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How to Launch Your Book
10 Step Guide for Authors
How to Launch Your Book
10 Steps for Authors
Are you launching a book and wondering what steps to take?
Are you looking for a platform that can offer you support at each stage?
Are you launching a book and wondering what steps to take?
Are you looking for a platform that can offer you support at each stage?
Learn how Buy the Book can help you to plan, promote, and launch your book using a practical step-by-step process.
This guide outlines the key steps to take in the months leading up to your release date to prepare for your launch, promote your book, and reach your target audience.
It outlines how Buy the Book can support you during this process so that you can maximise your revenues, get paid immediately for sales, plan a pre-sale and have your sales data captured for Bestseller Lists.
We have outlined the 10 steps you can take to help you prepare, promote, and launch your book.
1. Create your Book Launch Timeline
2. Book Title, Description & ISBN
3. Book Cover, Design & Layout
4. Choose your Printer and Estimate Printing Costs
5. Set your Book Price (RRP)
6. Enable Pre-Order Sales
7. Build Early Reviews
8. Plan your Book Marketing and Publicity Campaigns
9. Plan your Book Launch Event
10. Prepare for Launch Week
Step 1: Create Your Book Launch Timeline
Timing: 6-9 months before launch
A book launch timeline outlines key steps you need to take to successfully launch your book. Allow 6-9 months to plan your launch including your, pre-sale, marketing and publicity campaign and planning your book launch event.
Set your release date to coincide with your book launch event. Write down the key decisions you need to make along the way, such as starting your pre-sale, booking your book launch venue, placing your order with the printer, and how you will run a marketing and promotion campaign in the lead-up to your release date.
You can start taking pre-orders for your book 6–8 weeks before your release date, once your front cover, book description, and RRP pricing are finalised.
A clear timeline helps you build momentum with your sales as your book launch date approaches.
Timing: 6-9 months before launch
Once your book is edited, you can finalise your book title, book description and purchase your ISBN.
For your book title, keep it short, simple and concise and use your book subtitle to go into further detail about what your book is about. Look at other books in your genre and see what works well to grab a reader’s attention, while also capturing the books’ central theme.
You will need a book blurb (for the back cover) and a book description (for online platforms) to sell your book. A blurb is usually 150-200 words and a book description can be 350 words.
A blurb and description will act as your main sales pitch to potential readers and act as the hook to grab their attention while summarising the books content.
Invest your time in writing your book description and ask potential readers for feedback on different options.
You can buy your ISBN directly from Nielsen BookScan. An ISBN is a 13-digit unique identifier number for your book which will get printed as a barcode on the back of your book. An ISBN is recommended for selling in bookstores and providing sales data for Bestseller Listings.
Step 3: Book Cover Design and Layout
Timing: 6-9 months before launch
Once you have finalised your Book Title, Description and have your IBSN barcode, you can start on your book cover design and layout.
We recommend that you hire a professional designer to format your book and design it’s cover. This will help you market and sell your book and ensure it looks as professional as possible.
Keep your front cover design clean and concise. Look at other bestselling books in your genre and take inspiration from them.
You can have a well-known author review an advance copy of your book, and you can use a line from their review on the front cover. If you have previously been a bestselling author, you can also mention that on the cover.
Keep the back cover of your book to your blurb, ISBN and a line from a review. It is recommended to keep your author biography and picture to the back pages of your book.
The back pages should also include where your readers can connect with you on social media and where to leave you a review. You can also include the titles of other books you may have written.
Your book should be professionally formatted before printing. This process includes setting consistent margins, choosing readable fonts, and ensuring chapter headings and page numbers are properly aligned. It also includes adding a table of contents, acknowledgements and page numbers.
This process will ensure your book is ready for printing.
Step 4: Choose Your Printer & Calculate Printing Costs
Timing: 3-6 months before launch
Once your book is formatted and the book cover design is finalised, you can begin to contact printing companies and request quotes for printing your book at different volumes.
The printing cost will vary significantly depending on the size of the book, colour pages, paper quality, hardback or paperback and the volume of books printed.
The higher the volume of books printed, the lower the cost per book.
We recommend that you get at least 3 quotes for printing, based on different volumes. Also request a sample copy to be printed to see the quality of the finished product, and review your book for any mistakes.
It is also recommended to ask each printer for delivery timeframes from when you place your order, so that you can factor this into your pre-sale timeline.
