and offer some old material (if you have it) for free or a low price. Then, you can do a countdown to launch day to gather interest, but don’t overdo it.
For example, having a post on social media every day leading up to launch, as well as over the launch period itself, is a good way to build momentum. On the other hand, doing this with your mailing list is more likely to be annoying and result in people unsubscribing. Think about what level of promotion you would be happy with from another author and work from there.
However, definitely make sure you do announce the launch on social media and through your mailing list. This should get you quite a few sales straight away, hopefully helping to get your book in the charts.
Promo Sites
If you want, you could also try using promotion sites to post your book on. Here, you pay for a slot on a website that promotes your book to its audience. This can be a very quick and efficient way of reaching as many readers as possible but bear in mind it becomes less effective as you build your fan base and have a mailing list to announce new books to. Be careful to evaluate promo sites carefully to weed out scams. Good ones will not be offering guaranteed downloads or anything that seems too good to be true.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you to launch your self-published book. Next time, we will be looking at what to do after the launch date to keep sales up, so come back in two weeks for that. Good luck with your book!
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