Step 5: Set Your Book Price (RRP) and Shipping Fees
Timing: 3-4 months before launch
Once you understand your printing costs, the next step is to calculate the RRP price of your book. Getting the price right is important to ensure that you cover your publishing costs and generate a profit, while offering similar pricing to other books in your genre.
Check what other books in your genre are selling for and try not to overprice or underprice your book based on your research. Standard paperback books typically range between €15-€25.
To calculate your RRP, take your publishing costs and divide it by the number of books you expect to sell. Add your printing cost per book and profit margin per book. This gives you a RRP guide price.
It is also important to consider what percentage commission you will be giving to bookstores to sell your book. You should factor in these commission fees to your RRP.
To encourage sales in the lead-up to your launch, you might consider offering a special RRP price for the pre-sale period or generate a discount code for your readers.
By selling on Buy the Book, you can generate discount codes directly from your dashboard and offer a special offer RRP price to coincide with your release date.
You can also offer your readers the option to buy your book in advance and either collect it at your book launch or pick it up locally, without incurring shipping fees.
Step 6: Enable Book Pre-Orders
Timing: 2 months before launch
A book pre-order sale allows your readers to purchase your book before it is officially released. Pre-orders are a great way to build momentum ahead of your release date, fund your printing costs and to understand how many books to print.
A pre-order sale also gives you the opportunity to accumulate sales to maximise your chance of becoming an Irish Times Bestselling Author.
We recommend a pre-order sale period of 6-8 weeks before your book’s release date. To list your book for pre-order, you need to have the book front cover, book description, and RRP pricing finalised.
You can start your pre-order sale before your book is printed. We recommend that you use your pre-order period to determine how many books to get printed and to fund your printing costs.
For example, after one month of a pre-order sale you may have taken 100 orders. This should give you confidence to place an order with the printer for 300 copies. You can use the funds received for the 100 pre-orders to fund the printing cost of 300 books.
By selling with Buy the Book, you can enable your pre-order and start receiving funds immediately. You will also be able to track the source of each sale, to understand which platforms are driving traffic to your book. This will help you refine your marketing efforts . If you are running paid ad campaigns, you can adjust spend accordingly.
Step 7: Build Early Reviews & Social Proof
Timing: 4-6 weeks before launch
Early reviews for your book provide valuable testimonials that you can use in your marketing campaign. To get reviews before your book is released, you can select a group of readers from your audience, your professional network, and individuals with expertise in your book’s content.
By selling with Buy the Book, you can add your book as a PDF and share this link with your selected audience for early reviews.
You can use quotes from these reviews on your book sales page, and include them in social media posts, email newsletters and printed material. You can also include reviews in your media kit that you will send to newspaper journalists and radio producers.
At Buy the Book, readers can leave a review of your book that other readers will see on your book’s landing page.
You can read more about how to get book reviews in our author articles.
Step 8: Plan Your Book Marketing and Publicity Campaign
Timing: 4-6 weeks before launch
A well-planned marketing and publicity campaign ensures your book reaches your target audience and gains attention ahead of your launch.
As soon as you have a pre-order link for your book, you can start your marketing campaign and approach journalists with a press release and author photograph.
You can start by promoting your book to your existing audience and professional network. Share the book’s cover and tell them why you wrote the book and the story behind it. During the pre-order period, you can take excerpts from the book and share them on social media. Also share your early reviews and make sure you include a direct link of where to buy your book.
For traditional media, you can start with your local newspaper and radio station. Prepare a media kit before making your approach. A media kit for an author will include your author bio, headshot, book description, cover image, press release, and early reviews. The press release is a short announcement to the media about the launch of your book, along with an overview of you and your story.
For both newspaper articles and radio interviews, make sure you let people know where they can buy your book. You can also invite local journalists to your book launch event.
Step 9: Plan Your Book Launch Event
Timing: 6 weeks before launch
A book launch event is an opportunity to celebrate your book with your friends, family, network and an opportunity to invite the local media and get local newspaper coverage.
Start planning your book launch event at least 6 weeks before your release date. Book your venue and send out invites to your guest list, including local journalists and media contacts. Arrange for a photographer to capture photos and video at the event that can be used for social media and future promotion of your book.
You may want to include bookmarks with your book or have a pull up banner with your book cover for the backdrop of photos. Your printer should be able to provide you an additional quote for these materials.
The costs of a book launch will vary depending on the venue, number of guests, and whether refreshments will be served. Some venues may charge very little if a large turnout is expected and guests are likely to buy drinks during the event.
Consider how you will take payments for sales at the event. At Buy the Book you can offer your readers the option to purchase your book in advance and collect it at your book launch. This is a great way to generate sales in advance, and gives you an indication of how many copies to take with you to the event.
Step 10: Prepare for Launch Week
Timing: 2-4 weeks before launch
Place your order with your printer at least 2-4 weeks before the release date to ensure your books arrive in time for your launch event and launch week. Allow for delays in their timeframe for delivery.
Send out a reminder about your book launch event and confirm numbers with the venue.
Once your book arrives, you can start packaging up the books that you have taken on pre-order and use this as an opportunity to post about your book on social media.
Aim to have your publicity and media coverage lined up for the week leading up to your launch to help you build momentum in sales. Send out your press release and photographs to the press, both before and after your book launch.
You can offer a launch discount to encourage people to buy your book during your launch week. Encourage people who have received your book to post photos or reviews online.
Why Launch your Book with Buy the Book?
At Buy the Book, we support authors as they prepare to launch their book and begin their marketing campaign. Our platform allows you to enable pre-orders and start generating revenue as soon as your book cover, description and pricing are finalised.
We also provide guidance through masterclasses free for members on how to launch your book and the bestseller process.
Our strong reputation in Ireland is reflected in the excellent reviews we receive on Trustpilot.
Find out more about becoming a member of Buy the Book today. Click here for our membership plans, or email us at info@buythebook.ie if you have any questions about joining.
Read More Articles
Read our Author Guides for more information on selling your book.
FAQ - Your 10 Step Guide to Launching Your Book
How do I launch my book?
Launching a book involves planning several steps in the months before release, including book design, printing, pre-order sale, planning your marketing and publicity campaign and planning your book launch event. A clear launch timeline of 6-9 months helps ensure that each step is completed at the right time. Preparing early allows you to build momentum through marketing and reviews, and ensures you will maximise sales by the time the release date approaches.
What is a book pre-order?
A book pre-order allows readers to purchase your book before its official release date. Authors can enable pre-orders once the front cover, description, and pricing are finalised. This helps generate early sales and revenue before the book’s launch.
How long should a book pre-order period be?
A typical book pre-order period lasts 6–8 weeks before the release date. This gives you time to promote the book, gather early reviews, and build momentum before launch day. It also allows you to gauge demand and plan your print run more accurately.
Can I take pre-orders before my book is printed?
Yes, you can take pre-orders before your book is printed as long as you set a future release date. Pre-orders allow you to generate early sales while you finalise printing and book launch preparations. They can also help you estimate demand and decide how many copies to print. If you’re a member of Buy the Book, you can enable pre-orders as soon as your front cover, description and pricing are finalised.
How many books should I print?
The number of books you print should be guided by the demand you see during your pre-order period. Pre-orders give you a clear indication of how many readers are planning to buy your book before it is released. You should also factor in copies needed for your book launch event and any early sales you expect in the first couple of months after your launch.
What price should I charge for my book?
Your book price should cover your publishing and printing costs and leave a reasonable profit margin. Research the prices of comparable titles in your genre with a similar word count and target audience to understand what readers expect to pay. It is also helpful to set a price that will allow you to offer discounts during launch week.
Do I need an ISBN for my book?
You do not need an ISBN to publish a book, but it is strongly recommended. An ISBN allows your book to be sold through retailers and libraries and enables your sales to be tracked through Nielsen BookScan. This tracking is important if you want your book sales to count towards lists such as the Irish Times bestseller list.
How do I join Buy the Book?
Find out about our membership plans here or email info@buythebook.ie for more information.
About Buy the Book
Buy the Book is an Irish owned and Independent online book marketplace established in 2021 for authors to sell their books directly to their readers.
Buy the Book actively promotes Irish authors and is a growing author community and support network.
When you Buy a Book from us, you are supporting our Irish authors directly.
Ní neart go cur le chéile.
Buy the Book actively promotes Irish authors and is a growing author community and support network.
When you Buy a Book from us, you are supporting our Irish authors directly.
Ní neart go cur le chéile.
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